One-line gig reviews for July 2026

Gosh. I went to a lot of gigs in July, including a three-day residency at Alexandra Palace wearing all the hats that annoy my partner with impunity, a gull supervising a legend in Margate, and Kylie Minogue showing up with Nick Cave in Brighton. Here is what I saw live in an absolute marathon of a month …

Dave Pearce, Lytham Festival, Lytham, 4 Jul – Did a good job of whipping up the crowd in such a way that even a committed skinny-angry-90s-boys-with-guitars donkey like me recognised the bangers, which was exactly what was needed. TAKE NOTE CHRIS MOYLES WITH YR SNOOTY SARCASM FOR PAYING PUNTERS THAT I SUFFERED THROUGH LAST YEAR.

Scissor Sisters, Lytham Festival, Lytham, 4 Jul – Never really a fan beyond the obvious hits, but I saw Jake Shears supporting Duran Duran a while back and he was incredibly charismatic, so this support act was an extra reason to hit the north. And I still really like the obvious hits, although as my other half observed, there is something odd about such an out-and-out gay frontman also doing a show which at times really seems to objectify women in an uncomfortable way. Also, in among those iconic hits they smuggle in Let’s Have a Kiki, a track which is, frankly, a crime against music.

Pet Shop Boys, Lytham Festival, Lytham, 4 Jul – Awwwwwwwwww, the one billionth time I have seen PSB do their Dreamworld Greatest Hits tour, and I would go again at the drop of a hat. Adorable legends showing off the incredible breadth of their songbook.

Huge respect to this bunch who didn’t buy tickets but just had a party on their/their Airbnb’s balcony.

Lykke Li, Finsbury Park, London, 5 Jul – Not sure I’d go on stage being suffocated by a fishnet face-mask myself, but then her voice is so good and some of the songs so strong I guess that’s why Lykke Li has enthusiastic fans and I was just someone standing among them.

The Last Dinner Party, Finsbury Park, London, 5 Jul – I’ll say all these things again …

1. Their a cappella harmonies and multi-instrumentalism show they have music chops
2. A certain type of person obsesses over whether they are “manufactured” or an “industry plant” but without a doubt they have incredible stagecraft
3. I feel personally seen by the idea of “Posh-looking women in Victorian lingerie who sound like Sparks” but here we all are

Wolf Alice, Finsbury Park, London, 5 Jul – I saw them touring their first album and then didn’t pay much attention and then – BIFF BANG POW! BOING BOOM TSCHAK! – they are headlining Finsbury Park. Had a nice time in the sunshine, enjoyed the songs I recognised, slightly baffled about how they want to be *all the genres*. Fair fucks to them tho, it was a homecoming show and they live round the corner and put on a brilliant all-women-led bill.

A bit of a fiasco meant I think I heard a bit of DJ Less Than Human and saw a bit of Strange Futures at Hootananny in Brixton on 8 July – they were a gothy shoegazy effort with two bass guitars and rudimentary drums which I enjoyed – but I was too hot, tired and drunk to stay for either An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump or Madeline Goldstein, who had been the reason I’d got tickets. Too much FOMO leads to me trying to do too many things.

White Lies, Alexandra Palace, London, 9 Jul – I’ve said before that I love these Ally Pally outdoor gigs because they sell them – I think because of the steepness and the sightlines – at a capacity well under the number of people you’d think you could fit in, leading to it being really easy to get to the bar/toilets/down the front. White Lies played a condensed greatest hits and were great value. Plus it isn’t often you get to take a picture in which you can see yourself taking the picture …

… and while you often end up behind people taking photos, it is rarely one of the pro snappers …

The Maccabees, Alexandra Palace, London, 9 Jul – I don’t really know their stuff but I knew I liked what they sound like, and this did not disappoint even if most of the material was unfamiliar to me. Also I didn’t realise there were 1,057 of them.

Los Bitchos, Alexandra Palace, London, 10 Jul – Kind of like Los Lobos meets the B52s and Talking Heads, but pretty much all-female, all-instrumental and great fun party music.

English Teacher, Alexandra Palace, London, 10 Jul – Last time I saw them I was merely minutes away from somebody unexpectedly jabbing their finger in my ear in one of the more bizarre incidents of last summer, which rather undermined the whole experience. This time I got to really enjoy them, and bumped into them later in the day to tell them how much I had enjoyed it.

