Flower Power

Summer 2007 saw record flooding affecting 48,000 homes across England. One year on, more than 2,200 families are still living in caravans. This eye-opening production invites you to join them. Look Left Look Right have teamed up with the Royal Court to stage an intimate production for audiences of just eight people in a caravan on Sloane Square

The first ever and sure to sell out London show for these dark revivalists of '60s psych who have been busy freaking out the people of New York with their hypnotic blend of Guided by Voices and the Velvet Underground.With their début album 'Alight Of The Night' being one of the most anticipated releases we've heard about in ages, it's looking

Piers Martin and Rodaidh MacDonald return with their biggest party yet - the Valentine's Love Explosion. The line-up is massive, headed up by Cocadisco favourite I-F, with Italo-research unit Heartbreak playing live, sultry disco sirens Fan Death plus a DJ set from the applauded synth-pop princess Little Boots. The Horrors freakier analogue side pro

Lot49 kick off their East Village residency with a solid line-up, headed up by the simply excellent trio of newly installed residents Meat Katie, Kid Blue and Dylan Rhymes. Their Christmas party back in December was storming, securing them a bi-monthly slot and giving the London-based tech-funk label a chance to showcase the sounds which regularly

So it's Valentine's Day, you can either take your missus out for Italian food where you can stare into each others eyes until you both pick the same piece of spaghetti and kiss oh so absent-mindedly.

Or you could take them to the O2 academy where Lamb of God will melt their face off. Hmm tough choice.

Real Gold's tribute to disco in all its shades is back at one of the best venues in London, the simply divine Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes.

Karaoke, bowling, dancing, table tennis, football, a selection of stellar DJs handpicked from London's burgeoning disco scene and a hot tub where you can meet people wearing hardly any clothes.

Need we say more?

Laughter In Odd Places is a monthly (ish!) club that was set up by quirky comics Terry Saunders and Tom Bell after they'd had enough of playing smelly little pub rooms full of noisy drunk people. So far, they've had comedy gigs in a record shop, a cafe, a library, a charity shop, a book shop, a heath, a museum, a gallery and even comedy reviewer

As anyone who goes to this will know, Black Lips are possibly the greatest live act to come out of anywhere in years. Banned from many venues in the US, they have a reputation for nakedness, violence and generally turning beer into chaos that is unmatched in modern music.Foolishly the NME has decided to put them on at the O2 Academy Islington along

Stephen Berkoff directs and acts in his adaptation of the 1954 film which won six Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor for Marlon Brando as aging boxer and dockworker Terry Malloy. That role is taken on in this version by Simon Merrells, while Berkoff (Lethal Weapon II, Rambo, Octopussy) has the good sense to cast himself as the villain, mob boss Johnny Friendly.

When it first came out On The Waterfront made a huge impact because of its photo-realistic depiction of poverty and corruption on the docks of New York. That script has been revised and updated by original screenwriter Budd Shulberg and this stage version, which has had great reviews in Nottingham, retains the same realist vibe, reflecting the seedy glamour of the mob and the hopeless existence of the longshoreman.

In aid of MIND, a charity which helps people with mental health issues, Leicester Square Theatre are holding a series of comedy gigs to raise money for it, with some of the top comedians on the circuit featuring on each billing. 

The first ever MIND comedy night will see (drum roll) Perrier winner, cult favourite and infrequent performer DANIEL KITSON take to the stage as well as if.comedy nominee 2006 Paul Sinha and Perrier 'Best Newcomer' 2004 Wil Hodsgon, not to mention some first-rate support from established circuit acts Stuart Goldsmith, Charlie Baker and James Sherwood.

The creative practices of three exciting contemporary artists combine to produce Stage Fright, an orchestral work of electronic music presented in the form of a multi-part video installation.

A video by Laura Buckley acts as the starting point from which Haroon Mirza and David MacLean can interact with both viewers and each other. The video is fragmented: projections reflect off sculptural works and scatter across the gallery walls.

In addition to Stage Fright is another video installation by New York artist Doug Fishbone that seeks to address and disrupt the viewing experience.

A small coup for the Rose as they play host to a week-long series of performances by the justly renowned Propeller group, whose faithful but fast-paced renditions of Shakespeare classics have won them fans around the globe.

