The 5 Best Gigs of 2025 (in London)

Has the music scene ever been so healthy?

It’s very easy, given the endless stream of bad news, to get dragged into a doom loop where all you think (and write) about is how we are going to save ourselves from those who, in their ignorance or malice, seem intent on destroying all that is valuable about the modern world.

We all need a break from time to time and, as regular readers will know, my preferred form of escape is live music. In recent years this has involved more classical, opera and jazz than the rock and pop I grew up on. But this year, for reasons unknown (late mid-life crisis?) I’ve returned to my musical roots, and in the process discovered some fabulous new bands and some exceptional music.

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Honourable Mentions

But before I get to my top 5 gigs of the year, here are some honourable mentions.

My colleague of 25 years, Tom Gillmor, spent much of the quarter century we worked together trying to persuade me of the merits of his favourite band, Sparks. I so wish I’d listened to him sooner. In July, a couple of months after I retired, it gave me the greatest pleasure to go with him to see Sparks at the Hammersmith Odeon (as it will always be known to those of us of a certain age). The Mael Brothers, Ron (79) and Russell (76), played a brilliant set lasting almost two hours, with songs from each of the last six decades, including my favourite of theirs, When do I get to sing My Way?

Van Morrison, Cat Stevens and Neil Young on the same bill almost rivals Nick Lowe, UB40, The Pretenders, Santana and Bob Dylan (featuring Eric Clapton and Van Morrison) at Wembley Stadium in 1984. Yes, all three are now past their prime, and none played the best set of their lives, but they were all fab and, as the sun set on a glorious evening in Hyde Park back in July, we were very glad we made the effort.

Possibly the biggest regret of my gig-going life is never seeing David Bowie play live. But thanks to the efforts of two groups of former collaborators, his flame still burns.

In May, Holy Holy celebrated the great man’s work in a rare outing at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire. If you’ve not come across them, they were put together with Bowie’s blessing by his long-time producer Tony Visconti and drummer Woody Woodmansey, the last surviving Spider from Mars. Also featuring Jessica Lee Morgan (Visconti’s daughter with Mary Hopkin, some pedigree eh?) and Heaven 17’s Glen Gregory on vocals, there’s an authenticity in their recitals of Bowie’s greatest hits that makes every gig they play a worthy tribute.

And this year, Carlos Alomar, who along with George Murray and the late Dennis Davis formed the legendary rhythm section on Bowie’s Berlin trilogy of albums - Low, Heroes and Lodger - decided to get a band together. For the D.A.M. Project, Alomar and Murray were joined by Tin Machine guitarist Kevin Armstrong, and the remarkable Michael Cunio singing, and owning the stage in a way that would surely have brought a smile to Bowie’s face. Their Barbican show in November was a remarkable performance of exceptional songs from Bowie’s neglected middle period.

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My Top Five Gigs of 2025

I toyed with the idea of not putting these in order, but I know people like a list, especially at year’s end, and the scrolling page format does allow for a big reveal. So, as long there’s no cheating, here goes, in reverse order:

5 English Teacher - The Roundhouse, 25th November

As one of only two bands (for the other see below) who occasionally produce music that reminds me of Peter Hammill / Van Der Graaf generator, perhaps it was no surprise that half the audience at the Roundhouse last month were over 50. It was delightful, though, that so many had their kids with them (or vice versa perhaps).

Their debut album, This could be Texas, which came out last year, is full of original songs, songs that could have been written by a 1980s indie band, except they couldn’t, because this super-talented bunch of 20-somethings who met at Leeds Conservatoire have clearly been devouring the intervening four decades of musical evolution.

Apart from some minimalist dance-moves by lead singer Lily Fontaine, they are totally unshowy as they constantly swap instruments with each other, and reinvent their still modest repertoire on stage. Fontaine’s voice is remarkable, and her vocal styling as effective as I’ve heard in years. Song of the night? It has to be Nearly Daffodils. Er, no: You Blister my Paint. I can’t wait for the second album.

4 The Last Dinner Party - Brixton Academy, 7th December

I missed the The Last Dinner Party at Hammersmith Odeon last year because I was struck down by a migraine, at that point not yet having found my miracle cure. So it was with great anticipation that I set off for Brixton on a soggy Sunday evening a few weeks ago. I’d read reports of what a great band they are live, and they’ve now put out two excellent albums, neither with a bad song on it.

If you know Brixton Academy, you’ll also know how difficult to it is for bands to fill the venue’s enormous stage. TLDP made brilliant use of it. A stunning baroque set to match their costumes, with regular visits to a raised platform at the back of the stage, showed off their brilliant stagecraft alongside their remarkable musicianship.

And what a force of nature Abigail Morris is on lead vocals: a gorgeous warm voice with a remarkable range, and the kind of energy you can only possibly have in your twenties. Song of the night has to be the tear-inducing On Your Side.

