Sunday 03 October 2025.

Sunday 05 October 2025. The new series of Later with Jools Holland starts on BBC 2 tonight. Headline act is ROBERT PLANTS SAVING GRACE. ------------------------------- Saturday 04 October 2025. 70th Birthday Party in High Barnet ,North London. ------------------------------- Friday 03 October 2025. 8- BIT BIG BAND live at Shepherds Bush Empire. Grammy Award-winning contemporary symphonic Jazz orchestra, The 8-Bit Big Band formed to celebrate and reimagine video game music’s most beloved hits, rearranged in exciting and creative new ways in order push the envelope of how we experience the music from these legendary soundtracks as a standalone body of musical work. -------------------------- It is stalls seated tonight , so maybe 1000 folks are here . Many here do look like nerdy video games players. 8 BIT BIG BAND arrived on stage at 8pm for their 1 hour 45 mins set. There are around 25 musicians on stage, including 13 brass and 8 strings and woodwind , along with a band, conductor and a male and female singer who both perform a couple of tracks each. Most of the tracks played are instrumentals. Originally gaining popularity through their YouTube channel they perform a with a lush collection of horn, woodwind, and string sections; your standard-fare drum set, guitar, upright and electric bass; as well as more unusual instruments, such as the Japanese wood flute, the shakuhachi. This sheer volume of participants, as well as their incredible musicianship and technical ability, have the effect of expanding nostalgic little digital experiments into sweeping symphonic arrangements, a sound somehow familiar and uncanny, and an absolute joy to hear. The group is the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and band leader Charlie Rosen, who conducts, arranges, and performs the band’s interpretations of classic and new video game songs. Rosen, who plays more than 70 instruments himself, has orchestrated and performed on many on- and off-Broadway productions and television shows. The conductor chatted a lot between songs and said some tracks were in Super Mario Brothers 1 and Mario Kart 64. The brass and strings created a lovely big orchestral sound. The crowd gave this enjoyable show a full standing ovation. ------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------ Thursday 02 October 2025. MAN WITH A MISSION live at Shepherds Bush Empire Man with a Mission is a Japanese rock band which was formed in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, in 2010.The band currently consists of five band members, with stage names of Tokyo Tanaka (vocals, leader), Jean-Ken Johnny (guitar, vocals, rapping), Kamikaze Boy (bass guitar, backing vocals), DJ Santa Monica (DJ, sampling) and Spear Rib (drums)..Their distinguishing feature is that all of the members wear differently designed wolf masks during both their concerts and their music videos. Many of their singles have been used as theme songs for a variety of anime, live-action movies, and video games. Shepherds Bush Empire is the opening show on their UK & European Tour. -------------------------- Levels 2 and 3 are closed unsold but still maybe 1000 folks are here. Maybe 10 % are Japanese fans tonight. Signs everywhere....WARNING.... No photos No videos HANDS LIKE HOUSES arrived on stage at 7.40pm for their 35 mins. They are an Australian rock band who are more popular in USA than the UK....as well as at home of course. Their fifth studio album, 'Atmospherics' was released on 14 February 2025, marking a return with a double album concept. They played a really good rockin' set that went down very well. Singer sung two songs between fans in the stalls standing area, and danced with the fans there , who loved it. MAN WITH A MISSION arrived on stage at 8.35pm. They played for 85 mins over two sets of 35 mins and 50 mins. They show their comedy skits on the big screen during the 10 mins interval, which the crowd loved The band keep their wolf heads on all throughout the show. Sounding like a fusion of Linkin Park, Rage Against the Machine, Skindred and Sum 41, Man with a Mission deal in the sort of rock that gets played on the radio all day long and the audience hang onto every note. Man with a Mission offer up a multitude of huge riffs and choruses , as the crowd waved their arms aloft side to side. Their turntablist adds electronic bleeps and bloops. Both bands were really good tonight. For the final bow, they allowed photos and videos.

Posted 2nd October 2025