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Dave Simpson

Headshot of Dave Simpson

Dave Simpson is a Guardian music critic and author

May 2026

  • A person in a polka dot outfit and crown plays an electric guitar surrounded by falling confetti.

    Angine de Poitrine review – alien rock duo’s UK debut is hypnotic, harebrained and 100% worth the hype

  • Paul Simon performing in Liverpool.

    Paul Simon review – at 84, back on stage after hearing loss, his resolute artistry is inspiring

April 2026

  • Music trio Late Transmissions – from left, Dave Hughes, Balfe and Eve Quartermain of Late Transmissions at Arts Club nightclub in Liverpool.

    ‘It’ll be in my Guardian obituary’: David Balfe on inspiring Blur’s Country House and tripping on Top of the Pops

    He was the burned-out bigwig who moved to a very big house. Now back with his first music for decades, he talks about signing the Proclaimers, being punched by Julian Cope – and his Scott Walker inspired trio
  • Prince at the Forum in Inglewood, California, February 1985.

    ‘He’d gaze at the stars and go: I’m gonna be up there one day’: Prince by those who knew him best, 10 years after his death

    From lurid pranks and late-night drives, to why playing in the Revolution was like joining the marines – Prince’s friends and collaborators recount their memories of one of the music world’s most majestic and mercurial performers

    • Other lives
      Michael Roberts obituary

    • ‘I thought I’d finish the album then die’: how Angelo De Augustine came back from a medical nightmare

    • James review – special band still filling arenas with anthems of warmth and humanity

March 2026

  • Morcheeba in 1998, from left, Ross Godfrey, Skye Edwards and Paul Godfrey.

    How we made
    ‘After one gig, someone stole my car with my dole money in it’: Morcheeba on how they made The Sea

  • The musician Flea playing a trumpet surrounded by foliage

    Flea: Honora review – Chili Pepper turns piper, taking up trumpet for a soulful jazz odyssey

  • Prince with hands raised during cover shoot for Notorious magazine's 1999 New Year issue

    My best shot
    ‘Prince laughed like a kid as I painted “Free” on his stomach’: Steve Parke’s best photograph

  • Ian McCulloch with Echo and the Bunnymen at the 02 Academy, Leeds.

    Echo and the Bunnymen review – Ian McCulloch leaves it to the crowd to sing these timelessly great songs

  • 10cc review – 70s legends reprise a dazzling string of pop classics

  • How we made
    ‘My guitar was mangled – like my life!’ Goo Goo Dolls on how they made epic ballad Iris

February 2026

  • Andrew Bird plays the Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee in 2006.

    How we made
    ‘Musicians drank too much and slept on my barn floor’: Andrew Bird on making cult album The Mysterious Production of Eggs

    ‘I was playing all day and night in a kind of fever, throwing in pop, jazz, violin, guitars and polyrhythms, while wrestling with some demons’
  • Wolf Eyes performing in 2006.

    ‘Stabbed in the Face soundtracked an incredibly joyous time’: the weirdest songs we find romantic

    Declarations of undying affection, comparisons to a summer’s day? Who needs ‘em! Our writers recall the offbeat songs that capture their hearts
  • Nina pictured by a lake at dusk

    Film & Music reader interview
    The Cardigans’ Nina Persson: ‘Ozzy said our Black Sabbath cover was the creepiest thing he’d ever heard’

    The Swedish band’s frontwoman answers your questions on ‘sweet and curious’ Tom Jones, being changed by cancer and whether the Cardigans will ever make new music

January 2026

  • ‘A pretty, chocolate-boxy place’ … Letchmore Heath in Hertfordshire.

    ‘The Village of the Damned was shot here – then George Harrison bought a house’: our UK town of culture nominations

  • Jill Scott at the Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2023.

    Film & Music reader interview
    R&B star Jill Scott: ‘I like mystery – I love Sade but I don’t know what she had for breakfast’

  • Andrew Fearn (left) and Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods pictured standing against a wall in a black and white photo.

    Sleaford Mods: The Demise of Planet X review – vulnerability and versatility widen potty-mouthed appeal

  • Joe Leeway, Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie of Thompson Twins in 1985.

    How we made
    ‘It was inspired by a snog in a photo-booth’: how Thompson Twins made Hold Me Now

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