Eva Bindeman was awarded the prestigious title of Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year 2024 at The Y Theatre in Leicester on 24 February, as part of Leicester Comedy Festival. Hosted by past contestant, Sindhu Vee and featuring last year’s winner Daniel Petrie.

The competition saw eight of the best emerging comedy acts in the country battling it out for the crown after performing their best seven minutes in front of an esteemed comedy industry panel and a sold-out audience.  The other contestants this year were: Alasdair Wallace, Alex Bertulis-Fernandes, Blank Peng, Fiona Ridgewell, Henry Michael, Julia Stenton and Romina Puma.

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Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove MP, and Shadow Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner MP, will deliver keynote speeches at this year’s Convention of the North, it can be revealed.

The Convention, which will be held in Leeds across two days on 29 February and 1 March, is the North of England’s flagship annual gathering for business, political and civic society leaders. The conferences are spearheaded by Northern partnership network NP11, which brings together local government and private sector leaders.

The high-profile event will provide a platform for public and private sector voices to debate the challenges and opportunities facing the region, across a series of key areas including transport, energy, trade and investment, and health and culture.

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Today, renowned musician, actor, and entertainer Justin Timberlake announces the long awaited European and UK leg of his momentous The Forget Tomorrow World Tour with thirteen new shows in 8 countries. Produced by Live Nation, stops include performances in Poland, Germany, Belgium, the UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and France. Full routing and ticketing details are below.

Additionally, the multi-award-winning artist releases his new track Drown via RCA Records – click HERE to listen. Written by Timberlake, Louis Bell (Taylor Swift, Post Malone), Henry Walter, Amy Allen, Kenyon Dixon and produced by Timberlake Louis Bell, Cirkut (Maroon 5, The Weeknd).

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Iconic rock band Crowded House announce exclusive album launch show at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 13th June 2024. Following the news of their upcoming album, Gravity Stairs, which will be released globally on 31st May on BMG. The show will give fans an exclusive opportunity to hear the album live in its entirety for the first time. Tickets for the show will go on general sale, Friday 23rd February at 9am via LiveNation.co.uk

The announcement of the show and album comes after the band’s recent release of the surprise new single Oh Hi, which debuted last week as the lead single from their forthcoming 8th studio album.

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Cosprop and Kerry Taylor Auctions today announce over 60 iconic costumes from film and TV, as worn by screen legends will go under the hammer in Lights Camera Auction on 5^th March, alongside an online auction, to launch on 22^nd February until 10^th March, featuring film and TV related experiences and celebrity memorabilia.

Treasures from the archives of Cosprop, one of the world’s leading costume houses, founded by Academy & BAFTA award winning costume designer John Bright in 1965, includes a vintage 1950’s Christian Dior taffeta ball gown, worn by Madonna in Evita (1996), Johnny Depp’s costume as Ichabod Crane in the film ‘Sleepy Hollow’, (1999); Colin Firth’s infamous wet shirt from the BBC TV’s drama series Pride & Prejudice (1995), Heath Ledger’s masquerade ball costume from Casanova (2005) and the memorable dress and hooded cape worn by Meryl Streep in The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981).

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Geoffrey Brown is standing down at 30 June 2024, after 7 years as Director of OffWestEnd and the Offies.  His successor will be announced at the 14^th Offies Awards Ceremony on 25 February.

In Geoffrey’s 7 years, OffWestEnd and the Offies have grown and developed significantly:

• New Offies categories have been added: Solo & Duo Performances, Cabaret, Pantomime and Video Design – in addition, some categories have been expanded – for TYA (theatre for young audiences) and for IDEA (Immersive / Devised / Experimental / Atypical)
• An “Access” category has been introduced for productions breaking down barriers and also one for “Community Outreach Youth” work.  In addition, the Offies were the first major theatre or film awards to scrap the gender split in key performance categories in 2020.
• In response to Covid, 8 new categories were introduced for online productions, and 2 of these continue today.
• The Offies now send 2 assessors to over 400 shows per annum.
• The OffComm (Offies Commendation) was introduced to recognise the best of the many productions with short runs.  The OffFest award was introduced for theatre performances at festivals, and we now have the participation of fringe festivals in Brighton, Camden, Manchester and Edinburgh.  Finally we also now offer the occasional OneOff award to recognise special achievements.

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Pearl Jam will release their twelfth studio album, Dark Matter, on Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records on April 19, 2024. The album’s title track is available now HERE. Produced by GRAMMY® award winning producer Andrew Watt, Dark Matter, marks the band’s first release since critically-acclaimed Gigaton (2020).

Dark Matter is now available for pre-order HERE.

In 2023, the members of Pearl Jam—Eddie Vedder [vocals], Jeff Ament [bass], Stone Gossard [rhythm guitar], Mike McCready [lead guitar], and Matt Cameron [drums]—retreated to Shangri-La Studios in Malibu where they simply plugged in and played under the careful watch of producer Andrew Watt.

The musicians faced one another in the same space and communicated sonically at the highest level. Writing and recording in a burst of inspiration, Dark Matter was born in just three weeks.

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In line with the general election set to take place later this year AEG Presents, Goalhanger and WME are thrilled to announce that the iconic podcast series The Rest Is Politics is returning to the live stage with their biggest live tour to date – The Election Tour. Kicking off in Brighton on Sunday 6th October, Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart will then embark on a further 6 shows in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff before closing at London’s iconic The O2 on Tuesday 15th October. The London show is set to be extra special, with the show being hosted ‘in the round’ at the venue – bringing audience members even closer to the political action. This is a first for The O2 hosting a live podcast as well as the first time Alastair and Rory will have taken to The O2 stage

Presale tickets are available from Wednesday 14th February at 8am with individual venue presales taking place on Thursday 15th February at 10am. General on sale begins on Friday 16th February at 10am with tickets available from www.aegp.uk/TheRestIsPolitics.

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Today, Trippie Redd the multi-platinum-selling, Billboard chart-topping artist announces his highly anticipated 2024 tour dates across the UK and Europe this summer. The tour kicks off on Friday, June 28 at 02 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester with stops across the continent in London, Tilburg, and Paris before wrapping up on Wednesday, July 10 in Milan. General on-sale tickets will be available on Friday 16th February at 10 AM local time at LiveNation.co.uk.

Renowned for being one of the most versatile and creatively daring recording artists around, Trippie Redd’s music blends wild experimentation with a broad audience appeal. A self-professed workaholic who’s now debuted five consecutive projects in the top 5 of the Billboard 200 charts — Trippie got his start as a teenager “living in a basement with roaches recording music,” as he tells it. Born Michael Lamar White IV and raised in Canton, Ohio, he grew up on hip-hop icons like Tupac Shakur, Nas, and Jay-Z, but later became fascinated with the shock-rock of Slipknot, Rob Zombie, and fellow Canton native Marilyn Manson.

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