Love your pop music? We've got 2 pairs of tickets up for grabs for tonight's Wonky Pop clubnight at Cargo in Shoreditch. Although Annie was due to headline, illness has forced her to pull out, but she's replaced by the awesome London girl Ebony Bones. It's an all star cast with The Clik Clik and Helsoise and The Savoir Faire also playing live while Richard X, Alphabeat and Popjustice DJ. First two to email londonist.music@gmail.com......

We at Londonist are firm believers in the old proverbs, and particularly that sage advice to "never look a gift horse in the mouth", which is why, dear readers, we are offering you the chance to win a right royal time at the world-famous Ascot races even though, technically speaking, the venue lies about six and a half miles out of our remit. Up for grabs for each of three lucky winners are a......

Super duper electro beepster Metronomy has boosted himself up from a knob spinning producer into a full band with guitars and everything in recent times. Tonight they play a headline gig for XFM Exposure at Camden Barfly alongside They Came From The Stars I Saw Them + thecocknbullkid. Metronomy's new single Holiday is out on Monday and we've got two tickets to give away to tonight's gig for the first person to email londonist.music@gmail.com.......

Canadian pop band Dragonette produced one of our favourite albums of 2007 before all went quiet with the band. Now they're back performing round the UK and this Saturday night hit up the ever-so-trendy Proud Galleries in Camden. We've found it dreadfully hard to get into Proud in the past; hell even Cameron Diaz was apparently turned away one night due to them being at capacity by 9pm, but once you're inside it's a......

Yes, you read that right. Film4 are offering you the chance to win a Phillips Home Cinema. This is quite simply AWESOME. You must read on... Film4 Summer Screen at Somerset House returns for ten nights from 31st July to August 9th 2008. The magnificent Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court at Somerset House will once again be transformed into a full-scale open-air cinema with state of the art giant screen, 35mm projection and surround-sound. The......

There's a lot of treasure in London at the moment, and a lot of ways to find it. While there are treasure hunts in museums, galleries, based on alternative realities or winning actual prizes, there's just good old fashioned running around in a structured fashion, re-discovering your surroundings with a bit of organised playfulness. One such outfit offering a very nicely put together, easy to organise treasure hunts is Treasure Days. There's a variety......

English National Ballet returns to the Royal Festival Hall this July after an absence of 11 years, with a promisingly lyrical, accessible and pleasing mixed bill. The Company was formed in 1950 - the same year as the Festival Hall as part of the Festival of Britain so it's apt that this show is called Festival Ballet. Yes, there will be tutus but this is no frou frou event. It's a celebration of classical......

It was brought to our attention this morning that our Havana Rakatan ticket giveaway form wasn't working so we've fixed it and extended the deadline. Visit the post here and enter your details by SUNDAY LUNCHTIME to be in with a chance of winning a pair of free tickets to this sizzling show for next Wednesday evening's performance at the Peacock Theatre. Good luck!......

He’s back! Since we first heard the news that Paddington Bear would, after a 30-year sabbatical, shake off the dust of our bookshelves and embark on some fresh adventures, it’s been all we could do to contain our excitement – though stuffing ourselves with marmalade sandwiches certainly has helped. The wait is over. Paddington – or P.Bear, as we like to call him – is back in bookstores this week for his twelfth outing,......

Day 15: Still no closer to Mordor. Ring weighs a tonne. Really wish I had stayed at home - just cannot be bothered with this sodding quest. Day 24: Legolas sings Elvish songs to keep up our spirits. Makes me sick, the way he prances about on top of the snow. I'm the shortest person on this sodding quest, I don't think it's funny when I'm slogging away behind him, chest high in piles of......

Now whether your concept of space sharing is shaped by The Odd Couple or by Shallow Grave (any which way two of the best films of all time, surely?), you will have to agree that the course of true co-habitation rarely runs smooth. There’s always something - whether it’s sterilising everything within a five foot radius of the kitchen or contaminating everything within a five foot radius of the kitchen, failing to wash the bath......

We first heard of 22 year old Jack Savoretti when he appeared on Shelly Poole's wistful solo album back in 2005. Three years later he's back releasing new single 'One Man Band' on March 31st and looking a bit like a young Neil Diamond in the London centric video for the song (above). If you like the sound of him then we've got three pairs of tickets for you to win for his secret......

If you were inspired by yesterday's interview with competitor Olivia Brown, you might want to go along to this weekend's Winter Swimming Championship at the Tooting Bec Lido, the largest fresh water swimming pool in Europe, to find out more about the joys of an outdoor dip. The festivities start today with registration, practice and media activities. The competition proper opens on Saturday at 9:10 am with the first of 95 heats of 25-metre......

If so, you’re probably better poised than we are to win a contest kicking off today. So listen up artists, armchair critics, and wannabe designers: HarperCollins, in collaboration with the Saatchi Gallery, are sponsoring a competition to design a book cover for the forthcoming The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal, Sean Dixon’s debut novel. To all our artsy readers: opportunity knocks (though we’re not making any claims about fame and fortune). The collaboration......

If you're free on Thursday night (13th Dec), then Mercury nominees The Young Knives are playing a pretty cool headlining gig at Canvas, Kings Cross. The Rage Out In Winter is an all evening event (7.30pm - 2am) aiming itself an a more discerning gig goer, hoping to provide cool bands in luxurious settings. They've even got proper caterers on the case to provide food to gig goers which we think is a great......

