Freaky Party

Music Reviews and more

Main menu

Skip to primary content
Skip to secondary content
  • Pop/Rock
  • Metal
  • Indie
  • Electronic
  • Folk
  • Jazz
  • Classical

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

Sum 41 review – hugs and lasers as emotional pop-punks go out with a bang

Gleefully raucous anthems give way to heartfelt goodbyes on the Canadian band’s triumphant farewell tour

The Cure: Songs of a Lost World review – as promised, ‘very, very doom and gloom’

The band’s first album in 16 years finds Robert Smith and co on reliably melancholy form – with the exception of one out-and-out pop banger

Lady Gaga: Disease review – a return to form, and to her classic sound

After a run of power ballads and jazz standards – plus the mega-flop Joker sequel – this synthpop single is a reminder of the Gaga of old, while still fitting into Brat-era pop

Kate Bush: Little Shrew review – this devastating film will make you weep at war’s violence against children

Written, directed and soundtracked by Bush, built up from sketches she drew herself, this four-minute animation is suffused with both love and horror

Laura Marling: Patterns in Repeat review – a tender love letter to motherhood

Domestic contentment radiates through the singer-songwriter’s eighth album celebrating the circle of life

Fievel Is Glauque: Rong Weicknes review – teetering song-towers that never quite topple

Brilliant melodies, poetic lyrics and quick-change time signatures elevate this quirky jazz-pop release to a level all its own

The Cult review – hard rock survivors blast through a beefy 40th birthday party

Displaying the lean mean belligerence of artists half their age the band bring a brutish level of distortion and energy to a tight 90 minute set of classics

Joni Mitchell review – a triumphant star-studded Hollywood show

The star delivered a transcendent, career-spanning retrospective, surrounded by famous faces including Elton John and Meryl Streep

Kylie: Tension II review – more of the same is much, much less

Kylie Minogue’s follow-up to 2023’s euphoric Tension – and smash hit Padam Padam – fluctuates between sparkle and self-doubt, generic pap and two stone-cold bangers

Thelma Plum: I’m Sorry, Now Say It Back review – anthems of care and conviction

The Gamilaraay musician’s second album is filled with light and shade, resilience and humour – though it doesn’t quite match the highs of her debut

The Cure: Songs of a Lost World review – dark, personal and their best since Disintegration

The band are at an artistic peak on their first album in 16 years: movingly melancholic, with a punchy sound to match the lyrics’ emotional impact

Blossoms review – funky indie-pop singalongs (and a 6ft gorilla) send the crowd wild

Blossomsmania is in full force at this cheery, beery gig, which has something of the atmosphere of an indie Last Night of the Proms

Porridge Radio: Clouds in the Sky They Will Always Be There for Me review – exquisite euphoria through repetition

Emotions run high on the Brighton band’s fourth album as frontwoman Dana Margolin exorcises past relationships

Dua Lipa review – orchestral special boasts Elton John but tips into old-fashioned Eurovision

Accompanied by a 53-piece orchestra and 14-strong choir, the pop superstar forsakes many of her biggest hits to perform the entirety of her coolly received new album

Japandroids: Fate & Alcohol review – Canadian duo’s bittersweet breakup record

Brian King and David Prowse’s guitar-drums combo enjoys one last hurrah with tracks ranging from bluesy epics to rock romcom

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →
  • Danish String Quartet review – captivating performance from a world-class group
  • Manchester Camerata review – mental torments build up to a royal meltdown
  • The Marriage of Figaro review – Danielle de Niese’s deft direction weds finery with fun
  • St Vincent review – majestic orchestral transformations of jagged art-pop
  • BBCNOW/Bancroft review – conductor takes final bow in imaginative programme of vivid colours and emotions
  • Krishna review – the mystery of John Tavener’s ‘mystic pantomime’ is why it has been staged
  • Taylor Swift: I Knew It, I Knew You review – giddy up! Song for Toy Story cowgirl Jessie is Swift’s best in years
  • Zoh Amba: Eyes Full review – raw, rugged country rock also has real tenderness
  • Gintė Preisaitė: Instruments of Forgetting and the Singing Bone review – atmospheric, unsettling ambience
  • Hourglass album review – Simone Dinnerstein gives Glass room to breathe
  • Lizzo: Bitch review – a spirited star who just can’t rediscover her groove
  • Beethoven: The Violin Sonatas Vol 1 album review – fresh-as-a-daisy performances from a duo with a gift for storytelling
  • Mike D review – ex-Beastie Boy’s first UK gig in two decades, in a Tyneside bingo hall, is uproarious fun
  • Saint Levant review – Palestinian pop star makes Australian debut to an ecstatic, sold-out crowd
  • Vespers review – haunting clash of cultures conjures Vivaldi’s Venice
  • Jack White review – former White Stripe’s art is like a 12-year-old visiting Tate Modern for the first time
  • Lise Davidsen and James Baillieu review – superstar soprano unleashes her inner Valkyrie
  • Orlando review – a confident romp through Handel’s flimsily plotted opera
  • Take That review – stadium redux of Circus tour has maximal razzle-dazzle
  • Hampson and Sidorova review – style over substance with a whiff of the cruise ship
  • Matías Aguayo: Anenoa review – the funkiest, freest singer in the business hits the dancefloor
  • Violet Grohl: Be Sweet to Me review – alt-rock arriviste aces the part
  • Dvořák: Symphony No 9 album review – Shani brings a natural freshness to a familiar work
  • La Traviata review – gripping and genuinely moving staging opens Garsington’s summer season
  • Colin Matthews: Seascapes album review – the songs teem with detail
  • Iceage: For Love of Grace & the Hereafter review – Danish punks ace sixth stellar album on the trot
  • La Fanciulla del West review – insightful staging reveals the power of Puccini’s maverick masterpiece
  • 125th anniversary gala concert review – back to 1901 as Wigmore celebrates birthday playing to its strengths
  • Sugar review – Bob Mould’s reunited band still in a sweet spot between noise and melody
  • Paul McCartney: The Boys of Dungeon Lane review – at 83, his gift for melody still astounds

Contact www.freakyparty.net   Terms of Use