Thurston Moore sold out the Vortex once already
this week and a second show got added the same night. Café OTO
closes a three-day 60th-anniversary residency with a book launch, and
the V&A opens a full sweep of Constantinople-to-Istanbul history.
A supper club spins its table sixteen floors above Holborn, and Ally
Pally's fireworks run a whole weekend for the first time.
A hand-checked shortlist of the week in London culture
· new every Thursday
This is a week built around things that only happen once. Thursday,
Café OTO closes three days marking 60 years of Globe Unity
Orchestra with a book launch; Sunday, Thurston Moore plays the Vortex
twice in one night, because the 7pm sold out and the venue bolted on
a 10pm. Saturday the V&A opens a whole-museum survey of
Constantinople becoming Istanbul, and a revolving supper club keeps
spinning sixteen floors above Holborn through the weekend. Ally
Pally's fireworks finally get two full days instead of one, and
Close-Up pairs Tarkovsky with a season of Ghanaian cinema and a
director Q&A.
Battersea Arts Centre carries two separate picks this issue: Good Sex
closes as UNREAL festival's A Mouthful of Tongues opens, same night,
same building. A few strong leads didn't make it: see the footer for
what was cut, and on what grounds.
Vortex Jazz Club · 11 Gillett Square, Dalston, N16 · Sun 8 Nov, two shows: 7pm (sold out) & 10pm (added) · £20 / £17 members / £15 students
Sonic Youth co-founder Thurston Moore pairs electric
guitar with percussionist Mark Wastell for a return to the Vortex
after a sold-out December 2025 date one reviewer called "deeply
post-psychedelic, dreamlike in atmosphere, before expanding into the
charming spasms of free jazz." The 7pm show sold out again within
days; rather than turn people away, the venue has added a second,
later set the same night.
Tate Modern · Corner Bar, Bankside, SE1 · Fri 6 Nov, 6–10pm · Free
Improvised jazz takes over Tate Modern's riverside
Corner Bar for one first-Friday night — drummer Myele
Manzanza leads a quartet with Maria Chiara, Rio Kai and James Akers,
a Voices Radio resident spins vinyl between sets, and the gallery's
own wine cellar does the rest. No ticket, no door list, just turn up.
Free wine from the gallery's own cellar, and a reason to linger after the galleries themselves have shut.
Close-Up Film Centre · 97 Sclater St, Shoreditch, E1 · Fri 6 & Sat 7 Nov, from 8.15pm · £12.90 / £6.45 members
Tarkovsky's Stalker screens Friday night; Saturday
builds a whole evening around Ghanaian and West African cinema
— The Eyes of Ghana, The Cemetery of Cinema and
Emitai run back to back into Moi-même at
8.15pm, with directors Mojo Lorwin and Kevin Mathewson staying on
after for a Q&A.
The Q&A is the one to build the weekend around — everything else on the bill earns its place regardless.
V&A · Cromwell Rd, South Kensington, SW7 · opens Sat 7 Nov · £25 weekday / £27 weekend
One city under two empires, AD 330 to 1922 —
Byzantine mosaics, Ottoman textiles, manuscripts and maps charting
the point where Europe and Asia meet, at the museum built to hold a
survey this size.
Worth the weekday ticket, if only to dodge the opening-weekend crowd for a run of rooms this big.
Space House · 1 Kemble St, Holborn, WC2B · Fri 6, Sat 7 & Sun 8 Nov, 2-hour sittings · £130
Bompas & Parr's revolving supper club returns to
the 14th floor of Richard Seifert's Space House — a
51-person table that rotates through a three-course dinner so your
companions change by the course, with 360-degree views from a Grade
II-listed former Civil Aviation Authority headquarters.
Not cheap, but there's nothing else in London that spins the table instead of the plates.
Alexandra Palace · Alexandra Palace Way, Haringey, N22 · Sat 7, 8pm display; Sun 8, 6pm family day · from £18 adult / £5 under-10s (reseller prices vary, £10.50–£19.50)
Ally Pally's fireworks weekend expands to two full days
for the first time — Saturday's display runs alongside street
food, a funfair and ice skating, while Sunday adds an earlier,
gentler "Family Fun Day" pitched at younger kids.
Go Sunday with children, Saturday without — the view's the same either night, the crowd isn't.
Battersea Arts Centre · Lavender Hill, SW11 · to Fri 6 Nov · pay-what-you-can, £25 recommended
Dead Centre and writer Emilie Pine's nightly reset
— two new performers fed every line through an earpiece,
having never rehearsed it — reaches its last two
performances before the room turns over to UNREAL festival.
Wilton’s Music Hall · Graces Alley, Wapping, E1 · to Sat 7 Nov · from £16.50 (via resellers; Wilton’s own page lists no price)
Liza Pulman and Joe Stilgoe's cabaret tour through
the great American songbook of the movies, fresh off a West End
run, closes its short Wilton's stand this weekend in a hall built
for exactly this kind of close-up cabaret.