Beth Orton review – battered optimism from an artist making the best music of her career

Drawing almost entirely from her last two albums, and backed by a band rooted in jazz and experimentation, Orton performed her emotionally fraught songs to a rapturous crowd

Fontaines DC: Dopamine Chamber review – gloomy, gorgeous and a gargantuan triumph

This is a beguiling, endlessly inventive and frequently astonishing fifth LP from a group at increasing ease with being the best band of their generation

Tame Impala review – Kevin Parker ricochets between musical uppers and downers in eye-popping arena show

Melancholic newer tracks sit uncomfortably alongside the chunky psychedelia and hazy prog-rock the Australian band is known for

Jess Williamson: A Mile South of Heaven review – alt-country singer’s love-hate affair with LA

Following 2023 breakout Time Ain’t Accidental, the best songs here are when Williamson strips back country music, rebuilding it as something familiar yet different

Troye Sivan: She’s the Best review – a strange, singular pop star who deserves to be multiplatinum

Adored by the A-list and filling arenas, but without huge smash hits, the Australian singer treads his own distinctive path through pop via shoegaze, Balearic and the Smiths

Olivia Dean review – a powerful, affirming night with a pop star at the height of her powers

The singer’s first stop on her Australia and New Zealand tour is a fun but sincere demonstration of the power of pop to get at what love’s all about

Metallica review – metal titans on fine form in spectacular rarities-focused show

The first night of a new residency is an immersive plunge into the band’s visual world that showcases the depth of their catalog

The Undertones review – silver-haired fans get Teenage Kicks once more

Derry’s answer to the Ramones play 30 songs in a breakneck and breathless ride through the punk humour and new-wave surrealism of their repertoire

Meshell Ndegeocello: Synonym review – vivid all-star reinventions of everyone from Bob Dylan to J-Lo

In the jazz-soul singer’s ‘expression of queer liberation’, stars from Chaka Khan to Bill Callahan to Cynthia Erivo duet on equally varied songs from Cher to the Human League and beyond

The Pussycat Dolls review – Nicole Scherzinger’s star power dominates fraught reunion

First announced in 2019 and now launching with just three of the original lineup, the Dolls whip up a whirlwind of hair-flipping and put on a decent spectacle

Taylor Swift: The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore review – flashes of humanity and bafflingly vindictive love songs

This four-track addition to a critically maligned album works hard to remind fans what they love about Swift, with some sweet highs and galling lows

Jae Stephens: Audacity review – a thrilling lesson in why more debut albums should go for broke

After five EPs in in seven years, the Dallas native with the big voice pours everything into this bonkers cauldron of maximalist R&B and hyperactive pop

Can’t Get You Out of My Head by Michael Cragg review – what’s the secret of Kylie’s genius?

The pop star emerges as a great unifier in this in-depth yet heartfelt portrait of an Aussie icon

Gilla Band: Pugnello review – furious originality fuelled by cathartic aggression and absurdist confessions

Your favourite band’s favourite band unleash a thrilling and relentless 42 minutes of monstrous noise whose precise instrumental source always remains discomfitingly unclear

Roomful of Teeth/Kahane review – twisty and tuneful songs with a darkly comic edge

Gabriel Kahane’s whimsical song cycle about grief, divorce and death brings irresistible melodies and moments of comic brilliance to the virtuoso US vocal ensemble