Entertainment News

Birmingham will be celebrating the UK hosting the Eurovision Song Contest, on behalf of 2022 winners Ukraine, with a giant FREE party in Centenary Square next month. With a month to go until the Grand Final is broadcast live into fan zones across the country, an exciting programme of free live performances and activities has been announced today (13 April 2023).

The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final will be live streamed from BBC One on a big screen from 8pm, with special effects and surprises along the way including a chance to vote for your favourite act and see how Brum voted alongside the rest of Europe.

Following the success of the inaugural Sky Comedy Rep scheme in 2021/22, the rising stars of the comedy world continue to be show-cased at The Rep with never-before-seen work in Parklife, the second Festival of New Comedy Writing from Sky Comedy Rep from Monday 22 – Saturday 27 May 2023.

This year’s Festival provides fans with a chance to see the premier of a series of eight hilarious one-act plays from the funniest writers across the country. From miscommunication, mayhem, midnight trysts to sworn enemies, un-arranged marriages, an eco-protest, vampires, Karl Marx, fishing AND a whole lot of funny!

EMMY and GRAMMY award-winning multi hyphenate, Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson, announced that he will embark on a global tour in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of his game-changing debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin’. Produced by Live Nation and presented by Sire Spirits, The Final Lap Tour will make stops across North America and Europe including Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, and London. Additional markets to be announced soon.

Propel Dance, a brand-new professional all wheelchair-user dance company based in Birmingham concluded their short tour of ‘The Snow Queen’ last night, bringing the run of the company’s first ever live performances to a hugely successful close. The company secured investment from Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grants in October 2022 to pilot the tour to three venues in April. Led by an all-female leadership team, the company was instigated and founded by Helen Mason, a Birmingham-based Dance Artist with a track record of making dance for and with disabled people for over twenty years.  

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and Theatre Partners announce the Judging panel for the nationwide playwriting competition 37 Plays: an ambitious and ground-breaking new initiative open to anybody from anywhere in the UK. More than 2,000+ plays were submitted and have been read by a panel of 24 readers recruited from across the UK.

Acting Artistic Director of the RSC, Erica Whyman, will chair a panel of 10 judges. The full panel includes theatre-maker and Associate Director of The Unicorn Theatre Rachel Bagshaw, actor and RSC Associate Artist Ray Fearon, Theatre Critic and Associate Editor of The Stage Lyn Gardner, Best-selling author Sharna Jackson, 2018 Ian Charleson Award-winner Bally Gill, award-winning playwrights Mark Ravenhill and Juliet Gilkes Romero and actor/writer and Associate Artist David Threlfall.

Multiplatinum global superstar Jason Derulo is back with his long awaited new single, “Glad U Came,” available now via Atlantic Records at all DSPs and streaming services HERE. Produced by Pink Slip (One OK Rock, Royal & The Serpent), Jakke Erixson (Ava Max, Lauren Spencer Smith), Sam Martin (David Guetta, Maroon 5), Spencer Bastian (Rita Ora, Chromeo), and Tor Eimon (Faouzia, Chloe Tang), the smoothly dynamic track is accompanied by an official lyric video premiering today at YouTube.

Dominica’s 12th Jazz ‘n Creole is now here with everything in place for an enjoyable event. Situated atop the lush Cabrits National Park, the historic Fort Shirley provides incredible views of Prince Rupert Bay and surrounding Portsmouth, making it an ideal venue for a festival of this nature.

Today’s lineup will deliver jazz-and-creole-infused performances with international flair from Black Violin, Swingin Stars, Island Jazz Collective, Phyllisia Ross, Signal Band, and recently added Venezuelan orchestra, Octeto Kanaima.

Indie-rockers, The Bluetones, have announced a run of UK live shows for October. Heading to Exeter, Southampton and Margate this Autumn, the shows will see the band celebrate 25 years since the release of their second album ‘Return To The Last Chance Saloon’.

Certified Gold in 1998, the record spawned four hit singles including “Solomon Bites The Worm”, “If” and “Sleazy Bed Track”. The live shows will see The Bluetones performing ‘Return To The Last Chance Saloon’ in full, plus a set of greatest hits.