Propeller's unique compressed format has been hailed as a way of making the Bard more accessible to young audiences, and the shows certainly shouldn't challenge any attention spans. However, the wit and breakneck pace are not dissimilar to the bawdy theatrical performances of the Elizabethan theatre, and the definitive texts are retained. So purists have also got a kick out of these shows.

The Invisible Dot is a new club that crops up sporadically in various venues from art galleries to festivals.

More than a quality line-up, the show promises SPECTACLE with comedy, music, poetry, film and magic tricks all on a different theme each time.

The first ever show looks like a corker with a theme of Love, God and Evolution and a line-up of some of the best comedians in the country including: cult legend and comedian's favourite Daniel Kitson, comic actor Kevin Eldon (Nighty Night, Hyperdrive, Hot Fuzz), legendary circuit act Simon Munnery, comedy grouch Arthur Smith, character comedian Pippa Evans and sketch comedy from the multi-talented Tim Key and Tom Basden.

Sandpit events are always bloody awesome! They consist of weird fun and games in public places and basically make you feel like a little kid again: a smart, scheming kid with a sense of adventure and no shame.

Sandpit #8 sees the team take over the ICA as part of the institute's Feedback Season. There's loads of cool stuff to take part in like stalking celebrities, mapping local monsters (?) and something called By Jingo There Goes My Pink Flamingo.

Sounds amazing, and best of all it's totally free!

A complex piece of civil rights theatre based on real life events in New York, 1821. The African Theatre Company was a hugely popular troupe, but when they staged a production of Richard III at the same time as a renowned establishment company, their white rivals had them evicted from the theatre. Undaunted, the African Company found premises right next to the rival production and the clash of wills eventually led to riots and headlines about black rights.

Knock2Bag is now undoubtedly the best comedy night in Shepherd's Bush and regularly sells out each month.

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.

Cheap Thai food is also available throughout the gig and if you're savvy you'll go for the noodles.

DGV (Danse à Grande Vitesse) is a project which runs through popular favourites from the Royal Ballet's repertoire at a breakneck pace. A sort of adrenaline-fuelled highlights package usually featuring two of the company's best recent productions in action-packed form.

This time, the two shows condensed are Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins, as challenging to sing as it is to dance, featuring Martha Wainwright, and Matty Ek's subversive, modern take on the Bizet classic Carmen.

Mick Hucknall, Prince Harry, Vivienne Westwood, that annoying kid in Harry Potter and whatsherface from Girls Aloud. Yes, that's right, they're all gingers. Nowt wrong with that. It's just the way it is.

Just like any other feature, ginger hair can be beautiful and it can be horrible, but for some reason it always attracts more attention than people with black or brown hair. Who knows why? Not us, that's for sure.

Anyway, this month Idea Generation Gallery are exhibiting a series of photographic portraits of people with red hair. All the images have been taken by Jenny Wicks in order to examine different attitudes towards the recessive orange gene.

After the whole area from London Wall to Old Street was destroyed by the Luftwaffe in 1940, the Golden Lane Estate was the first significant re-development. Having won the competition to design the area, Geoffry Powell eventually completed work on the Estate in 1962.

For some this is the epitome of Brutalism - functional and vile - but it was grade II listed in 1997 and you have to admit that it has a certain charm. Exhibit in Golden Lane (at the hub of the current creative boom in the area) plays host this month to an exhibition that looks at the history of the estate from the initial designs right up to how it is today.

Wow, not one but two of our favourite bands are playing 93 Feet East tonight, and it's free to get in.

For the uninitiated, Pens are three lovely ladies with a penchant for creating minimal mayhem on half a drum kit and a guitar, whilst Friendship make looping death music with the aid of a temperamental iBook.

Ice Sea Dead People aren't bad either..

Wifey return in 2009 in the biggest way possible. Champions of the emerging funky movement, Wifey continue to be one of London's only clubnights showcasing the best in grass-roots bassline and other garage mutations.

Tonight is headed up by the number one name in funky: producer collective Crazy Cousinz. They are primed to explode this year and this maybe the last chance to see them in such an intimate setting.

Wall of guitar? Check. Psychedelic, wave-like vocals? Check. Self-obsession? Check. Must be a shoegaze band.