Last week we challenged you to peer into alternative universes and find out what London would have been like had history taken a different course. Roll the Dice sent in this Teutonic take on the Tube. Had the Germans won either of the world wars, the London underground might now look something like this. We'll leave you to make the inevitable wisecracks about efficiency and punctuality in the comments. Now, we're offering £20 to......

Noah and The Whale. It's amazing what names bands are coming up with these days, but somehow this fantastical one suits one of our new favourite bands. We know we're a bit behind the times here, after all Noah's crew have been making waves since the summer, but for some reason we've only just properly listened to them and wow. Noah and The Whale are part of the newly cool folk scene. If we......

London is still the most expensive city in the world as far as public transport is concerned so it's always nice when someone comes along and offers to pay your Oyster Card for a whole month! The good people over at the local review site Qype.com just told us about their fab new competition that gives you the chance to travel London for free, for the whole of January (when everyone's skint anyway). We......

We love it when London gets all Christmas-y and a big part of that is the sudden belief that all of us can ice skate once December hits. We gave you a big round-up of the main ice skating rinks last week but there's just been a further addition to the fun with the launch of Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland. For five weeks from December 1, the area of Hyde Park between the Serpentine......

Hailed by Steve Lamacq and produced by Trevor Horn, London band Captain released their debut album in 2006 to critical acclaim. But somehow their brand of slightly dark twee pop (and we say that in the nicest way) didn't quite hit the charts as well as they may have liked. Now they're back for a 2nd go with a forthcoming second album in 2008 and they've been reminding people of their existance with a......

Now, you know us. We wouldn't normally play along with some company's marketing schemes and compromise our editorial independence. Not us. No never. Well, hardly ever. Occasionally, a company dangles something in front of us so tasty that we can't help but bite. If we said it involves dragons, Hampstead Heath and photoshopping skills, then I think you can forgive us for our little dalliance. Penguin have just launched a new community site for......

The Rushes are Gerard, Dan, Joe and James and they've just been signed by Island Records. They're in the process of making their 1st album between studios in Ladbroke Grove and Clapham and make emotional piano lead pop that will probably be everywhere by this time next year. We particularly like "What U Waitin For" -have a listen. So here's your chance to catch them early, The Rushes are supporting Turin Brakes on Thursday......

It's no secret that we reckon the Indigo2 is a bit of alright. It's glitzy, it's got normal bar prices, great music acts and a bunch of transport links. What's not to love! So we're particularly please to be giving 6 of you the opportunity to check out multi grammy award winner Christopher Cross there on Sunday night. Performing classic hits such as Arthur's Theme and Saling, Christopher will be bringing out the hits......

One Night Only are a new band who are causing rather a lot of fuss on the radio with Zane Lowe declaring them one of the hottest new bands out there. Despite starting out as a teenage Beatles Cover Act and growing up in the middle of nowhere, One Night Only signed with Vertigo Records earlier this year and are now getting ready to release their first single "You And Me" They're playing what......

What are you up to this weekend? If the answer isn’t “I’m going poking round lots of quirky London buildings, enjoying Open House for all I‘m worth and whooping with delight at all the random facts I glean” then we’ve just lost a little respect for you. (Unless, of course, you’re going to a funeral, or setting off on holiday or something like that. We really don’t mean to suggest that you’re an uncultured......

Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, will talk about her new book The Shock Doctrine tomorrow evening at the South Bank Centre. Sounds like it’s going to be a big seller… Based on breakthrough historical research and four years of on-the-ground reporting, Klein reveals that our world is increasingly in thrall to a little understood ideology that is conquering the globe by systematically exploiting moments of disaster and trauma. This is the shock doctrine.......

If, like us, you’re exhausted and skint after the bank holiday weekend and just not up to taking advantage of all the fun things London has to offer this week, here are a few things you can watch and listen to from the comfort of your front room. On TV, Londonist likes: Thursday, 30 August Robbie Coltrane: B-Road Britain (ITV1, 21:00-22:00) Robbie Coltrane takes to the roads and travels from London to Glasgow using......

The five images above were all contributed by members of the SkyscraperCity forums. Good, huh? Well, some of them are. We'll be giving prizes to the top three, as voted for by you. Yes, we're getting ever more like a desperate TV channel. Coming soon: Shark Week. To be followed by great battles of WWII. To register your vote (and you can vote for more than one image), go to our archive page and......

What are we? The fricking Generation Game or something? As you may recall, we recently offered you the chance to obtain this box of delights via our friends at Trusted Places. The competition closes a week today, so click through to their site to enter. The San Lorenzo hamper, worth £50, includes all manner of goodies. Organic Trofie Organic Spaghetti Organic Penne Ligurian Riviera Pesto Amatriciana Pasta sauce Sun-dried tomatoes in extra-virgin olive oil 1......

As one of the most exciting new venues in town, as well as hosting Prince afterparties continuously, the indigo2 will be home to the first in a series of nights run by The Bedford pub in Balham. Famous for helping to discover burgeoning talent (with the likes of of KT Tunstall, James Morrison, Paolo Nutini, Imogen Heap behind them), Bedford Bandstand aims to continue this tradition via a monthly night starring raw talent and......