Tonight:
9°c
Latest: Policeman pleads guilty to murdering his police constable fiancée hours before they were due to fly out to their wedding in St Lucia
More...
An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
David Smyth's rating
Reader rating
Description: Britpop-influenced acoustic songsmith.
Phone: 0207370 1434
Website: www.troubadour.co.uk
Trains: Tube: Earls Court 
Extra info: Food
Low ceiling: Stephen Fretwell ought to have progressed from small venues
The Troubadour coffee house in Earls Court has an illustrious history, with past performers including Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Jimi Hendrix but Stephen Fretwell really ought to have progressed beyond its tiny confines by now.
The kind of basement venue where you're at the front even when you're at the back, where the air dryers in the toilets can drown out the singing was the cramped setting for part of a brief UK tour promoting the Manchester-based singer-songwriter's single, Now.
"I feel like I should give really deep interpretations of the songs because it's such a low ceiling," he said, enjoying the opportunity to banter with audience members who were so close he was almost sitting in a few laps.
But he should no longer be able to see the whites of his fans' eyes after two fine albums of rough-edged balladry. The second, last September's Man on the Roof, may have suffered from being by an unshaven, unglamorous bloke in a year when feisty females were so much in demand.
Highlights aired here, including Scar, Coney and the fraught Darlin' Don't, sounded deserving of a much bigger audience than the one in front of him.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
