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Pere Ubu review – thrillingly unorthodox and cerebral rock music

Frontman David Thomas is in wonderfully contrary form in a show short on classics and predictability but long on invention, writes Dave Simpson

Pere Ubu: Lady from Shanghai – review

Pere Ubu are still messing with the settings of rock'n'roll 35 years on from their legendary debut, writes Tom Hughes

Spiritualized/Pere Ubu

Royal Festival Hall, London

Pere Ubu

Royal Festival Hall, London
  • Alim Beisembayev review – intimacy and conviction in programme of Romanticism
  • Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/ Candillari review – Simpson’s oratorio shrieks; Elgar and Sibelius stay polite
  • LPO/Tan Dun review – a full battery of drums, dramatic inhalations and hints of Mongolian throat singing
  • The Turn of the Screw review – gripping and unsettling water-logged staging of Britten’s ghost story
  • Tamerlano review – Trump, Freud and a Bridgerton escapee struggle to get a handle on Handel
  • Miroslav Vitous: Mountain Call review – double bass duets balance muscularity with mellowness
  • Flea: Honora review – Chili Pepper turns piper, taking up trumpet for a soulful jazz odyssey
  • Mendelssohn: Symphonies and Oratorios album review – Andris Nelsons’ prodigious talent on full display
  • Anne-Sophie Mutter: East Meets West album review – diverse, bold and brand new
  • Paul McCartney: Days We Left Behind review – this wistful, lovely song is as McCartney-esque as it’s possible to be
  • Rigoletto review – strong revival of Mears’s violent take, with Elder revelatory in the pit
  • Fcukers: Ö review – hyped Harry Styles-supporting NYC hedonists have the hooks to merit the hoopla
  • The Passion of Mary Magdalene review – Tansy Davies’s score is taut and intriguing
  • Imeneo review – Handel in mischievous mood handled with wit and care
  • Robyn: Sexistential review – pop doyenne returns with emotional grenades and a new philosophy
  • Raye: This Music May Contain Hope review – a wildly ambitious epic of unbridled self-expression
  • FKA twigs review – an Olympian display of pop prowess
  • Pagliacci review – Leoncavallo’s grand guignol staged with insight and commitment
  • Geese review – all hail the new saviours of rock’n’roll
  • The Gondoliers review – brilliantly barbed Gilbert and Sullivan is a feast for the eyes and ears
  • BTS review – having lost none of their chemistry, this is a comeback of epic proportions
  • BTS: Arirang review – the world’s biggest pop band return with dumb fun and downright weirdness
  • Grace Ives: Girlfriend review – bedroom-pop auteur goes widescreen for a gorgeous sobriety epic
  • Huw Marc Bennett: Heol Las review – exhilarating Welsh folk injected with synths, sitars and surf rock
  • Johannes-Passion album review – Pygmalion are razor sharp in theatrical new recording
  • Through the Centuries: Songs of Madeleine Dring album review – puts paid to any idea that she was not a serious composer
  • Underscores: U review – ultra-imaginative auteur has pop’s most brilliant brain
  • Siegfried review – invigorating and mesmerising staging, with Schager outstanding as Wagner’s hero
  • Wu-Tang Clan review – still bringing the ruckus even on their farewell tour
  • The Kingdom: Oxford Bach Choir, BSO/Nicholas review – Elgar’s unloved oratorio sounds expansive and convincing

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