A one-line review of every gig I’ve been to in November 2025

This month featuring, among others, Wet Leg, Cabaret Voltaire, Gary Numan, Adam Ant, ABC, Fields of the Nephilim, Desperate Journalist, Swans, Sananda Maitreya, Toyah, and me literally annoying Robert Fripp …

Heathen Apostles, O2 Forum, Kentish Town, 1 Nov – Sort of faux-goth Americana, pleasant enough.

[Heathen Apostles at O2 Forum, Kentish Town]

Claytown Troupe, O2 Forum, Kentish Town, 1 Nov – I must have heard them at goth clubs and seen them live supporting people back in the day, but they didn’t really do anything for me in 2025, unlike …

Fields of the Nephilim, O2 Forum, Kentish Town, 1 Nov – … who I just love, even though I’m entirely unclear who in the band is original apart from Carl McCoy, and the cost of living crisis appears to have reduced the amount of dry ice they can afford.

[Fields of the Nephilim at O2 Forum, Kentish Town]

One thing though – someone needs to do an academic study into whether Fields of the Nephilim, or goth music in general, disproportionately attracts tall fans. I felt like one of the Borrowers in that crowd.

Swallowtail, The Lexington, Islington, 2 Nov – Oh these were AMAZING – female vocal gothy shoegaze and I definitely want to see them again and got excited enough to buy a T-shirt.

[Swallowtail at The Lexington, Islington]

Desperate Journalist, The Lexington, Islington, 2 Nov – As singer Jo Bevan put it herself between songs, “If you are looking for delay and angst you are in the right place, baby”. I adore them.

[Despy J at The Lexington, Islington]

Toyah, Dome, Brighton, 3 Nov – I don’t really know her stuff apart from the biggest hits, but she was great, really funny between songs and loads and loads of energy. I really enjoyed it.

[Toyah (quite far away) at Dome, Brighton]

Hilariously^*, during Toyah’s set I went and got a beer, and when I got back a guy was standing in my spot. I huffily rearranged my coat and jumper which I had left to reserve the space, then continued to watch Toyah. I glanced to my left and fuck my old boots the guy who has nicked my place is only her fucking husband – legendary guitarist Robert Fripp, a hero of mine, whose work I was introduced to via David Bowie, David Sylvian and Brian Eno.

I’ve got to talk to him, I thought to myself.

He was filming the gig on his phone, so I waited until there was a gap between songs and he lowered it, tapped him on the shoulder and said “Robert, she’s brilliant isn’t she? You must be very proud”. And in return I got the most intense side-eye and instant “do not approach me” brush-off. Bless him and his famously curmudgeonly ways.

ADAM ANT, Dome, Brighton, 3 Nov – I’ve never seen him before which appears to have been an error because, even at the age of 71, he was absolutely f-ANT-tastic. Also I’d never really listened to the pre-Prince Charming LP stuff beyond the hits, and wow, songs like Whip In My Valise and Beat My Guest are proper post-punk kinkcore, aren’t they?

[Adam Ant (also quite far away) at Dome, Brighton]

ABC, Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-sea, 4 Nov – I will never tire of this show which consists of Martin Fry, Anne Dudley, a mini-orchestra, a smattering of greatest hits and then the whole of Lexicon of Love, my favourite pop album of all time.

[ABC at Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-sea]

Sananda Maitreya, Chalk, Brighton, 6 Nov – Incredible voice still, and I never ever thought I would ever get to see songs like This Side of Love and Billy Don’t Fall from the Neither Fish nor Flesh album live. At the time I felt like I was the only person in the world who liked their second album more than I liked Introducing the Hardline According to…

I only stayed for half the show though, not because it wasn’t great, but Chalk is quite a small venue with a low ceiling and I ended up feeling quite tired and claustrophobic. So I left early. But not before, I think, ending up standing next to Alex Kingston – my second Brighton x Celeb collab in four days. At least, unlike Fripp, I didn’t annoy her.

Love and Dancing – an evening of eighties cool cuts, classics and curve balls, Trades Hall, Walthamstow, 7 Nov – I’m not saying I had too much to drink but there is a video of me dancing round bellowing Empire State Human that I sent to my son because we’ve got an in-joke about the line “I’ll go to Egypt to be the pyramids”.

Swans, Electric Brixton, London, 10 Nov – I first saw Swans in 1987 at the Town and Country club in Kentish Town, when they were supported by The Dave Howard Singers and Björk’s the Sugarcubes. It was a famous night documented on semi-official vinyl release Feel Good Now as about 45 minutes into the gig they were forced off-stage during a song called Beautiful Child because of noise complaints. I remember being there with Graham and John from Bark Psychosis and going back to John’s and lying on the floor with my ears ringing like nothing I’d ever experienced before.

They’ve become one of those bands – like The Fall used to be – that I’m happy to go and see again and again because even if I’m not that familiar with the latest LP, I know it will just sound like Swans. I’m 54 now, so I took my own earplugs.

They banned phones, and I’ve got to be honest, as with EBTG at the Moth Club, it really genuinely made the gig so, so, so much better and immersive.

