Whether you want to know about some of the coming year’s biggest gigs and festivals, or which books, films and TV shows are coming out, there should be something here for everyone.
You can also discover 2025’s key fashion trends, plus which theatre is reimagining Wayne and Coleen Rooney as mythical heroes – and why a giant spider is returning to London.
Here they tautologically come, slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannonball.
Yes, spectacular squabbling siblings Oasis are back after their 15-year huff, ready to go Supersonic all over again.
The much-anticipated tour rocks into Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on 4 July, and is set to be the comeback of the year.
And a new generation of stars are stepping up to stadium headliner status. Dua Lipa and Lana Del Rey will sashay into Wembley and Anfield this summer; while K-Pop band Stray Kids have booked two nights at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Festival bills are getting a long overdue shake-up, too. Spain’s Primavera has pulled a blinder, booking three of pop’s biggest wavemakers – Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan.
Roan will also headline Reading and Leeds, while her friend and collaborator Olivia Rodrigo has booked her first headline slot at London’s BST festival in Hyde Park, and Fontaines DC have a massive show at London’s Finsbury Park in July (the announcement video is a must-see).
There’s new music on the way from indie hero Sam Fender and brooding R&B icon The Weeknd, as well as a welcome return to pop from part-time actress Lady Gaga.
Gaga’s progenitor, Madonna, is also back in the studio with her Confessions On A Dancefloor partner Stuart Price; while the UK’s biggest rapper, Central Cee, is gearing up to release his debut album in January.
The first major event of the year (unless you’re Drake) will be Kendrick Lamar headlining the Super Bowl half-time show in February. We’ll also be watching the Grammy Awards, to find out whether they’re prepared to snub Beyoncé in the best album category for a fifth time.
The Brit Awards follow on 1 March. They should accept the inevitable now and rename the ceremony The Brats.
What else? Glastonbury has booked Rod Stewart to play the legend slot, but the rest of the line-up is shrouded in mystery. And for rock fans, Leicestershire’s Download Festival has an unassailable line-up: Green Day, KoRn, Weezer, Bullet For My Valentine, The Darkness and Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter.
This year also marks the golden anniversary of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run – so expect a flurry of nostalgia for two of rock’s most seminal works.
It’ll also be 25 years since Ronan Keating’s Life Is A Rollercoaster topped the UK charts, but I bet that’ll be brushed under the carpet.
Film
Searchlight Pictures Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning in Bob Dylan biopic A Complete UnknownSearchlight Pictures
Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning star in Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown
Traditionally, January and the first half of February see a glut of Bafta and Oscar hopefuls being released, all hoping for glory as the climax of awards season approaches.
This year, those films include Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as acclaimed opera singer Maria Callas; A Complete Unknown, in which Timothée Chalamet takes on the role of Bob Dylan; and A Real Pain, a tender story about two Jewish American cousins (played by Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin) visiting places in Poland associated with the Holocaust.
There’s also Hard Truths, directed by Mike Leigh and starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a depressed middle-aged woman. And September 5th looks at the events of the 1972 Munich Olympics through the eyes of a US sports broadcast team when a group of Israeli athletes and coaches are taken hostage by a Palestinian militant group.
February will also see the return of Bridget Jones, with Renée Zellweger once again taking on the title role for Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy.
BBC
