Flower Power

As part of the London Rhythm and Roots Festival, Irish blues-soul singer Foy Vance plays at Dingwalls tonight, playing tunes from his latest album 'Shed a Little Light'.

With his mix of soul, jazz, gospel and blues and masterful storytelling, this should be a great show. Support comes from Littlelostdavid.

The reformed Reid brothers bring their shoegaze and alt-rock brilliance to the Forum tonight, as they prepare to start work on their first new album in a decade.

We saw them last just down the road at the Roundhouse, and they've lost none of the power that made them such musical revolutionaries in the first place.

The support is great tonight too, with British Sea Power and Black Box Recorder both performing.

DJ Premier – one half of Gangstarr and unquestionably one of hip-hop's greatest producers – busts out some vinyl at Matter, joined by the UK rapper Sway.

Despite the quality (and quantity) of Premier's productions making them the best known string to his bow, the man is no slouch on the decks either. Expect underground classics old and new, artfully deployed.

A world premiere at the Linbury for a new opera by Michael Berkeley, with a story and lyrics by acclaimed novelist Ian McEwan...

Something of a retrospective for Michael Upton at Messum's this month.

While the rest of art world went big and abstract expressionist, Upton did boring little paintings in muted colours. Kind of like Hammershøi but with the domestic melancholy replaced by a muted beige oddness.

That doesn't sound that good, but he's totally brilliant.

Inspector Sands Theatre's show about the worst dinner date in history has been a fringe sensation over the last year.

A couple meet for dinner. he's an academic obsessed with neuroses and in the grip of several himself. She's an event planner who likes to party. Caught between them is a terrified waiter.

Hysteria is modest in ambition but hugely successful in effect, using a blend of physical theatre, slapstick and barbed dialogue to create a painfully funny situation comedy.

If those clever chaps at The Fix weren't doing enough to organise quality comedy nights, now they're organising a three day comic poetry special...in Spoonfed's trusty local The Rosemary Branch!  

The Poetry Section of The Fix, the UK's only monthly comedy magazine, will go live for a three-night series of performances from the likes of John Hegley, Milton Jones, AF Harrold, Guy Jackson, Tim Wells, Tim Key, Pete Firman, Annie Freud and Gwyneth Herbert plus there will be the usual interviews, competitions and the infamous Fix Found Poetry Corner, edited by poet/magician Nathan Penlington.

If we needed an incentive for working late, this is it!  Or we could just head down early and get the drinks in...

Fallen Angels are an intriguing young theatre company with an eye for bold projects. Their last show at this theatre, The Custom of the Country, had critics and audiences gripped and unsettled with its study of obsession, sex and power. Now they're doing a musical version of Bran Stoker's Dracula.

Don't expect a purely slapstick, spoof show. This musical adaptation promises to ratchet tension and fear right up, turning characters against each other and creating an all-pervading dread. It makes the jokes that much more effective. Hysterical, is a word for it.

Cover bands are usually completely lame. You may really like Queen or The Who or whatever, but when you see it performed by a balding bank manager dressed in white shorts, a crown and a cape, the magic seems to evaporate for some reason.

However, Lez Zeppelin are not your normal tribute act. Not only are they the world's only all-girl Led Zeppelin cover band, (as far as we know) they also utterly capture the vibe and pure sexual power that made Robert Plant and Co so amazing in the first place.

Perrier nominee Jason Manford has had to extend his tour it's been such a success and this will be his only London gig. The charismatic Mancunian is well known for being team captain on Channel 4's 8 out of 10 Cats when he replaced Dave Spikey and for performing the coveted spot on Live at The Apollo.

You can expect colourful anecdotes including a run-in with a traffic cop and incidents involving his narcoleptic dad, but don't expect any bad language or bad taste jokes, like northern contemporary Peter Kay, Manford is a clean and affable comic that will appeal to a wide audience.

We caught up with him ahead of the Bloomsbury show to find out how it's been going and what we can expect. Click here to read the interview.

The guys from Vice are in the party mood tonight, and are taking over the Old Blue Last for an extra-special Halloween fright-fest that features bloody booze, gore films and homicide.

On stage are hypnotic freak out rockers HRTK who toured with Liars, Lydia Lunch, Mick Harvey and Shellac recently and discordant, dooms day post punkers Factory Floor. Add to that a murder seat photo booth and gore girls and you have one hell of Transylvanian, zombie nightmare.

NYC Body and Soul legend Danny Krivit has been DJing since 1970.

Born and raised on soul and jazz by musician parents in Greenwich Village, he has been involved with some of the finest musicians and organised some of the best club nights.

Tonight he is spinning for 4 hours with support from Trevor Fung and DJ AKA.

Upstairs in the lounge, Version Excursion residents Richio Suzuki, Koichi and Taka get Stuart Patterson and Andy Bird to assist them in dishing their favourite funk-soul-reggae covers.

Unlike your usual Halloween antics involving dressing in the most risqué costume death would allow and hitting your local nightclub to shot drinks themed around blood, this Halloween Ball will get you dancing.

Jive Nation descends upon Ealing Town Hall for a night of fast-paced freestyle in fancy dress. Beginners are very welcome as all levels mingle and enjoy the chance to be their ghoulish selves.

Just make sure your Ghostbusters costume matches your heels.

Gothic metallers Christian Death play the Underworld tonight, playing tracks from their latest album, last year's 'American Inquisition'.

