Music

Come shake a tail feather with the UK’s original, award-winning Tina Turner tribute …. aka Justine Riddoch and her talented cast. The live show will be coming to Milton Keynes, Stables, on Wednesday 26th February. When Tina burst onto the scene, she won the hearts of music fans from the outset, creating a fearsome reputation for her live performances – and those never-ending legs! Early hits River Deep – Mountain High, Proud Mary and Nutbush City Limits were just a taste of what was to come. We Don’t Need Another Hero, Simply the Best, What’s Love Got to Do With It, I Don’t Wanna Lose You and When the Heartache is Over  propelled her to stadium concert stardom. Supported by her super-talented band and dazzling dancing girls in sequins, feathers and diamonds, Justine is the ULTIMATE Tina (a National Tribute Awards winner since 2013). She’s got the looks, she’s got the moves, she's got the legs, but most of all, she’s got THE voice...

Beans on Toast; a nutritious meal for those on a budget, or a right earful of modern folk, depending on whether you get yours from a can, or from the stage! No stranger to these parts, Beans on Toast has spent nearly two decades writing simple songs about complicated subjects, and he'll be playing lots of those tracks when he returns to MK11 in Kiln Farm on December 5. The same week, Beans will release his new album, Wild Goose Chasers, the latest in a very long line of albums that are too numerous to list in the here and now. Aside from the music, Beans has written children's books and coloured up festivals here, there and everywhere – last year he delivered a speech for the Campaign of Nuclear Disarmament from the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury! Fans will be listening to a very different elpee from the Essex-based creative..

Grade 2 start the Christmas countdown at The Craufurd Arms, bringing the raw power of old school punk to the new generation. Signed to Hellcat Records (the label set up by Rancid's Tim Armstrong) is a nice place to be, and their second release on said label (but third album overall) is the eponymous 15-track delivery 'melding the uncompromising ethos of punk with the howl of contemporary injustice, personal identity and frustrations of Gen-Z youth.' “Like everyone else, 2020 left us properly f*cked off,” says frontman Sid Ryan. “Yet we were able to channel every ounce of that despair into every second of this record." The Isle of Wight natives will be seeing you on December 5. The Woodentops (Dec 10) have celebrated their four decade anniversary this year, and yet, 2024 has been particularly fruitful: '...the most loaded with fresh releases, remixes, film, collaborations and general newness in any..

Milton Keynes will officially begin its Christmas festivities this Saturday, 16 November, with its largest-ever Christmas Lights Switch-On event, taking place for the first time at the spacious car park adjacent to The Point. Organised by the MyMiltonKeynes Business Improvement District (MyMK BID), this year’s occasion promises an enhanced spectacle, featuring a star-studded programme, including popular social media personalities, local performers and a show-stopping finale. Festivities will commence at 2 pm, with family attractions, including funfair rides and roaming entertainers to engage visitors upon arrival. Hosting the main programme from 4 pm, celebrated magician and comedian David Allen – a Magic Circle member known for his appearances on ITV, BBC and the Discovery Channel – will bring his renowned charm and humour to the stage, promising to engage audiences throughout the event. Max Fulham, star of the MK Theatre’s pantomime and a social media sensation known..

A £1,500 bursary and a tailored programme of professional mentoring are being launched to give a promising young musician or band from Milton Keynes a significant boost in advancing their music career. The recipient of the bursary will gain £1,500 in funding, which can be allocated to a wide range of career-enhancing activities, including training, purchasing essential equipment, recording new music, marketing, promotion, or supporting a touring schedule. Beyond financial support, the bursary winner will benefit from a mentoring programme overseen by The Stables in Milton Keynes. This initiative will offer a comprehensive introduction to the music industry, with personalised guidance designed to fit the winner’s unique ambitions and career goals. Topics covered will include navigating the complexities of the music business, strategies for developing a marketable artistic identity, building and engaging a loyal fanbase, and generating sustainable income from writing, recording, and performing. The Fresh Sounds bursary scheme has..

Choice pickings at the Wolverton haunt this month include Laura Jane Grace and the Trauma Tropes (Nov 16). As a major figure in today’s rock scene both as a solo artist and the front person of Against Me!, which she founded in the late 1990s, Laura has released four solo offerings and seven albums with Against Me!, and in 2012 went public with her gender transition in the pages of music bible Rolling Stone. Detailing her journey in her music, she remains true to her earlier themes of outspoken political critique – environmentalism along with personal and social liberation – with a base in American music including country and folk-rock, but with a penchant for noise and anarchy. Eight years since landing on Earth, Henge (Nov 23) continue to delight with their music, which they say is 'Cosmic Dross,' and occupies the space between rave and prog rock that no-one..

Ramble On... 2024 has been quite the year for MK’s Southern Rock fuelled quartet, Ramblin’ Preachers. The release of their warmly received debut album, Sins & Virtues, making inroads into Europe, and some nice festivals have helped cement their standing as ‘ones to watch,’ and not here in the new city where that secret was given up a while ago, but further afield. “2024 has been truly mind-blowing,” picks up frontman Ross Connor, “We have played some amazing festivals and venues this year, including the stunning Blackpool Winter Gardens, and a massive high point was our recent trip to Germany. It was the first time we played in Europe and we loved it. “We have done some great support slots too, we’ve recently played with the incredible Greg Koch, The Cold Stares and Jared James Nichols...” Pulse was among a keen audience who caught Ramblin’ guitarist James stage sharing with..