Then again, shoegaze doesn't come much better than Stockholm's Sad Day For Puppets: it's so spot on you can close your eyes and imagine you're an NME journalist in 1993.

Ahh, Friends and Family - the excellent longstanding showcase straight from the bleeding heart of bass culture; specialists in the music staples that are hip hop, funk, soul and jazz.

F & F is organised by Fat City Recordings - a label which originated in Manchester as a record shop. The guests they attract are always stellar.

Tonight it's a bass special with the remarkable Kode9 displaying the richness and variety of his style on the tables - plus sets from the outstanding dubstep-IDM producer Lukid (Werk Discs) and Dimlite (Sonar Kollektiv).

Remember that kid at school who used to wig out and have nose bleeds all over his history books? Real Feal sound like the inside of his brain.

Tonight they're turning their attention to The Bull and Gate and we can only foresee trouble on an epic scale. 

The 'Godfather of Techno' makes a rare visit to London to play for underground tech-house party-starters Filthy Gorgeous at excellent new club The Lightbox.

One third of the 'Belleville Three' along with Derrick May and Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson is credited with inventing what we now know as techno in the motor-city of Detroit.

Other techno treats include Leftroom Records' Marc Ashken, your indomitable Filthy residents, plus Chemical Records' first lady Rebekah playing in room 2 where Metrik are in charge.

The D-Late mothership is a party juggernaut loaded with techno bullets, careering round London, aiming them at unsuspecting clubbers and making them go insane. Commandeered by international party machines, the guys behind D-Late have become very very good at what they do.

Frequently in cahoots with Always Fridays at Egg, as well as storming the messy Aquarium every second and fourth Sunday morning, the music is nothing but the best. Resident Rich NxT is at the forefront of the London underground electronic music scene and the D-Late guests are the DJs of NOW.

Hexa are an exuberant eight-piece from Manhattan whose music is rooted in doo-wop, girl groups, experimentalism and NY punk.

Schizophrenically they lurch from haunting piano and voice pieces drenched in avant-garde, cinematic texture, to pheremonal Shangri Las-style garage-band punk and disco, laced with irrational lyrical juxtaposition and sybaritic allusion. Switching between male and female vocal leads on different songs, they maintain a wide-eyed, tripped-out romanticism throughout.

Frank Skinner's Credit Crunch Cabaret is a variety show on a budget, offering a selection of top class comedians, West End stars and musical acts for a pocket pleasing £10.  Perfect for these cash-stricken times.

Hosted by the infamous TV comic (star of Fantasy Football, Baddiel & Skinner Unplanned and The Frank Skinner Show) every Monday evening, there will also be loads of extra special guests dropping in like Richard Herring, Dave Gorman, Al Murray, Russell Howard and errr Tara Palmer-Tomkinson?? If she's as wasted as she was the last time we saw her with Skinner it should be a right laugh.

The first of two dates which fall at seemingly random intervals in their European tour, heavy metal kings Metallica mark their return to mainstream popularity (thanks to their recent no 1 album) with their first full UK tour since 1996.

Still going strong, fans who missed out on their September gig will get another chance to witness their howling rock riffs and roaring thrash metal firsthand.

Almost unbelievably this is the first ever exhibition devoted entirely to the paintings that Walter Sickert produced in Venice.

Venice has long inspired artists across all media, but Sickert's work is like the painterly equivalent of Henry James' The Aspern Papers in its masterful depiction of character and the dusty weight of history.

Two ex-programmers from late and sorely missed nightclub The End save the day by taking over Friday nights at top notch newly cool venue The Arches.

Electrifying line-ups will make your mouth water - including James Holden's Border Community, Ben Watt's Buzzin' Fly, Warp Records, Chew The Fat! and Eat Your Own Ears.

The venue has been fitted with a Nexo Geo sound system - the first of its kind in the UK and known for its killer bass. It's a bonus that they've landed Friday nights. Two days to recover...

Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic about a British governess who ends up capturing the heart of a Siamese king comes to the Albert Hall for a short run this June.

A lavish production directed 'in the round' by Jeremy Sams, this production has a stellar team behind it and features well loved British vocalist Maria Friedman as Anna, and Daniel Dae Kim from Lost as the King.