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Left Stag: November - The Fading Beauty of the FA Cup

At the risk of this column being renamed Grumpy Stag, Nostalgia Stag, or In My Day Things Were Better Stag, I’m going to have to moan about something else here...

Theatre Review: Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak at Lakeside Arts

Using a combination of comedy, storytelling and knitted vegetables, Victoria Melody treated us to a tale of resistance that was both tender and galvanising...

Gig review: SPRINTS at Rock City, with Dog Race

With the memory of their standout Bodega show still fresh in our minds, there was no way we were going to miss SPRINTS' return to Nottingham. This time, Rock City was the venue for a milestone performance which defined the absolute best of the outspoken, anarchic, post-punk spirit...

Night Creatures Podcast #3: Killer Jim from Out To Lunch on 25 years of Northern soul, jazz funk and jazz dance events in Nottingham

Night Creatures is a new LeftLion podcast, shining a light on the promoters of Nottingham. Your host and interviewer is Beane, co-founder of Nottingham’s beloved Soul Buggin’ night and he brings with him over twenty years of experience of putting on great parties in the city.

Nottingham celebrates ten years as a UNESCO City of Literature with a spectacular gala on 1 December

In 2025, Nottingham turns the page on a remarkable chapter; ten years as a UNESCO City of Literature and the charity is throwing a party worthy of Nottingham’s words!

Theatre Review: Steps Here and Now at the Theatre Royal

Dazzling homage to the 90s pop powerhouse...

Gig review: The Smyths at The Level

Top tribute band The Smyths packed in fans young and old into The Level for an electrifying and believable rendition of The Smiths’ legendary album, Meat Is Murder, as well as a selection of the 80s band's best-loved songs...

Competition: Win a Sauna and Plunge experience for up to 8 People at Saunahood in the National Watersports Centre

Saunahood offers wood-fired sauna and contrast therapy from a quiet corner in the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham's Holme Pierrepont Country Park. You can win a Sauna and Plunge experience for up to 8 People to be taken sometime between January and March next year by entering our totally free competition below…

SherWords: The Writing Group with Community and Connection at its Heart

"Sherwood is almost synonymous with Nottingham and Nottingham with writing." That's how Frances Thimann, a short story writer and member of the SherWords writing group, traces the link between the Nottingham area and the act of writing. This connection remains very much alive today in SherWords, a friendly, collaborative writing group rooted in the local community and sustained by their passion for literature... 

Artworks: Anna Mylonas of Nine Two Five Silver

For this month’s Artworks, we hear from Anna Mylonas, a Notts-based silversmith who runs Nine Two Five Silver.

Classical Music Review: The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra with guest conductor Elena Schwartz at the Royal Concert Hall

Turmoil, transcendence and orchestral grandeur are the order of the day in the BBC Philharmonic’s latest Nottingham appearance... 

Review: JT Soar Fest 2025

This time last week, one of Nottingham's most intriguing music and arts spaces, JT Soar, played host to an ultra-eclectic festival packed with intriguing names and tunes. Here's what happened over the weekend at  JT Soar Fest 2025...

Gig review: Halina Rice at Rescue Rooms

As electronic music matures further past the clubs, the desire of artists to deconstruct and subvert the norms that have developed over the decades grows. As sub-genres and tropes spawn like branches on an ever growing tree, musicians stand ready to atomise and rearrange those new conventions, manipulating them, pushing them toward the furthest boundaries, seeing how far those rules will stretch into the left field. Halina Rice is one such musician...

Nouvelle Vague's Marc Collins and Mélanie Pain talk about the band's beginnings ahead of the Metronome show

With twenty years of covering some of the most seminal post-punk and new wave tracks of all time, French band Nouvelle Vague bring their elegant live performance to Metronome next Wednesday. We sat down to speak to producer Marc Collins and singer Mélanie Pain to discover how the band began and what inspired their sound...

LeftLion's Latest Listens #35: Notts music we're currently spinning

In this edition of LeftLion's Latest Listens for 2025, our music team reviews new releases from Kai-Otee, LYVIA, Bored Marsh, Fools & Sages, Willow Bay and Revenge of Calculon...

Nottingham’s universities invite local residents with life and skills experiences to apply for community-focused research PhD projects

Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and the University of Nottingham (UoN) are inviting people from the local community to apply for paid, full-time PhD, and part-time Placement research projects that aim to improve the lives of communities across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire...

Theatre review: Slava's Snow Show at the Royal Concert Hall Nottingham

Confetti, inflatables and clowns at the Royal Concert Hall? Slava's Snow Show must be in town...

Game on: two Nottingham Panthers talk the upcoming ice hockey season

Luca Sheldon and Jordan Kelsall are the two local players on the 25/26 Nottingham Panthers roster. We sat down with them to explore what it means to wear the Panthers jersey, as Nottingham lads, and how they’re feeling about the 2025/26 campaign.

Pick Six: Craig Proud of Nottingham print studio Dizzy Ink

For this month’s Pick Six we turn to Craig Proud of print studio Dizzy Ink, who hosts Notts Zine Fest on Saturday 8 November at the Central Library.

Rap artist JayaHadADream on her debut record and the Nottingham music scene

Since winning last year’s Glastonbury Festival Emerging Talent competition, things have only been on the up for Cambridge-via-Notts artist JayaHadADream. From collaborating with both local names and national heavyweights in dance music and hip hop, like Andy Zoutr, Gardna, and Flowdan, to receiving nods from the likes of Stormzy, there’s truly no stopping her. Wonderfully, she also got her start right here in Nottingham.

With her debut album Happiness From Agony now released, plus a Metronome show this month, she told us how life’s going at the moment.

Truth or Legend: The Strange Case of Gallow's Hill

It's nearly Halloween, and in that tradition LeftLion's chief urban myths chief Matthew Blaney tackles the legend of Gallows Hill, and associated stories...

Music review: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra came to the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall last week led by its musical director Vasily Petrenko...

Sweet spot: taking a look at Effy’s new pastry collection

Since arriving on the Nottingham coffee scene in 2019, Effy has become a favourite haunt for local coffee connoisseurs in the know. Now this indie coffee shop is developing a reputation for its equally impressive pastries. Food co-editor Lucy Campion chats to owner Mitch Farr about the shop’s growing bakery operation.

Gig review: Sigrid at Metronome

On the first properly chilly night this autumn, Sigrid breezed into town with Nordic flair. Only a few hours before the release of her third studio album, There’s Always More That I Could Say, the Norwegian pop singer-songwriter appeared at the incredibly intimate setting of Metronome... 

LeftLion's Latest Listens #34: Notts music we're currently spinning

In this week's edition of LeftLion's Latest Listens, our music team reviews new releases from flöat, The Missing Diamonds, Emily Sanders, Di$mal and Lucy Crisp...