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LeftLion's Latest Listens #13: Notts music we're currently spinning

In this week's LeftLion's Latest Listens, our music team reviews new releases from ALT BLK ERA, Jayahadadream, Pretty Windows and Alice for Breakfast...

Reclaim the Night: marching for women's safety

Beginning in Leeds in 1977 as part of the Women's Liberation Movement, Reclaim the Night is an annual march throughout the UK against sexual violence, calling for gender equality, and women’s right to be safe on the streets at night. Katherine Monk-Watts recounts the profound experience of attending the event for the very first time...

LeftLion Interviews Podcast #7: Chanel Cresswell on This Is England, Shane Meadows, Guy Ritchie, Colleen Rooney, Winning a BAFTA and more.

Our seventh episode is an interview with BAFTA-winning actor and Television Workshop alumnus Chanel Cresswell... 

A seasonal stocking packed with composers and their Christmas gifts

Kevin Stanley is full of Christmas spirit as he reviews the Hallé's annual festive concert at the Royal Concert Hall...

Our December cover artist Marcus Gilmore talks inspirations and staying creative

This month’s cover artist, Beeston-based Marcus Gilmore talks about his mythic and fantastical inspirations as an illustrator and printmaker, staying creative, and capturing the spirit of Christmas in this edition’s magical cover art...

Gig review: Skinny Lister at Rescue Rooms

With an energetic and "free spirited" set at Rescue Rooms, folk-punk group Skinny Lister put us straight into in Christmas mode...

In photos: Been Stellar at The Bodega, with Cardinals

Conscious Closet talk to us about sustainable and festive fashion

With the season of glitter and cheer now well and truly here, Fashion Editor Addie Kenogbon-Harley caught up with Sarah Rockley and Lisa Holland, co-founders of Nottingham sustainable fashion brand and occasion wear rental service, Conscious Closet, to find out how rented looks could be the key to a more sustainable festive party season.

Puppets, songs, dances, jokes, not to mention a duckling on a quest for self-discovery

LeftLion's Latest Listens #12: Notts music we're currently spinning

In this week's LeftLion's Latest Listens, our music team reviews new releases from Leah Sinead, Divorce, amillionsons and Wizards Can't Be Lawyers...

Comparison, consumerism and Christmas: Nottingham Counselling Service share some tips for the Christmas period

With both emotions and shopping bills running high during the Christmas period, we hear from Nottingham Counselling Service who have a pertinent reminder about avoiding comparison during the festive season.

Gig review: The Snuts at Rock City

After releasing their third studio album, Millennials, earlier this year, indie rock band The Snuts embarked on their UK tour. We caught up with them as they landed in Nottingham's iconic Rock City on Monday night...

Spinning Yarns: The Woolly Tellers talk storytelling in Nottingham

For fifteen years, storytellers Mick Whysall and Dave Brookes have brought history to life. As The Woolly Tellers, their atmospheric performances whip up scenes of misty cobbled streets, mysterious highwaymen, fen giants and deals with the devil. We met them for a chat prior to their event Dark Tales for Dark Nights at the Fox and Grapes, and heard all about the tricks of their trade...

Gig review: SPRINTS at Rescue Rooms, with Chalk

A pinnacle performance of the year: SPRINTS race for gold in their cathartic celebrations at Nottingham's Rescue Rooms...

Thrills, spills, and non-stop jokes at the Playhouse panto

The much-beloved Nottingham Playhouse pantomime reaches new heights this year with a giant of a show. Yes, it's Jack and the Beanstalk... 

Stanley Middleton's Booker Prize finds a new home in Nottingham

Fifty years after he became the first ever joint winner of the Booker prize, we join a celebration of Stanley Middleton at Nottingham Central Library.

Salt of the Earth: Catching up with musician and Saltbox manager Sam Heaton

There are few people who live and breathe Nottingham’s vibrant music scene quite like Sam Heaton. From his own ambient rock band Eyre Llew being one of the city’s greatest exports, to a stint in charge of Rough Trade’s events, as well as independently booking and promoting local artists for the last two decades too, his fingerprints have been on a lot of the city’s musical successes. Earlier this year though, he took on a tough new challenge – transforming Saltbox from a little-known sports bar into a versatile 500-person capacity music venue and events space. 

To find out more, we sat down with Sam to chat about his first seven months running the venue, the hurdles he’s had to overcome in that time, and what he has planned for the venue and his band in 2025…

Gig review: The Slow Readers Club at Rescue Rooms

Manchester indie outfit The Slow Readers Club are no strangers to Nottingham, having played our city a whopping 10 times in the last eight years. With a strong following in Nottingham as a result, it made sense for them to kick off their current UK run at Rescue Rooms, including several live debuts for tracks off their forthcoming, seventh studio album, Out of A Dream. Here’s what went down…

Gig review: Sports Team at Rescue Rooms

Sports Team ‘Go Fishing’ for more than they expected at Rescue Rooms, the crowd delivering on their beer sloshing, gear moshing mayhem. Adept support was delivered by C Turtle and mary in the junkyard...

Notts indie crooners Victory Lap talk inspirations, origins, and finding their sound

Victory Lap are undeniably one of Nottingham’s breakout bands of 2024. Prior to their debut EP Torch Songs, which was released in July, they were already making waves. But now, they have reached new heights, with an upcoming UK headline tour in the diary - including a show at Nottingham’s very own The Bodega. We chat to Tomas Ponting and James Denham about the band’s early origins, how they found their signature sound, and a suspicious new Fanta flavour which has emerged onto shelves…

Interview: Barnaby Blackburn on his new short 'Pylon'

We chat to Barnaby Blackburn about his new Bafta-qualified short film, Pylon. 

The Hallé are back and with a suitably wintry programme

The Hallé’s Artist-in Residence, Thomas Adès, conducts a programme centred on Finland’s greatest composer with two of his greatest symphonies, as well as two more pieces influenced by him...

Book Review: Ben Macpherson's 'Serious Nonsense for the Unbearably Festive'

As the nights get dark and a New Year draws closer, we turn to some cheeky, cheering new poetry...

Celestial talk blending the festive and futuristic at Trent Bridge's upcoming drone show

Over at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground this month, a festive event of a very different kind is taking place. Narrated by Matt Lucas, the classic Dickens tale A Christmas Carol will be told through a spectacular display of colourful drones lighting up the sky. But what on earth goes into planning this kind of event? We spoke to John Hopkins, Founder & CEO at Celestial, to find out more…

In photos: W. H. Lung at The Bodega, with Formal Sppeedwear