TUESDAY 1ST April
GRACE PETRIE & BEN MOSS
THE LEXINGTON, London
It’s been FIVE YEARS and four prime ministers since the UK was plunged into lockdown - do you remember what you were doing? Queer folk star Grace Petrie does. Together with her longtime accompanist, multi-instrumentalist Ben Moss, she fled Australia mid-tour on one of the last flights out of Sydney. Trapped in a terraced house with only their instruments and a Jack Russell for company, they did what any suddenly unemployed folk musicians would do, and embarked on a 26-day project re-imagining an alphabet of pop bangers - from Backstreet Boys to Girls Aloud via Celine Dion and Dire Straits - as acoustic lesbian ballads.
Arranged, recorded and released one song per day (from the Sugabaes’ About You Now to The Cranberries’ Zombie), their A - Z became a viral sensation on social media and a bright spot for many folks watching along in those first scary, uncharted days. Audience donations for the effort raised over £11,000 for the Big Issue in 2020.
Five years on, Grace and Ben are re-uniting for a charity show to perform the alphabet live, in full, for ONE NIGHT ONLY at The Lexington, London on April 1st 2025.
Thursday 3rd April
Charlotte Carpenter
Servant Jazz Quarters, London
Charlotte Carpenter is the perfect embodiment of independence; out there, doing it on her own. This isn't some 'strong woman’ cliché, this is a nominative determinism; place a piece of wood in her hand and she will use it to craft something of value to the world around her.
Between 2014-2019, East Midlands singer-songwriter Charlotte Carpenter made her name by releasing a series of heavily championed EPs. Her raw, soulful songwriting was widely heralded with comparisons to the likes of Cat Power, Bonnie Raitt, and PJ Harvey, and coverage from tastemakers from The Line of Best Fit and CLASH, through to rock bible Classic Rock, with support from BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2; and UK-wide tours alongside Marika Hackman, George Ezra, Liz Lawrence, to name just a few.
Friday 9th May
CATS & CATS & CATS
Dust, Brighton
Cats and Cats and Cats are an experimental math rock band from Staines, England. After forming in 2004 the group disbanded in 2012 after releasing 3 albums and an EP; as well as having toured the UK and Europe extensively and even a trip to the US.
Other notable performances include Glastonbury Festival in 2007, a live session for Huw Stephens at Maida Vale Studios, supporting Forward Russia and 65 Days of Static on tour as well as running a number of ‘Cats All Dayers’ at the infamous Windmill, Brixton.
After a lighthearted ‘what if?’ conversation with James Scarlett of ArcTanGent festival, original guitarist Adam Leverett rang lead vocalist and songwriter of Cats, Ben George, to propose a reunion…
Remaining members from the early days of the band also leapt at the chance, and alongside longterm friend and confidant Lee Richardson standing in on drums, the band were back together.
In the summer of 2024 the band performed their first show in 12 years at a sold out Lexington in London, before taking to the Bixler stage and more than impressing the die-hard fans and a curious audience in a packed out tent.
“It’s possibly the most wholesome set of the weekend” - Noizze UK