“Country-trap iconoclast” (Grammy.com) Willie Jones will release Something To Dance To – his major label debut album – June 16 via Sony Music Nashville in partnership with The Penthouse.

“Something To Dance To personifies me and what I’m really about, which is bringing electricity, positive vibes and celebrating,” said Jones. “Ever since I was a kid, I liked to get the energy up and change the vibration of a room. If we’re gonna show up, let’s show out and have some fun!”

South Asian music fans are flocking to Coachella this year as it offers blockbuster attractions from the community.

The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, among the most profitable music events in the world, takes place over two consecutive weekends every April in Indio, California. This year, Indian singer and actor Diljit Singh Dosanjh and Pakistani singer and composer Ali Sethi are among South Asian acts debuting at the festival as they perform alongside international acts like BLACKPINK, Kid Laroi, Charli XCX, Labrinth, Jai Wolf, Joy Crookes, Jai Paul, Frank Ocean and Underworld.

Bloodywood began their journey as a "parody band", uploading metal covers of popular Hindi songs on YouTube. Six years on, they have toured about 90 countries, played in some of the most iconic venues - including Wacken Open Air - and have become the first Indian metal act to feature on Billboard charts.

The band's music is strictly headbanging - but it's their ability to introduce folksy sounds and textures into the classic chug of heavy metal that sets them apart.

Previously praised by leading talents such as Sir Elton John and Sting, Jake Isaac’s recent tracks ‘Start Again’, ‘Still Have You’ and ‘When It Hurts’ featuring Jack Savoretti have seen the South Londoner take his soulful expression and sumptuous songcraft to a new level which has received support from BBC Radio 2. Jake Isaac now shares his new album ‘For When It Hurts’ and the new single ‘Broken Pieces’ featuring Joss Stone. 

With less than three weeks until the British Basketball League Play-Off Finals, the league has confirmed a star-studded line of entertainment for the final showpiece event of the British Basketball calendar at The O2 Arena, London on Sunday 14th of May.

Fans of British hip-hop will be thrilled that the energetic and inspiring duo, Young T & Bugsey are scheduled to perform at the halftime show during the Men’s finals. The Nottingham rap duo have been at the forefront of the UK music scene, forming their brand on the infectious crossovers of hip-hop, Afro-swing, and trap, since storming into the U.K. charts in 2019 with their platinum-certified "Strike a Pose" summer hit, which featured renowned British talent Aitch.

Following a near sell out run at The Rep in 2022, Cassa Pancho’s Ballet Black return to the theatre on 3 - 4 May to present award-winning choreographers, Will Tuckett and Mthuthuzeli November in a double bill of new and original work in Ballet Black: Pioneers.

This thrilling and imaginative double bill features Birmingham born Will Tuckett’s Then Or Now, originally created in 2020, which blends classical ballet, music and the poetry of American writer Adrienne Rich to ask the question: in times like these, where do we belong?

A singer, actor and civil rights activist, Harry Belafonte died at home, in New York, in the USA. As one of the biggest music and acting icons of his generation – in general – and, probably more so, one of the biggest cultural icons in history, he well known for hits like Island In The Sun and Mary's Boy Child.

Having studied drama at the Dramatic Workshop, in his native New York City, whose alumni include fellow-Hollywood greats like Marlon Brando, Tony Curtis, Elaine Stritch, Robert De Niro, Beatrice Arthur and Tennessee Williams, he joined the Navy during the Second World War, before returning to the States and then playing in clubs and music venues alongside the likes of jazz greats Miles Davis and Charlie Parker.

Len Goodman is still being remembered as a "kind and brilliant" man who lit up the screen, following his death due to bone cancer. Friends and co-stars all paid tribute to the former dancer, who became head judge on Strictly Come Dancing and its US counterpart Dancing With The Stars.

Strictly presenter Claudia Winkleman called Goodman "a class act" who was full of "twinkle, warmth and wit". Respects were also paid by the British Royal family and UK government.