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Morrissey: Make-Up Is a Lie review – nostalgic, sentimental and dull, he is a shadow of what he once was

Dodgy conspiracy theories are thankfully kept to one track, but the rest is not much better, lacking insight even when Morrissey returns to his specialist subjects

Waterbaby: Memory Be a Blade review – stellar singer-songwriter pieces post-breakup life back together

The Stockholm musician’s debut album is a fascinating character study with improvised lyrics and a light, pretty sound that belies its emotional depth

Mitski review – pop meets performance art in a masterful spectacle

The Shed, New York CityAt a six-night residency, the singer creates an immersive world filled with wry humor and big emotions

Squeeze: Trixies review – finally completed first album proves teenage dreams are hard to beat

Squeeze’s first new album in nearly a decade is based on material written when they were teenagers. It’s endearing but callow

10cc review – 70s legends reprise a dazzling string of pop classics

Fifty years since the band fractured with the departure of Godley and Creme, songs from Donna to I’m Not in Love are in prime condition on what is billed as ‘another bloody greatest hits tour’

Harry Styles: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally review – nice all the time. Good, occasionally

The music on Styles’s new album is muted, subtle and pleasant – but from the title downwards, he has a real problem with words

David Byrne review – in life during wartime, this show will restore your faith in humanity

Byrne again reimagines the possibilities of the live gig, creating a vision of egalitarianism backed by elastic bass and polyrhythms

Lily Allen review – pop star makes much-anticipated comeback – but where is the West End Girl?

Allen isn’t in the first act of her own show, only coming on after 45 minutes of a string ensemble to stiffly deliver her acclaimed album in full

Morrissey review – classic Smiths songs meet GB News-style talking points

Morrissey is in impressive voice and the old songs still retain their power, but the conspiracy theorising and nationalist rhetoric are miserable in all the worst ways

Grace Jones review – chaos, nudity and endless costume changes: the disco legend’s show has it all

The 77-year-old is one of our greatest living performers, doing sit-ups, hula-hooping and even flashing the audience – but her rich voice is the true revelation

Cruz Beckham review – son of David and Victoria transcends nepo-baby tag with intriguing psych-pop

His music is still all over the place, lurching from landfill indie to solipsistic ballads, but the youngest Beckham son can certainly play guitar

Bruno Mars: The Romantic review – you’re better off listening to the songs he’s blatantly imitating

(Atlantic)Harking back to Oye Como Va, Move On Up and other 20th-century classics, Mars’s homages are beautifully performed but bereft of new ideas

Lala Lala: Heaven 2 review – brooding alt-popper fights the urge to run

Lillie West’s fourth album is a hazy, mid-tempo meditation on escape that gets stuck in a numbing mid-tempo mode – though there is a gorgeous moment of release

Gorillaz: The Mountain review – a late career peak haunted by ghosts yet glowing with life

Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon band mark 25 years with an album inspired by India and shaped by loss, featuring collaborators living and dead

Hen Ogledd: Discombobulated review – a manifesto for collective action from Richard Dawson’s folk-rockers

Featuring taunts in Welsh, ‘bard rap’ and spirited jigs, the British quartet’s ragged, rich music underpins their vision for change

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  • Super Furry Animals review – stirring reunion showcases immaculate songcraft
  • Darkness Visible: Âme x Lawrence Power review – violist and guests reimagine the concert for the digital age
  • Charli xcx: Rock Music review – is she really pivoting from pop? Don’t be so sure …
  • Paul Simon review – at 84, back on stage after hearing loss, his resolute artistry is inspiring
  • Olof Dreijer: Loud Bloom review – the Knife star’s debut solo album is a garden of earthly delights
  • Ana Roxanne: Poem 1 review – ​a stunning pop balladeer emerges from the haze
  • Helen Charlston: A Poet’s Love album review – original and absorbing
  • Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour review – style trumps substance in James Cameron’s 3D oddity
  • Arcadi Volodos: Schubert piano sonata D850, Schumann Kinderszenen op15 – playfulness, longing and elegance
  • Aldous Harding: Train on the Island review – even whimsy-resistant listeners will love these lucid, luminous songs
  • Peter Grimes review – beauty and terror in Warner’s topical staging
  • Rosalía review – ribcage-rattling riot is one of the boldest, most highbrow arena shows in pop history
  • Galilee String Quartet review – Palestinian ensemble improvise their signature east-west blend
  • Tales of Love and Loss review – hauntings, tragicomedy and tweezer-sharp wit in Royal Opera triple bill
  • Gabriela Montero review – radiant renderings of postcard Spain with an excursion into the Beatles
  • Papillons review – rich and strange collaboration exemplifies the spirit of Multitudes festival
  • Morales: L’Homme Armé masses and Magnificat Secundi Toni album review – choral sounds of 16th-century Rome
  • Kneecap: Fenian review – their new album is terrific, triumphant yet tortured
  • Serokolo 7: Maramfa Musick Pro review – South Africa’s latest club export is a relentless adrenaline shot
  • Kacey Musgraves: Middle of Nowhere review – weary, rootsy and wry, it’s her richest album since Golden Hour
  • Beethoven: The Sonatas for Piano and Cello album review – Watkins and Bax have a shared impulse to deliver eloquence
  • O/Modernt review – from Auerbach to Mahler, the fires of love bruise, batter and delight
  • Ne-Yo and Akon review – joyous joint tour is like time-travelling to a messy night out in 2010
  • Schwarzman Centre opening concerts – a magnificent new monument to secular culture
  • Wozzeck: Wretches Like Us review – Berg’s harrowing opera is more adrenaline-inducing than ever
  • Turangalîla: Infinite Love review – RPO and 1927 Studios bring Messiaen to joyous and vibrant life
  • Anohni review – masterful songbook reinventions are an out-of-body experience
  • Carla dal Forno: Confession review – spartan, sunlit post-punk strikingly contrasts the desperation of desire

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