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......

Tonight start the week by going to see massive Swedish popstar Marit Bergman at Hoxton Bar & Grill. She's playing a one off UK gig in an attempt to get signed in the UK. (£6, here. Former Hefner frontman Darren Hayman teams up with fledgling band The Wave Pictures at The Luminaire (£8, here). Plus the awesome Cold War Kids play Shepherd's Bush Empire. On Tuesday, German dance kids Digitalism are at the Scala......

Mince pies are proliferating on supermarket shelves people. It really is time to book your festive entertainment. I mean, we told you back in August about Cinderella at The Old Vic. Stephen Fry's "cheekily updated" script, Pauline Collins' Fairy Godmother and Sandi Toksvig's narrator promise to make this a cracking, cross dressing, cake filled chuckle fest in a veritable grande dame of a venue. Our advice is to try and get as close to......

Always on the scout for the best the city has to offer, Londonist has caught wind of a cheeky little theatre deal to tempt you into one of its most vibrant and newly buffed up venues. Vernon God Little is currently showing at the Young Vic, just down The Cut from its bigger, creakier sibling, The Old Vic (no relation). Vernon God Little, the novel, won the Man Booker Prize in 2003 with its......

It's New Years Eve and if like us you're very bad at making plans more than 12 hours in advance, you might be looking for something to do tonight. Equally if you were planning to go to The Truman Show in Shoreditch then you should probably know that it's been cancelled due to 'surprise' secret acts The Kooks pulling out due to illness. In any case here are our top tips: For the danceheads:......

Last time we wrote about a list the NME had published, they tried to sue us. This time we're actually impressed by what they've written. Yes, it's time for that all important 'how cool am i today list' aka the NME 2006 Cool List. Instead of people like Pete Doherty and Alex Turner, who ruled the roost last year, this years list is surprising. It's topped by a woman: a woman who is not......

If the dark nights and rainy days are making music fans amongst us bemoan the loss of the festival season, then you may be pleased to know that London's indoor 'one day festival', The Insomniac's Ball, is returning for a second event next month and the line-up is looking pretty damn fine. Held at the cavernous SE1 under London Bridge, the night runs from 7.30pm until 6am the next day. Confirmed across 5 stages......

...if only. No, we're not going anywhere really, and we certainly won't be playing any Riff Clichard songs (apart from maybe The Young Ones - bit of a guilty pleasure, that). But we will be taking a short break on Monday, as it's a public holiday, and all. So, unless anything major and dramatic happens in the capital, we'll be back on Toosday. Enjoy the Carnival, everyone. Photo from flykr's Flickr photostream.......

If you're not going away for the weekend, and the Notting Hill Carnival just doesn't tickle your fancy, then there are two more big festivals going on in London town this weekend and it's tough to decide between the two. Fortunately you can buy day tickets, so be a daredevil and do both. The Metro Weekender Meanwhile over in South London, the Metro weekender will be taking up residence on Clapham Common. Saturday is......

Two bits of theatre news before we slink away for a distinctly thespian-free weekend: New Season, New Building for Young Vic The Young Vic theatre has been on walkabout for the last two years while its original home has been demolished and rebuilt to a fabulous new design. Having toured shows to 41 theatres in 31 cities since the redesign started, the company is no doubt looking forward to settling back into its home......

Just squeezing the May Music Review in before the end of the month. And to kick off this month's mailbag of music are some folks who like trains. And history. iLIKETRAINS - Terra Nova (single released 29th May on Fierce Panda) Terra Nova is about Captain Scott's doomed 1912 Antarctic expedition and the b-side is about the Norwegian who beat him to the pole. This is rock music for A-Level history students perhaps. iLIKETRAINS sound......

Tonight: Kaibosh are back to deliver some meaty crunching riffs at G Lounge, 18 Kentish Town Road. Doors open 7pm and £4 in. Or else make your way down to The Social for a second dose of Sonic Cathedral where prime Norwegian MBV-ers Serena Mareesh and The High Dials will be playing whilst Spiritualized's Will Carruthers djs. The Legion, 348 Old Street, doors at 7, tickets at 5. Friday: Super lo-fi furries, Champion Kickboxer......

Ever since Londonist heard that the Young Vic was planning to stage the famous boy reporter's quest to save his friend Chang from the perilous slopes of the Himalayas we've been willing them to get it right. It was a huge task even for a director with the pedigree of Rufus Norris, so it was with some trepidation that we scanned the broadsheets for the first reviews over the weekend. As far as Kate......

BBC4 are giving the beloved Routemaster a sendoff with a night of dedicated double decker telly: On Friday 9 December, the most famous bus in the world - the Routemaster - will take its final journey through the streets of London. BBC Four and Arena celebrate the transport icon. The day after the last Routemaster has buckarooed its final passenger from its suicide step you can sit back in your London Transport Museum PJs......

Young Londoners can badger Ken at the launch of the Young Londoners Network at City Hall later today: London is home to 1.61 million children under the age of 18 – more than one-fifth of the total population of the city. Research from the Greater London Authority has demonstrated that London’s under-18s take a real interest in the way their city is run, and have lots of intelligent ideas about how to improve it.......

Londonist is sorry to report that the Star Wars cancer continues to spread like a cheap whore on pay day with no force on Earth seemingly able to stop it. Following the tickets for the back-to-back marathon screening of all six Star Wars films in Leicester Square selling out in minutes George Lucas has announced his plans to keep milking the franchise - even though this particular cash cow has been brain-dead since at......

We like it when music's free. It means we can recommend stuff to you and you can't blame us for wasting money on tickets if you decide that they're rubbish. Having said that, if you find The Hoosier Complex rubbish, you're deaf. They are well worth checking out and for the skinflints amongst you, you've even got a chance to see them for free by getting yourself on the Gareth-Southgate-look-a-like-led band's guest list. You'll......

The Young British Art Phenomenon has come in for a lot of stick over the years. Hirst, Emin and Turk et al have been accused of shallow shock tactics, cruelty to animals, and making themselves comfortable in the pocket of Charles Saatchi. But last week Damien Hirst manged to surprise everyone who thought the YBA fad has died a death years ago, by auctioning off the contents of his failed restaurant venture Pharmacy for a......