Katy Perry review – ​like being high on Haribo while trapped in a theme park

In a fun but frenetic show, the star hangs off props, wears a glove that shoots pyrotechnics and generally distracts from her own energy and charisma

The Kooks review – a triumphant and touching mass singalong

Playing to the biggest crowds of the careers, the 00s indie stalwarts perform like they’re loving every minute – although there is also raw emotion in Manchester on the night after the synagogue attack

Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl review – lazy big screen cash-in

The megastar’s underwhelming new album gets a suitably sub-par cinematic accompaniment offering very little for even the most devoted of fans

Ethel Cain review – a sublime rejection of pop stardom from the shadows

Bathed in darkness and backed by a formidable band, the Florida singer-songwriter turns her brooding southern gothic into a mesmerising, slow-burn spectacle

Agriculture: The Spiritual Sound review – unabashedly gorgeous noise from ‘ecstatic black metal’ band

The LA group deliver all the power and euphoria of heavy music with imaginative detailing on their second album, which will have you levitating with joy

Taylor Swift: The Life of a Showgirl review – dull razzle-dazzle from a star who seems frazzled

Far from the Max Martin-assisted pop juggernaut fans expected, this soft-rock paean to domestic bliss is slight on tunes and still seethes with grievance. And the less said about her fiance’s ‘magic wand’, the better

Sigur Rós and the London Contemporary Orchestra review – crashing waves of refined harmony

Perhaps the band that can best justify a mid-career gig with classical backing, the extra heft of the orchestra adds power to the Icelanders’ beautiful crescendos

Lady Gaga review – from skeletons to sexy plague doctors, this is a glorious, ridiculous spectacle

Move over Chappell Roan – Gaga’s eighth world tour is a full-blooded return to OTT camp, with a Nietzschean nemesis and a zombified crowd of fans driven berserk with glee

Doja Cat: Vie review – master pop provocateur splits the difference between sugar and spice

On her fifth album, the Californian tempers the bite of 2023’s Scarlet with glossy, lovestruck sounds – but never loses her instinct for mischief

Various Artists – Pasé Bél Tan: Francophonies and Creolities in Louisiana review – foot-stomping joy

Influenced by jazz and early blues, this collection of largely African American folk music from the 50s to the 80s spans poignant lyricism to full-throated celebration

Geese: Getting Killed review – Cameron Winter and co’s surreal, swaggering spectacular

Opaque but brilliant, the Brooklyn indie-rock band’s fourth album is full of the dread and dark absurdity of our current moment

Olivia Dean: The Art of Loving review – British pop’s biggest new star sheds the neo-soul cliches to really shine

Already dominating the charts and seemingly inspired by 70s LA, this exceptionally well-made record is full of diaristic detail and sweetly understated vocals

Chappell Roan review – pop’s patient princess triumphantly takes the throne in New York

The star claims she wasn’t ‘feeling 100’ for her Queens stadium show but it was hard to see any fatigue as she carried the crowd through her dazzling setlist

Deacon Blue review – Scottish hitmakers are more poignant and potent than ever

Still an arena-filling prospect long after their late-80s heyday, the veteran band bring political bite and pop prowess to a crowd-pleasing set

Busted vs McFly review – millennial ‘rivals’ let the pop-rock punches fly

The boybands go toe-to-toe with their catchy teenage anthems – and after a hefty 90-minute bout of greatest hits McFly just about edge it on points