Faux Real, Royal Albert Hall, London, 13 Nov – Full of energy and I reckon they could do a great turn at Eurovision.

[Faux Real at Royal Albert Hall, London]

Wet Leg, Royal Albert Hall, London, 13 Nov – I was up in the gods, they were tight as fuck, but the boomy acoustics of the RAH didn’t entirely do them favours.

[A blurry Wet Leg at Royal Albert Hall]

The Anchoress, Union Chapel, London, 14 Nov – Lovely set from Catherine with a couple of new songs sounding really strong for the next album, and several impassioned pleas in between songs about the state of the music industry and the state of the world. [INSERT OBLIGATORY MOAN ABOUT UNION CHAPEL NO ALCOHOL IN THE PEWS RULE]

[The Anchoress at Union Chapel, London]

Howard Jones, Palladium, London, 17 Nov – I had sort of misunderstood this, and thought because it was the 40th anniversary of the Dream Into Action album tour he was playing the album in full, but he was not, although maybe that was a blessing because we got a more varied set (and maybe skipped a couple of the weaker tracks). He’s such a sweetie, though.

[Howard Jones at Palladium, London]

[With apologies to Roxanne De Bastion, who was supporting both The Anchoress and Howard Jones, but I missed her both times, apart from when she came on to duet with Catherine on Long Year at the Union Chapel.]

This is What You Get: Stanley Donwood | Radiohead | Thom Yorke, Ashmoleon, Oxford, 18 Nov – I did not manage to get Radiohead tickets for London, but I did go to this. Interesting to see artworks you are familiar with from streaming thumbnails or CDs and vinyl at their full size. It was also impactful to me that there was one room of record/CD sleeves from the early 90s up to the early 2000s and there wasn’t a single thing I saw that I didn’t own as a physical product in my collection at that point. And then abruptly there are singles/EPs by the band and various Thom Yorke offshots that I’d never even clocked the cover existed because I only do streaming these days, not physical products.

Dog Race, O2 Academy, Oxford, 18 Nov – One of my favourite new recent bands, incredibly intense, a little bit Sparks-ish in some ways, always great live.

[Dog Race at O2 Academy, Oxford]

Sprints, O2 Academy, Oxford, 18 Nov – Fucksake this is about the fourth time I’ve either had a ticket for Sprints and couldn’t go, or was at a festival where they were on but got distracted, or had to leave early, and missed them.

Greater Than Fear (I think), rehearsing upstairs at The Tooth and Claw, Inverness, 19 Nov – I was up in Inverness and went to The Tooth and Claw which is a really nice lovely alt/indie/rock/metal joint and the obvious place for someone like me to head to in town. At first I was slightly irritated by the clattering rehearsal sound from upstairs but eventually I really warmed to it and wished they’d switched the jukebox off downstairs so I could hear it better.

[The Tooth and Claw bar, Inverness, band out of shot, rehearsing upstairs]

Microcorps, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton, 22 Nov – Looked great, sounded great, from what I recall, which isn’t … to be honest … that much.

Cabaret Voltaire, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton, 22 Nov – This was simply incredible and a dream come true. I saw the Cabs in 1990 during their house-y/techno years at a show which at the time I thought was one of the best things I’d ever seen, although a subsequent live recording of that tour suggests I may have been delusional. I also saw Richard H Kirk presenting his later solo version of Cabaret Voltaire at Village Underground in 2019, which is a venue I don’t like and what he played was certainly … testing.

[Cabaret Voltaire at Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton]

When Richard died in 2021 I wrote this:

“I’d say they were one of the most formative influences on all of the music that I have made myself over the last four decades – first Cabaret Voltaire, and then the instrumental techno albums that Richard later made under various names during the 1990s after he and Stephen stopped working together. Just an incomparable mix of avant-garde techniques, early electronics, a DIY punk ethic, and then at times a brilliant pop sensibility. We’ve lost a true legend of the UK electronic music scene today.”

And this show in Brighton? Stephen Mallinder, Chris Watson and a couple of fellow conspirators just knocking it out the park with a careeer-spanning set that sounded like they did then, but also sounded updated and contemporary. I fucking loved it. Fucking loved it.

Gary Numan, Cliffs Pavillion, Southend-on-sea, 23 Nov and then Raven Numan, Corn Exchange, Cambridge, 26 Nov and Gary Numan, Corn Exchange, Cambridge, 26 Nov – Yes, I did go to two shows on the Telekon 40th anniversary tour. Yes, I did miss Raven at one of them because I fucked up my trains. Yes, I do quite like her stuff despite the obvious nepo baby jibes and the fact she really wears her influences on her sleeve. Yes, watching Gary Numan play all of Telekon plus an encore of Tubeway Army stuff was immense, especially with the backdrop of his brother dying halfway through the tour a couple of hours after being at one of the shows.

[Raven Numan at Corn Exchange, Cambridge]

[Gary Numan at Cliffs Pavillion, Southend-on-sea]

^*I was mortified.

Find all of my one-line gig reviews here.

Sign up to get my blog posts sent to you via email.