Must-see
Yunè Pinku
One to say you saw before they really blew up. Yunè Pinku’s London set this month is shaping up to be the kind of gig that makes you smug about getting tickets early. Effortlessly blending UK garage, moody electronica and a sprinkle of ethereal introspection, her sound is as danceable as it is thought-provoking. Fresh off the back of Babylon IX, Pinku is carving a space in electronic music that feels both intimate and exhilarating.
ICA, November 29, ica.art
Art fix
Electric Dreams
Do not adjust your set; the artists already have done. The latest free-for-members show at Tate Modern is a brain-warping exploration of the way art can play with its audience’s perceptions, especially when technology is involved. Covering works from the psychedelic Fifties and Sixties to the baby internet days of the Nineties, expect sensory installations and early digital experiments. Forget NFTs, forget memes: this is the original tech art.
Tate Modern, until June 1, tate.org.uk
Hot table
The Wee Sister Wine Bar
Chelsea is having a moment, and proof can be found with this, Anna Haugh’s new Irish wine bar on the King’s Road. Five years on from the opening of Myrtle, her bistro, Haugh is serving up a neat, concise menu of bar snacks — oysters, cheese mousse and crackers, chocolate black pudding slices (truly) — alongside wine and drinks made by Irish producers around the globe.
492 King's Rd, SW10 0LE, @littlesisterchelsea
Screen gems
Beatles ‘64
February 1964: a young, barely known band of Scousers appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, and 73million Americans go mad for it (including Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Tom Petty). This was the start of Beatlemania, of crowds screaming so loud the band was drowned out during shows. David Tedeschi directs, Martin Scorsese produces, with freshly restored footage bringing it all to life, while new interviews with Macca and Ringo reveal what it was all really like.
Available November 29, Disney+
Conclave
Ralph Fiennes leads an astonishing cast — beside him are Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini — in a thriller already a hit in America (where it was released a month ahead of here). The adaptation of Robert Harris’s 2016 novel follows one of the world’s most ancient, most mysterious practices: the process and politics of electing a new pope. Expect tales of bribery, corruption, adultery and even terrorism. Conservative Catholics in America reportedly aren’t keen, but the internet is in love with its diva-ism.
Out November 29
The big read
Freedom - Angela Merkel
This is the book for the Europhile in your life — or the person you want to tie up with a 700-page doorstopper. Angela Merkel is one of the pre-eminent European politicians of this century and was chancellor of Germany for 16 years. Come for the first-person view of geopolitics, stay for Merkel’s early life behind the iron wall in the GDR.
Out now
Listen
The Rest is Classified
What do you know about global intelligence? Probably less than it knows about you. Spy novelist and former CIA analyst David McCloskey is joined by veteran national security journalist Gordon Corera in hosting this podcast, which explores the opaque, murky world of espionage, spies and covert operations. Might come in handy for understanding Conclave.
Available now
Don’t miss
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Few places are as lovely during the Christmas approach as the Royal Albert Hall, and few offer such a breadth of concerts to see: there’s everything from brassy big bands with Jamie Cullum (Dec 6), Rick Astley (Dec 17) and Guy Barker (Dec 19) to soulful shows from Trevor Nelson (Dec 16) and a festive tribute to Aretha Franklin (Dec 10). Throw in carol concerts throughout the month, Home Alone with a live orchestra (Dec 7), Sandi Toksvig (Dec 18) and The Nutcracker (Dec 29-31), and London’s most beautiful venue becomes its most festive, too.
December 3 to 31, royalalberthall.com
Book now
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Rebecca Frecknall has a feeling for Tennessee Williams’s finest works, with her Streetcar Named Desire picking up an Olivier. Now she’s back with Daisy Edgar-Jones and Kingsley Ben-Adir (still riding high after this year’s Bob Marley: One Love) for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which tells the story of the Pollitt family falling apart. Tickets for this run will soon be gold dust. Run, don’t walk.
Almeida Theatre, December 10 to February 1, almeida.co.uk
