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In photos: White Denim at Rescue Rooms

Comedy Review: Lou Sanders in No Kissing in the Bingo Hall at the Nottingham Playhouse

Star of Dancing On Ice, a champion of Taskmaster and regular on QI, Lou Sanders brings her unique comedy style to the Nottingham Playhouse...

Gig review: The Bracknall at Rescue Rooms

Essex's finest Britpop revivalists, The Bracknall, arrived at Rescue Rooms in style, performing a beautiful, blissful set drawing heavily from their latest album...

Short Stack From All Angles: We Hear About The Short Film Festival

Last week, we attended Short Stack, the short film festival hosted at Broadway Cinema. For a Sunday evening, the event had a buzzing atmosphere and packed attendance. After it was over, we caught up with the festival’s director, one of the featured filmmakers, and an artist whose music was shown on the big screen…

Gig review: HotWax at Rough Trade

We were all in for a Hot Shock at Rough Trade – with their debut album blistering its way through the charts, HotWax took us on a sonic rollercoaster of noise...

LeftLion's Latest Listens #18: Notts music we're currently spinning

In our latest edition of LeftLion's Latest Listens, our music team reviews a selection of recent new releases. This time it's the turn of ROB.GREEN, Dead Mint, Drew Thomas, Sam Oakley and Stuart Pearce...

E-scooters and e-bikes - what do Nottingham people actually think?

Lauren Baker is a Postgraduate Researcher Nottingham Trent University looking at all things 'micromobility' (e-scooters and e-bikes). Here she discusses the impacts, and benefits, they have on the local community and asks for your input to feed into the latest research...

"The power is with the people": standing up to knife violence in Old Market Square

After three tragic spates of knife violence rocked Nottingham, and were subsequently highly publicised, local campaigners organised a demonstration in Old Market Square to draw attention to the underlying, community problems that cause it. LeftLion went down to report...

Gig review: Doves at Rock City, with White Flowers

With frontman Jimi Goodwin only at Rock City 'in spirit', Doves fought on to perform a Nottingham show that proved the resilience and quality of their back catalogue...

Market economy: could stallholder markets revive independent retail in Notts?

The decline of the high street and independent retail is an issue that weighs heavily on the UK, as grassroots traders often lose money and shut shop just as quickly as they open for business.

However, with recent research, and examples available here in Nottingham, there’s a case to be made for stallholder markets as a saviour of independent businesses, providing that reliable sense of community and authenticity in shopping that so many of us look for today. Assistant Editor Caradoc Gayer takes a look at Nottingham’s history of markets, and how it could serve as an example for today.

Gig review: Divorce at Rough Trade

Last time Divorce played live in Nottingham they did four consecutive nights at the Bodega. This time around, they’re doing two gigs on the same day, taking place at Rough Trade. We headed down to the first of the shows to hear the band perform in their hometown for the first time since their debut album Drive to Goldenhammer was released to great acclaim…

Gig review: Wille and the Bandits at The Bodega

Wille and the Bandits mesmerised the crowd at The Bodega on Saturday with a stunning display of their unique take on rock music, which is all brought together in a musical tapestry, woven in a way that only this band know how. It's safe to say the show left those who’d ventured out early that evening something to really think about...

Blue therapy: we learn about wild swimming with Whole Health at Colwick Park

In recent years the mental and physical health benefits of immersion in water have gained lots of attention across the country. Since 2019 wild-swimming group Whole Health have sought to disseminate those benefits to as many people as possible, leading open-water swimming and sauna sessions at Colwick Park. Frances Danylec visited West Lake to meet founders Cat and Wales.

Competition: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial at the Royal Concert Hall

One of the most iconic movies of the 1980s is coming to the Royal Concert Hall big screen, accompanied by a magnificent live orchestra. We have two pairs of tickets to give away…

Gig review: International Women's Day show at The Bodega, with Lara Elise Grant, Emily Alice and Dorothy Ella

The Bodega played host to a set of empowering gigs commemorating International Women's Day, in collaboration with Dizzy Magazine. We dropped in at the downstairs bar, where pink lighting, disco balls, glitter streamers (and crucial background music of Chappell Roan and Wet Leg) were ready to celebrate and support the local female artists of Nottingham’s music scene - to honour what we have achieved, and what work still needs to be done and recognised in the predominantly patriarchal industry...

Gig review: The Boxer Rebellion at Rescue Rooms

Imagine being featured in Hollywood movies and that is not even the coolest thing about your band! The Boxer Rebellion put on a wonderful, mellow performance at Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms and made a packed out venue feel like an intimate show with their heart-warming and rousing tracks...

Footstomping music at the Royal Concert Hall

Sinfonia Viva triumphs with Fanny Mendelssohn, Mozart and Beethoven...

Gig review: Matilda Mann at Rough Trade

Roxwell, the debut album from the up-and-coming Matilda Mann, echoes the styling of some indie-folk greats. Understated and well-formed, Mann’s sound is perfect for the intimate loft space at Rough Trade Nottingham, a treat for fans who can anticipate a big 2025 for an exciting new artist...

We chat with Rob Green about music, musicals, and the value of the grassroots

Uplifting alt soul-pop Notts sensation Rob.Green is back and has dialled everything to the absolute max - bringing the emotion, fierce hyped energy and brand-new music for his first ever headline UK tour, which kicks off at Saltbox on 20th March. Rob shared his infectious joy with us in a conversation covering the tour, his collaboration with Cassell the Beatmaker, his ventures into musicals, and the value of grassroots venues...

LeftLion's Latest Listens #17 special edition: Divorce

In this special edition of LeftLion's Latest Listens, we sample the debut album Drive to Goldenhammer from Nottingham's own Divorce...

Theatre maker Natalie Bellingham brings her one woman show to Nottingham

Ahead of her upcoming solo performance at Lakeside Arts, where comedy meets life’s biggest transitions, Emma Oldham caught up with Natalie Bellingham to uncover the hidden layers behind Look After Your Knees...

Theatre Review: Macbeth by Nottingham Shakespeare Company

Nottingham Shakespeare Company has conjured the world of Macbeth with a tragic, rugged intensity that grips the audience from the first words to the final clash of swords. 

Pick Six: Rastarella Music Programmer & Community Engagement Expert at Cultural Vibrations (Unity Through Music)

For this month’s Pick Six, we spoke to Rastarella - Music Programmer & Community Engagement Expert at Cultural Vibrations (Unity Through Music) and Radio Host at 97.5 Kemet Fm. Rastarella will oversee the music programming at this month’s Ay-Up Market.

Gig review: You Me At Six at Rock City

You Me At Six bid farewell to their Nottingham fans with three shows at Rock City on their Final Nights of Six Tour. Intensity and nostalgia were mixed with the undeniable energy of a band at their peak...

The making of Sister Midnight: a multinational fable premiering at Broadway Cinema

Nottingham producers Alastair Clark of Wellington Films and Anna Griffin of Griffin Pictures have a wealth of projects to their names: A House in Jerusalem, Calibre, and The Levelling to name but a few. Ordinarily, their home is Nottingham’s very own Broadway Cinema, but their latest project Sister Midnight took them a little further afield. We met them to hear all about it…