They may not feature any of the original four who started the band way back in 1979, but in the hands of Aussie frontman Valor Kand they have been given a new lease of life.

Support comes from French hardcore merchants Eths.

Halloween is easily the best party of the year. Dressing up like a ghoul and skanking around to house and techno dished up by Geddes, or Horse flavoured disco served plentifully by Jim Stanton and Severino is without a doubt one of the finer things in life.

And, unlike on a normal night out, your look only improves with age, peeking as you come reeling out into the dawn looking crazed and highly confused.

MUAK celebrate their 5th birthday tonight with a Halloween bash and a line-up slightly longer than my arm.

Tom Middleton (Urbantorque Recordings) headlines alongside label mate Scope. And many, many more.

Deep to tech house, funk soul and boogie in the loft, electro in Apothecary, soulful Latino in the garden: something for everyone.

It looks like the Royal Academy is finally trying to move away from its slightly fusty Prince-Charles-showing-his-watercolours kind of image.

In association with GlaxoSmithKline (ooh edgy) the RA presents a season of multimedia contemporary art featuring a host of emerging and established international artists. There's over a hundred exhibitions, live events, performances and film screenings, so plenty to be checking out.

People involved include David Hockney, Robert Mapplethorpe, Olaf Nicolai and Malcolm McLaren. Plus there's a temporary restaurant/café thing called Flash courtesy of the trendy folk over at Bistrotheque. Should be cool.

Been wondering who's behind that 'Kurt Russell For Mayor' campaign?

You can find out by watching the surreal hour long comedy show that is Dick Biscuit, Private Eye. Dick Biscuit is a schizophrenic private eye and Kurt Russell enthusiast. He and his brain (played offstage) club together to solve a bizarre crime. But will the paradoxically one man double act fall out in the process?

Hailed as a cross between Garth Marenghi's Dark Place and The Mighty Boosh, this sounds wicked!  Kurt Russell - what a hero, he'd be miles better than Boris Johnson.

Support act Moonfish Rhumba complete the surrealness with their extraordinary electronic songs and Femme Ferale is on hand to add some burlesque sauciness after the show.

It's Spredluv's second anniversary! The arts and music collective provide a platform for emerging talent in the UK and abroad.

With a collection of poets, rappers, singers, designers, musicians and DJs on board, each event is totally fresh and unique.

Tonight they have a free party to celebrate turning two, with a smörgåsbord of live music from the hip hop, funk and soul spectrums.

Residents Beatnik and J-Blakke are joined by the Afro-Cuban outfit The Lucimi Choir, Zion and the White Boys - the live reggae group plus many more.

The second part of their celebrations occurs on Thursday 13th at Kilburn's best boozer the Westbury.

Loosely themed around 'Boris v Ken: the rematch', two professional tube-challenger teams and one amateur team will go head to head, or at least tube to tube, to complete a world record attempt and support the BBC's annual Children in Need Day in the process.

Although the routes have yet to be confirmed, one team will attempt the excruciating task of visiting all 287 underground stations. They will be starting at Amersham station in the wee hours of the morning if you feel like cheering them on.

Hoping to break a few world records, the teams would appreciate any donations for the charity. They will be setting up a link for the fund-raising event soon, see the forum for more details.

After considerable success at the September launch, Corsica Studios' new club night returns.

Keen to keep pace with dance music's breathless evolution, Trouble Vision once again features artists with an established buzz alongside talented up-and-comers, regardless of genre.

A headline live set comes from French duo Noze, who unlike so many other tech-house producers mix jazz, rock and bizarre humour into their blindly colourful music.

Support comes from electro showman Drums of Death and Irish jack-master Detboi, among many others. There's also a silent disco, with digital and analogue turntable sets competing for your attention on two channels.

Knock2Bag is now undoubtedly the best comedy night in Shepherd's Bush and that is by no means a flippant comment. 

Line-ups feature leading comedians on the circuit, if.comedy winners and tipped newcomers. What really makes it though, is the variety of acts that perform there; from sketches to music, poetry, magic and the downright weird (resident Brian Gittins is a must see), Knock2Bag always has a good balance to it.

Carter USM confirm their comeback with a headlining show at Brixton Academy, plugging last year's album 'You Fat Bastard' and playing all the favourites.

Fruitbat and Jim Bob should be seen live to be fully appreciated.

'Christmas time, mistletoe and wine' and cheese and turkey and brandy butter and cranberry sauce and bread sauce and claret and port and gin. Hmm claret and port and gin.

If Christmas for you is all about food and drink (or at least quite a lot about food and drink) then this looks totally brilliant. Gordon Ramsay (he of TV swearing fame) presents a big Christmas food and drink show at ExCel this week.

With wine and food and gin courtesy of Gordon's famous restaurants as well as tips for the perfect Christmas pud and all that, this is a great chance to practise your binge-eating a few weeks before the big day itself. Ho ho ho etc.

Kevin Spacey assumes his Director's Hat once again at the Old Vic for this brand new, contemporary satire/thriller about a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who suddenly falls foul of the authorities and finds himself facing a dilemma of his own creation, in front of the Supreme Court no less.

It's Bush's America and suddenly the truth seeking, liberty-defending traditions which saw Ben Kritzler acclaimed by his peers and the public, have gotten him tagged a dangerous insurrectionist.

Expect a strongly anti-Republican, anti-war and pro-libertarian slant on this brand new work, a stellar cast and a production fairly zinging with energy and quick-fire dialogue, Spacey-style.