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Shayne Ward,Birmingham NEC

SHAYNE Ward returned to Birmingham for his second solo tour since winning the X Factor back in December 2005.Read

Girls Aloud, NIA

GIRLS Aloud were suspended 12ft above me on Friday night in thigh high boots, black spandex bondage gear and superhero capes. It was a tough job but someone had to do it! Read

Martha Wainwright, Symphony Hall

THIS was a powerhouse performance of quality by an American singer who is just beginning to make a deserved impact on both sides of the Atlantic.Read

Guillemots, Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton

AS SUMMER approaches and the air is filled with birdsong, it was fitting that Wulfrun Hall was treated to a brilliant performance from the Guillemots. Read

Pendulum, Custard Factory, Birmingham

PEOPLE who think drum'n'bass gigs are simply DJ sets void of live musical creativity need to see Pendulum for a radical swing in perspective.Read

Joe Lean and The Jing Jang Jong / The Beggars Birmingham Academy

STILL no album yet a string of sold out dates and support slots for the likes of Kaiser Chiefs and Babyshambles suggest JLJJJ are headed for a bright future.Read

CBSO, Symphony Hall

RACHMANINOV'S Symphonic Dances, the composer's last major work before his death in 1943, is an emotionally charged work.Read

The Thirst & Kav, The Place I Love, Digbeth

HAVING supported The Rolling Stones and The Sex Pistols there's a lot of raucous hype surrounding The Thirst.Read

Magnum, Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton

MARKING the 20th anniversary of the now classic album Wings of Heaven, Magnum arrived on stage to thunderous applause from a near capacity audience.Read

Midge Ure, Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton

FOR a night of classic acoustic rock, you couldn't go far wrong than a gig by singer/ songwriter Midge Ure. Read

Hadouken! Carling Academy, Birmingham

ON a hot, steamy night at the Academy everyone was up for a party - and boy, did they get one.Read

Shirley Valentine, Lichfield Garrick Studio

SAY Shirley Valentine to most people and they think of Pauline Collins and Tom Conti but Willie Russell's play started life a few years earlier in 1986 at the Everyman, Liverpool as a bittersweet monologue.Read

Crystal Castles, Carling Academy

TORONTO'S finest slayed a ridiculously small crowd at the Carling Academy as they came to Birmingham as headliners of the NME New Noise Tour. Read

South Pacific Lichfield, Operatic Society, Lichfield Garrick

THIS lively production of the much-loved Rodgers & Hammerstein musical is proving a big hit at the box office, and it's easy to see why.Read

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Birmingham Academy

NICK Cave had a packed Birmingham Academy eating from his hands as enthusiastically as the pigeons in Trafalgar Square.Read

David Essex, Wolverhampton Civic Hall

WITH a wealth of material going back nearly 40 years, it would be hard for any one person to come up with as good a set list and showmanship as David Essex does.Read

An English Celebration Concert For St George's Day, Symphony Hall

Birmingham's St George's Day weekend of activities ended with this first-class concert.Read

Bjork, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton

BEING dull and predictable are words you can never use to describe Bjork and this amazing gig showed why.Read

The Kooks, Birmingham Academy

THE Kooks couldn't have got a worse press in recent months if they'd rigged the Zimbabwean elections or gone on stage clutching the Olympic torch every night.Read

The Blue Planet Live, Birmingham Symphony Hall

WITH breath-taking film from the BBC television series of the same name, The Blue Planet Live! takes the audience where it can never hope to go in real life.Read