Proving that it's hard these days to put on a gimmicky night without the blessing-and-curse stamp of a large corporation, Koko tonight played host to the first Xbox My Gig night, where a competition winner gets £50K to put on their dream gig. We won't devote too many column inches to the fantastic electro-popstrels CSS, on account of them having gobbled up enough already. Aside from their catsuits and such and such, they fill......

Nobuyoshi Araki has a worldwide notoriety for photographing beautiful women in intricate and perilous bondage (Kinbaku) in the name of art. Unsurprisingly, some of his work has been branded pornographic. Known also as erstwhile photographer of Bjork, this is his first London show since a major retrospective at the Barbican in 2005 and reveals him as an exquisite fetishist of female flesh. This series of large, black and white photographs, selected from a Kinbaku......

Looking at the highlights of Friday's experimental offering at Concrete and Glass - Lykke Li, Wildbirds and Peacedrums, Telepathe, TV On the Radio - the latter stood out tenfold in terms of grandeur and sweaty adoration, which probably explained why the population of E1 trudged in a steady stream towards Cargo from early evening. A pleasant buzz was around the creative hub that is Shoreditch, people drifting from venue to venue in the crisp......

Saturday morning had Londonist sitting in on a cookery class at “chic and contemporary Indian restaurant” Moti Mahal (near Covent Garden at 45 Great Queen Street, WC2B 5AA). The student/teacher ratio was low (about ten in our class). And, our teacher, head chef Anirudh Arora (aka Chef Ani) was brilliant. His guided tour of Moti Mahal’s thriving kitchen impressed us, as did his mellow yet authoritative manner while sharing his cookery skills. Indeed, the......

Billed as "a new musical by the legendary Ray Davies", Come Dancing is actually the product of over a decade of crafting by the Kinks front-man. Yet despite some outstanding music, it still doesn't feel entirely finished. The show is a love letter to the dance halls of yesteryear, and specifically the glittering Ilford Palais where Davies' sisters and parents used to "dance the night away" every Saturday. The tables overspill into the auditorium,......

Londonist arrived at Harvest Twestival a little late last night but was, nonetheless, overwhelmed by the party atmosphere and by the sheer number of attendees. The event was gleeful, tipsy and (we can only imagine) the first of many more high profile Twitter-inspired events in London (all promoting, RSVPing etc was conducted via the micro-blogging site extraordinaire, Twitter). Held a few steps from Trafalgar Square at Doon (Albannach’s swank downstairs bar, this “tweet-up with......

The last production in this year’s £10 Travelex season saw Rebecca Lenkiewicz lift the “curse” of the Olivier Theatre at the National – that, since it’s opening in 1963, not a single original play by a living female playwright has ever been staged. While the Olivier defends this unfortunate fact as a question of probability (only a small fraction of the unsolicited plays they receive are by women writers) it nevertheless seems fitting that......

Akram Khan is a choreographer and dancer renowned for his audacious collaborations. Zero Degrees in 2005 explored cultural identities in a stark white box at Sadlers Wells. Sacred Monsters had ballerina Sylvie Guillem singing on stage and dwarfing Khan in the most elegant way possible. This foray with actress Juliet Binoche was risk filled from the start - their mission was to dare, to push their personal boundaries and create across their comfort zones.......

A relatively new space in Hoxton Square, KK Outlet is named after their publishing company KesselsKramer, which specialise in testing the boundaries of traditional publishing in their art-based book series. Through 14 September, art/retail space KK Outlet plays exclusive host to an original collection of graphic design art prints by London-based, French artist Damien Poulain. His Le Nouveau Riche exhibition holds a mirror to our cultural currency worship with notable standouts as the triptych......

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuubba hubba! The Gore Hotel’s at it again with another Burlesque Soirée, this time to celebrate London Fashion Week “with a decadent show by London’s hottest Burlesque act, Miss Polly Rae and the Hurly Burly Girlys.” Londonist was at the Gore’s last Burlesque Soirée. We sincerely hope to make it to this one and reckon this time round will be just as va-va-voom (yet exceptionally stylish) as the last. London Fashion Week Burlesque Soiree......

Nathan Followill sits atop a raised platform Ringo-style, drumsticks in hand, head perfectly still, turning a piece of bubblegum over and over in his mouth. His hands reach out to the drumkit near him, his forehead barely breaking a sweat. Pop. Plunge. Crack. His brothers, Caleb and Jared stand in front of him, also still, Caleb's voice so full of guttural grit and scream that nearly it defies his delicate physiology; his cousin Matthew......

It’s difficult to make a cake. If you put too much of one thing in, it can become tough and unpalatable or gooey and sickly; treat the ingredients too roughly and their potential is compromised. Some bands manage to pick the right ingredients to combine, and treat them with enough talent to produce something near-perfect, like a sonically inspired W.I. veteran. Tonight’s performance at the 100 Club was one cake you’d want to have......

Photos by Naomi Kuyck-Cohen and Cian Oba-Smith. Read Naomi's review of the day here.......

On the 8th August London’s Underage Festival, designed specifically for 14-18 year olds, returned to Victoria Park for a bigger and better sequel, bringing a huge line-up with it. With more space and more stages, it easily matched the success of last year. Pull In Emergency, a team of underage musicians who are becoming more popular by the day, rocked a full tent with their cool, poppy sound and friendly stage presence. Meanwhile, Poppy......

London girl Catherine Anne Davies has had some outstanding press, so with high hopes we attended her gig at Bush Hall on Thursday night. A fair size audience, made up largely of young indie chicks and industry heads, demonstrated Catherine's growing popularity - a singer described by the NME as "How Kate Bush would sound if she died and went to hell" (which is supposed to be a compliment). Described as a 'gothic folk......

