One-line gig reviews for June 2026

I know, I know — it is mid-July and I am fashionably late with June’s gig reviews, but it turns out when you spend the entire month running around venues across the country, it takes a moment to recover. This edition features a beautiful, probable live farewell to an absolute legend, the first of two summer dates with Robert Smith, and getting to see my favourite band in front of perhaps the biggest crowd of their lengthy career. Oh, and we won some bucket hats. Here is what I saw live in June …

Scenius, Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea, 2 Jun – Sticking very close to the 1980s synth-duo formula, ironically while they were supporting Midge Ure if anything they tacked closer to the solo sound of his Ultravox predecessor John Foxx. Very enjoyable and very 1980.

Midge Ure, Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea, 2 Jun – I think Midge had done himself a disservice with the way this tour was sold as featuring a musical journey and instrumentals because essentially it was all hits, the odd deep cut, and if your instrumentals are the Top of the Pops theme and the epic opening Astrodyne from the Vienna album it is hardly niche. I danced all night, without tears in my eyes, despite him playing the track Lament and reminding me it is 42+ years since I first saw Ultravox tour that very album.

Kraftwerk, Royal Albert Hall, London, 4 Jun – I’ve seen this show many times over the years now since I first saw them in 1991, and it never gets old. This time I was pleased to be able to introduce my son and my partner Melanie to it. We got last-minute standing tickets and then when we were at the venue got upgraded to stalls seats right by the side of the stage, one of the times I’ve been closest to them. They played a couple of things I’ve never seen before — Ätherwellen in full and a version of Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, dedicated to Ryūichi Sakamoto — but mostly it was just the unique sound and presentation of Kraftwerk. The men machines forever, regardless of who is in the line-up.

When I saw them in Brixton in 2004, I did not know it would be the last time I’d see Florian Schneider live. But I guess, on this, my twelfth Kraftwerk show, I know it is sadly probably my last time giving Ralf a standing ovation at the end.

The Nightshift, Trades Hall, Walthamstow, 6 Jun – For my sister’s birthday party she and lots of my family went to the Trades Hall to have a jolly good bop to a very sparkly 80s cover band who were great fun and who, unlike Joanne Joanne, do play Rio.

Sparks, Royal Hospital Chelsea, London, 12 Jun – Easily the most Tory venue I’ve ever been to — there’s a Margaret Thatcher infirmary for Christ’s sake — and then support act the Chelsea Pensioner Singers freaked us all by opening their set with the fanfare It’s a Sparks Show, making me panic I had missed the beginning of the main event.

And what a main event it was. I got to introduce my partner to experiencing my favourite band live, they dug out some choice deep cuts, Russell had to do impromptu stand-up when the power failed during Beat the Clock, it was a gorgeous sunny evening, and the cocktails and beer flowed.

And we won bucket hats.

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Maxïmo Park, Chalk, Brighton, 17 Jun – God I love them now, and when I saw they were doing another round of their 20th anniversary tour calling in for a matinee show in Brighton ahead of England’s opening World Cup match I was just always going to be there. The venue was having a nightmare, with all the draft beer seemingly off for a while and having to be pulled through the lines, making it chaos. But I found a nice spot in the upstairs bit with a direct view of singer Paul plus a TV screen of the whole stage plus a speaker plus somewhere to rest my bottle of beer …

… and once the gig finished they put on the big screen …

England v Croatia, Chalk, Brighton, 17 Jun – GO ON THE ENGLAND!

Trueno, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, 20 Jun – Not my bag at all — Latin-infused hip-hop — but they certainly went at it with some gusto and I quite liked the energy.

Sparks, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, 20 Jun – Awwwwwwwwww, my boys in front of maybe the biggest, definitely one of the biggest, crowds of their lengthy career. I even splashed out for gold circle tickets to be close to them.

Gorillaz, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, 20 Jun – I just don’t get Gorillaz. I’ve always seen it as Damon’s side-project when Graham doesn’t want to make Blur records but people really, really love it? I felt like I was standing out like a sore thumb as the only dude in the golden circle standing there a bit bored, so I left early.

But I didn’t leave before the bit when Sparks guested, of course.

The Twilight Sad, Blackweir Fields, Cardiff, 24 Jun – Algorithms are constantly pushing them at me, and this is the third time I’ve seen them as a support act, I think, and still … it just doesn’t do it for me, sorry.

The Cure, Blackweir Fields, Cardiff, 24 Jun – The first of two Cure gigs for me this summer, it was so blazing hot but once the sun dipped behind the stage we had a blast. What a back catalogue, even when they dip into some of the less-favoured quarters of it — I’m sure we can all live without any songs from Wild Mood Swings — and I can’t wait to see them again. They didn’t play anything off the latest album though, which was odd given how well received it was.

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Canon’s Marsh Amphitheatre, Bristol, 26 Jun – Boundless energy and unlimited hits as ever, in a beautiful setting.

I didn’t get to see either Barbados 99 or Dog Race at Paper Dress Vintage in Hackney on 27 June because as I went to activate the QR code as we arrived we found it had been cancelled. Surely not? So I went to their socials and found this …

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm …

Molten Modular, The Lower Third, Soho, 29 Jun – I only found out about this show because this guy, who I’ve met at the Norwich EMOMs, was bringing his suitcase of modular bits to make mad acidic-tinged techno.

Globo, The Lower Third, Soho, 29 Jun – A somewhat weird 90s electronic band who I was obsessed by, suddenly and unexpectedly doing a gig in London? I had to be there. And I loved it — kind of hard to describe though. Art-prank-tronica?

If you think this year was packed, twelve months ago I was also seeing Sparks twice at the Eventim Apollo, Kraftwerk at Milton Keynes Bowl, and was down the front at an absolutely sweat-drenched, rapturous set by LCD Soundsystem (I’m 54, IDGAF), plus helping host an incredibly packed An Evening with the Fall night at the Walthamstow Trades Hall to raise money for Eat or Heat, and witnessing Nastazia Basil genuinely make hummus live on stage at the Windmill in Brixton as part of her act. You can take a trip down memory lane and read all those June 2025 reviews in full here or find all my one-line gig reviews here.

[Picture caption: LCD Soundsystem at O2 Academy, Brixton, last year]

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