Buckingham Palace has announced further details of next year’s exciting celebrations to mark The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

This time next year, we’ll be hanging out the bunting again as we’ll be treated to an extra Bank Holiday and a full programme of festivities over four days from 2 to 5 June 2012.

Celebrations include a free concert at Buckingham Palace (no line-up yet but we’re sure artists will be queueing up to perform for Her Majesty), a special Jubilee edition of The Big Lunch (encouraging us to enjoy lunch and a street party with our neighbours) and a Carriage Procession.

This is all in addition to the spectacular Thames Flotilla of 1,000 boats announced earlier this year. The occasion will also be marked by a network of 2,012 beacons which will be lit across the UK.

The Queen will begin the Jubilee celebrations with a trip to Epsom Derby on 2 June.

Are you looking forward to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee? Tell us in the comments below.

A unique series of concerts is letting its audience explore the more unusual spaces of the Royal Festival Hall. The Harmonic Series is curated by Southbank Centre’s artist in residence, Oliver Coates, who chose a mix of classical and alternative styles to be played in intimate spaces that he felt were appropriate to the music.

“When you arrive, you won’t yet know which part of the building you’ll end up in,” Coates says. “A singer songwriter might be in a really beautiful space overlooking all of London, or something that’s a little more introspective or darker may happen in a more enclosed environment down deeper in the bowels of the institution.”

This weekend’s performance took place in the 6th floor Weston Roof Pavilion, affording audiences a glittering view of the London Eye, Big Ben and the Thames. Singer and harpist Serafina Steer performed a set of her intimate, confessional songs, while vocalist Alice Grant (Fulborn Teversham) collaborated with bassist Tom Herbert (The Invisible, Polar Bear) and Oliver Coates played Bach on the cello.

The next performances in the Harmonic Series will take place on the 20 March and 10 April.

Muse confirmed their tag as one of the world’s best live bands last weekend with two sell-out gigs at London’s Wembley Stadium – and I was lucky enough to be among the 90,000 crowd.

The boys from Devon rocked the foundations of the iconic stadium in two breathtaking shows on Friday and Saturday, which included a floating UFO, a spaceship set and cannons firing streamers.

For British rock bands, it can’t get much better than playing at Wembley Stadium, where the likes of Queen and U2 have played defining gigs. But while some flounder, Muse have shown once more that they are worthy of being named in the same breath as arguably two of the greatest bands the British Isles have ever produced.

The first time I saw Muse was also at Wembley in 2007, but while that performance was incredible, this went one step further showing more maturity and a better use of their repertoire – strengthened further by their chart-topping album The Resistance.

Along with their ability to produce awe-inspiring shows, one of Muse’s greatest assets is the trio’s ability to mix styles and switch effortlessly between ballads such as Soldier’s Poem and the manic Stockholm Syndrome and Hysteria.

The former led to lighters and mobile phones lighting-up the crowd like a colony of glow worms, while the latter two produced frenzied waves of arms and heads bobbing up and down in the mosh pit.

After rousing performances of Starlight, Plug in Baby and Guiding Light; Matt Bellamy and his band ended with a lengthened version of their hit Knights of Cydonia.

Muse show no signs of slowing down just yet, with rumours of another album surfacing – and Wembley Stadium surely beckons once more?

Muse were supported by a pregnant Lily Allen, who played her last gig before retiring, which also featured a duet with Professor Green. Biffy Clyro supported Muse on Saturday.

Did you see Muse at Wembley this weekend?

The man who is so laid back he is almost horizontal played a set featuring well-known hits from five of his albums, including his latest release To the Sea.

Even a few early misplaced chords and forgotten lyrics failed to take anything away from a fantastic performance.

There were also surprises in store as the bassist Merlo added a rap solo to Sitting, Wating, Wishing, and Johnson’s friend Ben Stiller made an appearance jamming with the former pro surfer.

Hit songs Flake, Taylor and Good People had the crowd singing along and Johnson ended the set with the mellow Do You Remember and Constellations.

There was a sense of calm around the O2 Arena as the crowd left. Maybe doctors should start prescribing Johnson’s music to combat stress – on last night’s performance it would certainly work.

This weekend, celebrate Mothers’ Day with your mum in Covent Garden.

Some of the UK’s hottest pop stars will be taking part in a one-off event called Music for Mums, in support of Marie Curie Cancer Care – a free gig to celebrate Mother’s Day in Covent Garden’s Market Building.

Pop down between 12pm and 5pm on Saturday to see

• Gabriella Cilmi
• Pop Star to Opera Star winner Darius
• Gary Barlow’s latest muse Camilla Kerslake

All the acts will be performing in support of Marie Curie Cancer Care.

There’ll also be two more very special artists announced on the day, so follow @CoventGardenLDN on Twitter and www.facebook.com/CoventGardenLDN for more info.

I’d heard lots of good things about the Barbican as a concert venue so I had high hopes for my first gig there and wasn’t disappointed.

Portico Quartet mesmerised the audience for an hour and a half playing mostly from their second and more experimental album, Isla. I felt hypnotised by their strange and wonderful sound, and my mind wandered into all sorts of bizarre territory during their set.

The gig was also notable for having the most polite and well-behaved audience I’ve ever seen! Everyone in the auditorium sat in complete silence, and barely moved, when a man coughed on the other side of the room, everyone in our row noticed. Was it the quality of the music, or is this just usual Barbican etiquette?

Portico Quartet’s gig was part of East festival, which encourages you to get out and explore the East of London. The Barbican is certainly not in my neck of the (London) woods and I think I earned my East credentials last night: a tube, a cancelled train, two more tubes and an overground train later, I was finally home!