Plus Dame Vera Lynn becomes oldest ever chart topper

I mentioned yesterday’s that I was just off to see The Hold Steady at the Islington Academy and I duly went and they were, as ever, duly brilliant – urgent, incendiary, delirious, a symphonic juggernaut, a hurtling thing, a wholly rousing noise.

The Fab Four's reissues have been in demand since Wednesday's releases

As our recent Uncut playlists probably make clear, we’ve been happily overwhelmed by a glut of Big Star-related material over the past few weeks, beginning of course with the hefty “Keep An Eye On The Sky” boxset.

Double disc Very Best of to coincide with UK live dates

Lots of British artists to play the United Arab Emirates state in November

Vogue's editor-in-chief Anna Wintour in documentary makeover

Tree-hugging New Age festival doc, set in Sweden

In the email newsletter I send out every Monday (you can subscribe to it on www.uncut.co.uk), I wrote about the number of great gigs looming over the next few weeks, starting tonight, in fact, with The Hold Steady at the Islington Academy. I'm going to that, but wasn't sure how many of the others shows I'd be able to make it to. I therefore invited any readers of the newsletter who had either recently seen or were going to see any of the bands I mentioned to write in with their thoughts on the gig.

Musician to be awarded at the 2009 Americana Music Association Festival