3 Black Country, New Road - Brixton Academy, 31st October

Black Country, New Road have, in the space of two short years, become the act I have seen most often with the exception of Peter Hammill / Van Der Graaf Generator (whom they distinctly bring to mind in several songs) and Philip Glass (if his ensemble counts, which I think it should). I missed their first iteration, and while the two albums it bore are exceptionally good, the way they’ve rebuilt since lead singer Isaac Wood left on the eve of the release of the second, is not only remarkable, but I think musically superior to anything they did previously.

Having been unshackled from the traditional rock format of lead singer and backing band (however original their implementation) the remaining six are now free to make the kind of music they really want to make.

Forever Howlong, the first studio album since the reconfiguration (following a live album of new songs released in February 2024) is my album of the year. I saw them live four times in 2025, an intimate gig at the Village Underground back in April, and three times as they toured the UK and Europe. The final night at Brixton was more a party than a gig, as they departed from their usual set list quite brilliantly.

With Fontaines DC’s Starburster playing over the PA, they came on stage hilariously dressed as the Irish rockers, and as Fontaines’ logo on the backdrop morphed into AC/DC, they started with a brilliant rendition of Highway to Hell. Later in the set they played the Rolling Stones’ Paint it Black. Both were brilliant.

As every night on the tour, they played Forever Howlong in its entirely, with a couple of the best songs from Live at Bush Hall thrown in. The musicianship (this is not easy stuff to play) was exceptional, and the singing, shared between Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery and May Kershaw, was quite beautiful. It’s almost impossible to pick a song of the night, but I’m going for Horses, because something inside me melts every time Georgia sings.

2 Peter Hammill - Royal Festival Hall, 10th October

At no point since I first saw Peter play live in 1983 would I have placed a gig of his anywhere other than top of my list. And in case you doubt my commitment, I’ve now seen him live, either solo or with his band, Van Der Graaf Generator, more than fifty times, including three wonderful shows in Milan, Florence and Padua in November 2024.

I made the trip to Italy because I wasn’t entirely sure he’d be scheduling any more dates in the UK. The last VDGG European tour had to be cancelled half way through after he suffered a medical emergency (while I was waiting for them in Berlin). When your favourite artist is 77 you take nothing for granted.

So when he announced a short tour this autumn, I snapped up tickets for London and Manchester. (Had trains in this country been as reliable as those in Italy last year, I would also have gone to Edinburgh). Both gigs were exceptional; Hammill’s energy (you have to see him to understand what this means) undiminished by age, and his voice as remarkable as ever.

As he always does these days, the set list varied widely from night to night. 17 songs each night, 36 in total. London just gets the nod over Manchester because of the set list, which included My Room, Easy to Slip Away, Still Life, A Better Time, A Way Out and the classic Refugees. But my song of the night was Too Many of my Yesterdays because, if I have any complaint about PH, it’s that he hasn’t played more from his sublime album, And Close as This, since its release in 1986.

1 Stereolab - The Electric Brixton, 14th December

Stereolab have, since the release of their first album in 1992, been one of those bands in the background. I made a mental note on first hearing to give them a proper listen, but then life and other music got in the way, and suddenly it was 2025. So I was delighted when Spotify alerted me to the fact that they’d released their first new album in fifteen years, back in May.

When they announced two gigs in London this December, I opted for the Electric Brixton rather than the Royal Festival Hall, as I knew I’d want to be on my feet for this one. As Kitty Empire wrote in her review for The Observer:

‘If dancing is not exactly easy in the Electric Brixton’s packed space, there has rarely been a place better named to host a gig by these space-age musicians. From the first fizz of synth that opens Aerial Troubles, to the noise of the encore, Cybele’s Reverie, Stereolab more than live up to their myth.’

They’re not an easy band to label: Wikipedia opts for the dreadful ‘avant-pop’ but having listened to the their synth-driven electro rhythms, I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of a stage show, wondering if it mightn’t be more Tangerine Dream than Sonic Youth, to both of which they’ve been compared. To my delight, everything was conventionally played, with co-founder Tim Gane coaxing sounds from his guitar the like of which I’ve never heard.

The star of the show, however, was the band’s French-born crooner (that’s the word that comes to mind) Lætitia Sadier, for whose voice this music could only be written. Song of the night was Melodie is a Wound, one of their simplest, but perhaps the one that showcases her unique voice better than any other.

It’s clearly no coincidence that four out of five of these acts are headed by female vocalists; in Black Country, New Road’s case, three of them. Perhaps the only reason Stereolab claim the number one spot here is that Ms Sadier is twice the age of the others, and sometimes experience shines through.

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It won’t have escaped your attention that all five of these gigs were in the last three months, so needless to say I’ve had a brilliant time. Next year, I hope to see Honeyglaze and Nilüfer Yanya for the first time. Let me know if there’s anyone else you think I should check out. In the meantime, I’d like to wish all my readers a fabulous 2026, however, and wherever, you choose to make your escape from the daily grind.

And I’ll leave you with the official video for Stereolab’s Aerial Troubles, which, in the year we lost David Lynch, is a beautiful work of art in it’s own right.