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Here's why you cannot miss Dot To Dot Festival in 2026

Dot to Dot is a very special sort of music festival. Held in Bristol and Nottingham over a single weekend, it brings together local scenes and underground darlings, the concrete and the extreme. This year’s lineup is especially strong, with its mix of sleazy electroclash, Irish alt-grunge, rough and tough punk, and Americana emo, all culminating in a once in a lifetime experience...

Comedy, music festivals and local talent: Here's what's on this week in Nottingham 18 -24 May

 This week in Notts! Enjoy local theatre performances and live comedy, or head to Dot to Dot music festival and dance the night away in various venues across Nottingham. Here's our top picks...

What to expect from Green Hustle festival 2026

After five joyous, community-celebrating and grassroots action-galvanising Green Hustle Festivals, the team behind the event are this month putting on the most expansive and exploratory edition yet. With the theme of ‘Sow Good’, Green Hustle CIC Co-Director and LeftLion Environment Editor Adam Pickering guides us through how the crew hopes to seed a sustainable and thriving Notts through creativity, inclusion and inspiration.

LeftLion Interviews Podcast #17: Crazy P’s Jim Baron on international tours and festivals, soundtracking The Sopranos and his new venture White Elephant

This episode we are joined by Jim Baron from Crazy P who talks about his career in music, starting a band in Notts that became internationally renown, soundtracking for film and TV and his new venture White Elephant...

Competition: Win A Family Pass for Gloworm Festival 2026

We’ve teamed up with Gloworm Festival to give two lucky familes a truly magical adventure at Gloworm Festival, taking place at Thoresby Park this summer...

14 great music festivals in and around Nottingham for 2026

You can feel it starting... The evenings are lighter and the first warm weekends spark everybody into optimism, and suddenly someone shares a line-up in a group chat and writes, ‘We have to go!’

Across Nottinghamshire and the wider east midlands, 2026 is shaping up to be another packed one. Big-name headliners, grassroots weekends, city takeovers and quieter escapes all sit side-by-side. If you want to start planning your festival season soon, here are some suggestions. 

Classical Music Review: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Domingo Hindoyan at the Royal Concert Hall

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra is yet another orchestra proving you do not need to go down south to see world-class concert music. And now they're back with a new conductor. Can they still cut the musical mustard... 

Theatre Review: Horrible Histories Live (& Dead): The Concert at the Royal Concert Hall

It may be horrible but still it is a much-beloved children's TV series that educates as much as entertains. And this weekend the horribleness came to Nottingham...

Shakespeare Unfolded Festival: A celebration of insightful performances and creative exploration coming to Nottingham

Between Mon 16 – Sat 21 March Nottingham's Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall will be hosting a free festival of performances, workshops, academic insight and open mic nights; inviting audiences to experience William Shakespeare’s classic works in new ways...

Gina Birch on truth, insight and how to live a life devoid of convention

An emblem of passion, a staple of creativity... Gina Birch has been key to establishing and presenting the female voice within the punk music movement. Nottingham born Gina is well-known as a founding member of The Raincoats but her contribution goes much, much wider. Ria Serena found out more for LeftLion... 

Night Creatures Podcast #5: Adam and Rob Perkins from Boho Festival on organising Notts parties from the 90s to now

Night Creatures is a 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 two decades of experience of putting on great parties in the city.

What's Happening At Nottingham's Festival of Science and Curiosity in 2026

For two weeks every February, a wide range of scientists, researchers, engineers, creatives and inventors get out of the lab and go into Notts schools, libraries and community venues to show their work...

Live music, light shows, and classic cinema: Here's what's on in Nottingham this week, 2 - 8 February

From legendary artists and independent musicians, to cinema and light installations, this week brings a wide assortment of events to the Notts creative scene. Here are our picks of this week...

Review: Beat The Streets 2026

“This is our 8th edition since 2018; we’ve raised over half a million pounds so far!” proudly announces Managing Director of DHP Family George Akins during the Beat The Streets press tour backstage at Rock City. It’s a mind-blowing sum of money and a reminder that this festival hasn’t just become a staple of the Notts calendar for giving the city an amazing day of live music – it’s an event that makes a huge difference. Heading out for another day of venue roaming and charity fundraising, this is what our LeftLion team got up to at Beat The Streets 2026…

Festival review: Paint By Numbers at The Bodega

In a mark of just how healthy Nottingham's music scene is, this year we were treated to a brand new metropolitan festival. Paint By Numbers took place at (award winning) The Bodega, and turned out to be a day of sweat, softness and standout sets. We went along to see tomorrow’s headliners come to the forefront, capturing Nottingham’s music scene at a moment of momentum...

How local goth-punks Bloodworm built their profile with live shows

In the midst of their UK tour with fellow Nottingham band Swallowtail – which serves as preparation for their seventeen-date run supporting Suede next year – we met goth-punk outfit Bloodworm to chat about their upcoming appearance at a new Bodega festival – Paint by Numbers – as they close out a milestone year and look ahead to an even bigger one…

Gig review: Baxter Dury at Rock City

Baxter Dury returns to the East Midlands just as sharp, as he enters his dance-pop era. The last time we saw him in Nottingham was hitting supporting duties for Primal Scream back in April. Now, with his ninth studio album in tow, Dury gets to do it all again. But this time as the leading man...

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...

French post-punk, brew festivals, Disney on Ice and festive ballet: here's what's on in Notts this week 10-15 November 2025

This week, get yourself down to the Craft Brew Festival, enjoy some elegant post-punk covers, welcome Christmas in early with a ballet of A Christmas Carol, or skate down to Disney on Ice. Here are our top picks of the week....

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...

Bonfires, bands, theatre, zines and a film festival: here's what's on in Notts this week 3 - 9 November 2025

Ignore the chilly weather, there's lots to indulge in this week in Notts. From fairs selling zines and crafts, to classic stories on the stage and a film festival. Check out some of our top picks...

Review: Hockley Hustle 2025

There are community festivals and then there is Hockley Hustle. Continuing to be in a league of its own, this time last week venues across Hockley and Sneinton were filled with the sounds of an incredibly diverse and talented array of artists, all raising money for local charities. As ever, our music team went along to soak up the heartwarming atmosphere – here are our highlights in words and pictures...

Carnival themed bingo, West End rock n roll and the Comedy Festival: here's what's on this week 27 October-2 November 2025

If you fancy starting Halloween off with clowns and digits or perhaps you're in the mood for some punk rock tickets, we've got you covered! Themed bingo or concert what will you choose, either way there's most definitely something for you.

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... 

Gig review: Reef at Rock City

Anyone who managed to place their hands on tickets for the Reef gig at Rock City knew they were in for a good night of music as the band played the entirety of their 1995 debut album in its 30th anniversary year....