The music of Cole Porter may not be something you would expect to be discussed on Londonist, but every since we sobbed our way through 'De-Lovely' in Whiteley's cinema we've been a big fan. So we were excited to see Chelsea's gorgeous Cadogan Hall promising 4 nights Cole Porter kind of biopic 'A Swell Party'. Originally staged at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1991, John Kane's show attempts to re-create Porter's life story using a......

XO to GO is a new premium Asian food deliver service offering “restaurant quality food” that must then be heated up before serving. XO to GO reckons its menu, with signature dishes from the XO restaurant in Belsize Park, is just the thing “for a dinner party cheat or a lunch at the office.” Based upon our XO to GO experience, we can agree with that. Here’s our review of this novel approach to......

Last night found Londonist sampling canapés and cocktails at an outdoor medieval setting deep in the City of London. Hosted by the makers of Tanqueray gin and toptable.co.uk,” the first of two Tanqueray Tables events in London (there was an initial Tanqueray Tables night in Edinburgh last week) offered an excellent opportunity to check out the historic Merchant Taylors’ Hall. Dating from the 14th century, the hall is one of the Twelve Great City......

Londonist loves a burlesque soirée, especially when held at a swank venue such as the Gore Hotel and accompanied by a fantastic meal. Friday night’s Burlesque Soirée at Kensington’s Gore Hotel - featuring the exceptionally lovely Miss Polly Rae and her naughtily coy Hurly Burly Girlys - was brassiere loads of fun and well worth the £39 cover (which got ya in the door drinking a cocktail and enjoying a three course meal with......

The second night of iTunes Live is one for the serious muso fan. You know Glasvegas mean business when you see James Allen and his gang in black take to the stage. Latest single 'Geraldine' is fantastic live, with a wall of sound built from fuzzy guitars, howling feedback and pounding drums. On epic set-closer 'Daddy’s Gone', a young boy’s lament for his absent father, they sound beautifully heartbreaking. Paul Weller‘s fourth solo album,......

Stiff Little Fingers' Inflammable Material provided a soundtrack for our teenage years, every single one of its three chords forever fused with our memories of youth. As we grew a bit older, it remained a favourite and was soon joined by Mark Stewart and the Maffia's As The Veneer Of Democracy Starts To Fade and the many productions of Adrian Sherwood. Trawlling through used record shops, anything with Sherwood's name on it went home......

Although Bat For Lashes cut out mid-set - whoops - Radiohead were always going to be awesome. Thankfully, crew were on hand to fix the temporary blow out that left Victoria Park rather stunned, mid organic sausage and paper pint Carling, and Radiohead rocked on stage only a little late and dazzled E9. Kicking off with a stretch of In Rainbows (Bodysnatchers is unstoppably funky and everyone adores Nude, even though Skins tried to......

As gorgeous as yesterday was, Taste of London presented a good excuse to forage through a marquee-laden Regent’s Park with friends. However, despite the pleasant weather, ToL would have hardly been categorized as a value for money outing. In a way, the event was comparable to a stroll through an alfresco version of the high end aisles of Sainsbury’s or Waitrose, which wouldn’t necessarily be an unpleasant activity but hardly one that attendees should......

Never underestimate the power of bass. This is a lesson that the Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall learned as pieces of aluminium cracked and began to break free from the ceiling on Tuesday night as The Dubstep Chronicles rumbled its way through Meltdown 2008. No one was ever in any danger of being injured, but the low end frequencies compromised the building's structural integrity enough to force organisers to err on the side of......

The future is still what it used to be. Vangelis' music for Ridley Scott's portentous 1982 sci-fi thriller Blade Runner is often held up as an example of an original score that was in perfect harmony with the director's vision. Tonight it's taken apart and reassembled - well, pretty much the same as before. As part of Massive Attack's predictably eclectic Meltdown strand at the Royal Festival Hall, this performance of the soundtrack by......

When you go out to see a band that has existed for just over forty years, there's a high chance of it sounding past its prime. It is a testament to the boundless creativity of Daevid Allen and friends, as well as to the power of heavy, undiluted psychedelia, that Gong's set at Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall on Saturday beat the odds. Presented as part of Massive Attack's Meltdown 2008, psychedelic legends Gong......

Olympic enthusiasts, not only will this book make a pleasant change from following news on Beijing medal hopes, London's dubious Olympic legacy and building sites but it will restore your faith in Olympic spirit and the capacity of countries to fall out over officials' decisions. Oh yes, then as now, the Olympics caused international controversy. Bringing the Games to London with just 2 years preparation, is presented as a feat of derring-do by one......

On Thursday night, Four tet headlined The Eat Your Own Ears series at the Indigo2 in Greenwich, an incredible space with a really terrific sound and lighting system. Before we get to fawning over Four tet, however, the opening acts deserve a mention here. First up was Kode9, whose pulsing rhythm set the mood nicely, but to be fair, we were concentrating more on the beer. Next up was the happy surprise of the......

The Long Good Friday. That's if you can judge these things on the index of Movie London by Tony Reeves. This updated tome from Titan Books lists the Hoskins flick 21 times, with John Wayne's Brannigan a close second on 20 entries. The locations of over 500 films are revealed in this smart volume of filmic London - from obscure Ealing comedies to the biggest blockbusters. Do you know which bit of Kensington featured......

The Porchester Spa Queensway, London, W2 5HS Nearest tube/overground: Bayswater, Queensway or Royal Oak Tel: 020 7792 3980 Hours: 10am–10pm, 7 days a week. Men only: Mon, Wed, Sat. Ladies only: Tues, Thurs, Fri. Expect to pay: £20.35 for admission (£11.55 for Westminster residents); any treatments are extra Rating: 8 out of 10 Behind an unassuming set of West London doors boils the Porchester Spa, an Art Deco palace of heat, steam and sweat.......