Inside The Circus Man: Pop, Performance, and the Price of Being “Too Much”

Last Friday, the legendary Happy Mondays brought their anniversary tour to Roundhouse, London, celebrating 35 years of their album ‘Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches’. The band played a solid set featuring many of the songs which made them famous, including ‘Step On’ and ‘Kinky Afro’.

On 26th March, Scouting For Girls made a stop at O2 Academy Oxford for their Everybody (still) Wants To Be On TV tour, celebrating 15 years of their album Everybody Wants To Be On TV. You could immediately feel the familiar fun energy that fills every room Scouting For Girls plays, showing the band definitely haven’t lost their spark!

Having never listened to Holly Humberstone before, I did not really know what the vibe of the night would be like, nor did I know if I would actually like the music; it’s safe to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I particularly resonated with the song ‘Beauty Pageant’, an unreleased song about the experience of being a woman in the music industry, and in the world in general.

On March 26, Paris Paloma performed a special charity show celebrating Planet Earth, with 100% of ticket sales donated to EarthPercent, the music industry’s climate and nature foundation supporting vital environmental projects worldwide.

As part of their first concert series of 2026, Scottish indie rock band The Snuts travelled down to Oxford for a sold-out gig at the O2 Academy. The occasion for this spring tour is to plug the band’s new single, Summer Rain, in anticipation of their upcoming fourth album, hopefully to be released later this year. The album will tackle more personal themes, which is why I think the band has connected so deeply with fans on this tour.