Wet Leg, Alexandra Palace, London, 10 Jul – What can I say? They are fucking brilliant and I love them.

Badly Drawn Boy, Alexandra Palace, London, 12 Jul – I’ve seen him three times at festivals and he has always been grumpy about something. I wonder if he is like that at his own shows?

The Beta Band, Alexandra Palace, London, 12 Jul – For some reason at the time everybody was buzzing about their initial flurry of EPs I never took to them, so this is the first time I’d seen them. Some of those tunes I have very much come to love, and they bought decent live energy to them.

Super Furry Animals, Alexandra Palace, London, 12 Jul – I’m so glad to have had a gap from seeing them and listening to them and so then being able to rekindle my love for them with a burning passion. An exceptionally good show.

So basically I spent three days out of four up at Ally Pally, and most importantly, with my partner away, I got to wear all the hats that annoy her with impunity.

I resisted the minger t-shirt though.

And then I made an ill-advised last-minute trip to Latitude Festival for the day. You can read the full write-up – featuring David Byrne, The Last Dinner Party, the words “monkey tits” and missing out on Steve Pretty playing seashells – in my standalone review here.

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Andrew Cushin, Dreamland, Margate, 25 Jul – Very affable chap being plagued by technical problems and seemingly having to make up his setlist as he went along.

Peter Hook and the Light, Dreamland, Margate, 25 Jul – With New Order touring with only Barney as the original member this all looks less like New Order/Joy Division karaoke and more like a valid continuation as time passes. Boundless enthusiasm for the songs from punters half-my-age down the front which was fun to see.

[Picture caption: Peter Hook being observed and enjoyed by a majestic gull.]

Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, Dreamland, Margate, 25 Jul – He won over my partner who had previously expressed disdain for the Thompson Twins’ back catalogue, and you can’t say fairer than that. I am looking forward to seeing him headline later this year.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Dreamland, Margate, 25 Jul – With a couple of minor differences – Paul singing Secret as part of the encore to give Andy’s voice a rest – it was the same show as in Bristol last month and just as much fun.

Warmduscher, Preston Park, Brighton, 31 Jul – A great festival afternoon act who I have seen a few times, although they came across much rockier this time than the funkier version in my head.

Cate Le Bon, Preston Park, Brighton, 31 Jul – Boring to say it but all I knew about Cate Le Bon was that she wasn’t related to Simon. Chorus-drenched guitars did give it quite an early 80s feel at times though, and she clearly has singer-songwriter chops.

English Teacher, Preston Park, Brighton, 31 Jul – The second time I’d seen them this month, and I felt less won over somehow?

The Flaming Lips, Preston Park, Brighton, 31 Jul – It is, incredibly, 15 years since I last saw Wayne Coyne and company. And they made me feel like I had missed out.

Of course his voice has never been the greatest or the strongest, but that is beside the point.

I do genuinely think that when I saw them at the Green Man festival in 2010 my daughter was not yet a year old and with ear defenders on actually slept through the whole thing.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Preston Park, Brighton, 31 Jul – I’ve not really listened to the last few albums and find it hard to think about doing so, knowing what he has been through. Which seems mad, cos he has gone through it and made that music, but I watched the One More Time with Feeling doco and just found it all too raw. But he is an astonishing showman and live the call and response of lyrics like “Praise him till you’ve forgotten what you’re praising him for, then praise him a little more” hits as a moment when an atheist can enjoy that gospel feeling.

AND THEN WE GOT KYLIE FUCKIN’ MINOGUE.

I had to get back to London on the train so drifted back early and got absolutely fleeced by a corner shop for a couple of adult cans without noticing – FUCK YOU EXPA MARKET – with the sounds of The Weeping Song ringing around Brighton.

It was a bit late being published, but last month’s reviews featured some of my all-time favourite artists including Sparks (x2), Kraftwerk, The Cure, and OMD, plus a last-minute gig cancellation nightmare (that wasn’t OMD for once!) and the headliner I still just … don’t get. Dive into the full roundup here or find all my previous one-line gig reviews here.

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