If you like a good night out in the company of a group of imposters, you are in for a marvellous month at MK11, with tribute mobs en masse! A power-packed trio of trouble starts the month (Nov 1) with Rhyme & Reason 2024 bringing the best in edgy noise courtesy of Beast Decoys (Beastie Boys), Cy-prish Hill and The Machine Rages On. It's a Sure Shot for those of you who want to Take The Power Back! On the 'other' stage, the first of the month is Band-E-Oke time – your chance to grab the mic and let your voice boom with the backing of MK11's house band. There's a real Dead Ringer for Love, or at least a dead soundalike for Meatloaf (Nov 2), and Red Hot Chili Peppers UK (Nov 8) will take the MK11 assembly to a Higher Ground and the same evening, Just Radiohead will..

It was a place that pulled people from all over the country, and it was on our doorstep. Now, its story is being put to the screen with the new Living Archive documentary, The Pitz, One Day Like This. Pitz club devotee Sammy Jones spoke with the man who made the music happen, promoter Chris Kemp. For those of us who were waiting stage front to devour the sounds, The Pitz was a magical place that took the buzz bands from the pages of the magazines and placed them within spitting distance. More often than not they rocked our world and, over time, those shows provided us with a bank of memories that we still pull from with alarming regularity, when you consider some of those Pitz highlights were more than 30 years ago. Perhaps rather oddly, The Pitz music club was housed at the Woughton Centre, and what served..

2024 sees The Puppini Sisters celebrate 20 years together, and they're heading to Milton Keynes! Founded in 2004 by Marcella Puppini, the band pioneered the neo burlesque/swing scene with their immaculate close harmonies and went on to worldwide success releasing 6 albums, the first of which became the fastest selling jazz album of all time and gathering a multitude of fans around the globe including Michael Bublè and HM King Charles! Marcella Puppini says “I can’t believe it’s been twenty years – time does fly when you’re having fun and it’s definitely been fun! We love to play dress up, sing old songs with a new spin or new songs with an old spin.  Swing is infectious and cool, with its intricate syncopated rhythms and its echoes of fabulous dance parties. Harmony singing, in my opinion, resonates deeply with everybody – it’s as if it speaks directly to the soul.” To mark..

She is such a force that she can single-handedly lift the financial fortunes of a country. Imagine that. She is Taylor Swift (like you didn’t know) and as the UK continues its recovery after Swifto-mania last month, a trip to the Swiftogeddon Club Night might help fans with their transition back to normality. This is a night dedicated to worshipping at the altar of the pop Princess – with deep cuts, extended mixes, fan favourites and all the hits. Feeling glum? Prepare to erm, Shake It Off and have lots of fun at The Craufurd Arms on October 5. Once you’ve had your pop fill, you’ll want to follow that with some twitchy, socially minded, acerbic post-punk, won’t you? Luckily for you that purveyors of the aforementioned, Eyesore & The Jinx (Oct 9) will bring that via songs that often involve ugly narratives centred around vile fictional characters... American goth..

Pulse’s Sammy Jones had a pitch-perfect chat with Pip Akers who is ‘scaling’ new heights in her quest to teach Milton Keynes to sing... “My mum noticed first,” Pip says of her passion and talent for performing and for song, “She realised I had an interest in music and did everything she could to encourage it, including putting me in keyboard lessons from the age of four. I sang with her in the church choir from a very young age, and got involved in every school production and talent show I possibly could.” Listening to Stevie Wonder as a wee youngster was another landmark moment for Pip, which she remembers as being ‘pure joy.’ Other voices who would join Stevie in her favourites list include Whitney Houston, Inez Andrews, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, George Michael, Celine Dion, “...to be honest I’d better end it there or I’d go on forever,”..

Yungblud came to Milton Keynes last month, with the singer bringing his inaugural Bludfest to the National Bowl on a hot August afternoon. A day of live wire sets by artists including Lil Yachty, Soft Play and The Damned culminated in an immense headline show from Yungblud himself, who played before an avid audience of fans. It made for fabulous viewing. Speaking ahead of the gig, the man at the helm said he wanted Bludfest to be, ‘a place where being different is celebrated.’ And so it came to be – and it wasn’t just one of the most diverse bills staged at the Bowl, it was also one of the most accepting. But after such a spectacle on one of the country’s most famous stages, what to do next? Yungblud and his crew and guests knew the place to be – and held their after show at The Craufurd..

The chance to indulge in a little local heavy nostalgia presents itself at The Craufurd Arms on September 7, and you’ll be swelling the coffers for a deserving charity by taking a ticket. Seethe, Crossburner and Keeper of the Rifle are coming together to raise money for the National Gaucher Foundation. Seethe’s Matt Downes is behind this event, and it is a cause close to his heart; he lost his niece to the condition. “Gaucher’s disease is a rare genetic disorder where the body is missing an enzyme that breaks down fatty substances called lipids, and as a result, severely lowers your life expectancy,” Matt said, “‘The disorder generally begins during childhood or adolescence, but can also affect adults.” The timing of this reunion show is important too – poignantly, Matt’s niece would have recently celebrated her 21st birthday. “Getting back together with the Seethe and Keeper of the Rifle..

Hard rock trio Torus will unleash their self-titled debut album on September 13. The much-anticipated twelve track opus has delivered on the promise they’ve been showing for the past couple of years, and the band is beyond excited that the big drop is imminent. “We’ve been through a lot as a band during the period around writing this album but working through those things is what’s made us the band of brothers we wanted to be the whole time. We came out of it with an album we all love and would be happy touring the rest of our lives if you told us we had to!” frontman Alfie Glass said, “We can’t wait for everyone to hear it! “The album is a rollercoaster of emotions and struggles from a year which had many ups and downs and the mental battle of trying to work it all out whilst feeling..