There are so many brilliant gigs coming up in London this year, it was hard to narrow it down to just five. But here are a few I think will be extra-special:

• Pulp at Wireless – Return to the 90s for a few hours! Pulp’s eagerly anticipated reunion gigs include a headlining slot at Wireless in Hyde Park. 3 Jul
• Take That – Robbie’s back and they’re heading to Wembley Stadium. Congratulations if you managed to get tickets. 30 Jun, 1-2, 4-5, 6, 8-9 Jul
• The Wall Live – See the classic Pink Floyd album performed in its entirety by Roger Waters and his handpicked band at what promises to be an epic gig. 11, 12, 14-15, 17-18 May
• Glee Live! In Concert – As a team full of Gleeks, we can’t wait to see the cast here in London. 25-26, 28-29 Jun
• The Vaccines – This indie quartet made the BBC’s “Sound of 2011″ list. See what all the hype’s about at the Brixton Academy. 19 Feb

Which gigs are you looking forward in London to this year?

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?

Another successful Ben and Jerry’s Sundae on The Common came and went this weekend. Millions of calories of delicious free ice cream were consumed (if the amount we ate was anything to go by!), there were great sets from the likes of Doves and Idlewild, and there was all the usual Ben and Jerry’s fun to be had (toe wrestling anyone?)

Festival-goers paid their respects to gone-but-not-forgotten ice creams at the Flavour Graveyard, and were rewarded with pieces of the legendary ‘Wich (ice cream sandwich) which was resurrected for one weekend only.

This year’s event had a Fair Trade focus as the ice cream brand is committed to making all its products Fair Trade by 2011. As if we needed another reason to eat ice cream!

This week’s photo is for anyone reminiscing about last weekend’s Lovebox festival, with Dizzee Rascal playing his headline set on Friday night.

Keep adding your photos to Visit London’s flickr pool and we might just feature one of your pics as our Photo of the Week.

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.

The band have sold more than 120 million albums to date and performed for more than 34 million fans. 

It’s clear how much Bon Jovi appreciate their fans, as they played for almost two and a half hours and seemed to genuinely love every minute of it.

The eternally young Jon Bon Jovi, guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, and drummer Tico Torres gave spectacular performances.

Bon Jovi performed their classics including Sleep When I’m Dead, Bad Medicine and Livin’ on a Prayer as well as new material. The experience of being among so many appreciative and loyal fans while being at an incredible venue like The O2 was superb.

Bon Jovi has a summer residency at The O2 and are playing until 26 June 2010. Book tickets

It all began last December when a Facebook campaign put Californian band Rage Against the Machine’s song Killing In The Name at the top of the UK single charts, beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry to Christmas number one. It was the first time in five years that a winner from the TV talent show ( as well as producer Simon Cowell) had not enjoyed a Christmas No. 1.

More than 180,000 people applied for tickets to the concert via an online lottery. I was one of the lucky 40,000 winners, but that didn’t stop several hundred ticketless fans scaling the fence.

It was a star-studded list of support bands including punk-veterans Gallows, hip-hop superstar Roots Manuva and gypsy-punks Gogol Bordello, who warmed up the crowd.

The crowd was ferocious when RATM came on stage and the band didn’t disappoint. Their rendition of popular 1992 track Bullet in the Head confirmed the band had lost none of its raw energy.

RATM called Jon and Tracy Morter, the couple who orchestrated the Facebook campaign, on to the stage in order to present a cheque — 100% of the proceeds from the Killing In The Name single were donated to the homeless charity Shelter.

Zach De la Rocha then paid tribute to the British punk tradition with a cover of The Clash‘s White Riot.

Finally the band left the stage before the encore, and the sound system pumped out X Factor winner’s single The Climb, while quotes from the newspapers filled the screens recounting the countdown to the Christmas Number one single sales. The words flashed up: “YOU Made History” as the the band rejoined the stage to play their biggest hit and last song of the night, Killing in the Name, and the crowd went wild.

And after the warm weekend, our thoughts can’t help but turn to summer festivals and gigs.

Which London gig are you headed to this summer? Will you be watching Dizzee Rascal at Lovebox or Florence and The Machine at Somerset House? Were you lucky enough to get tickets to see Kings of Leon in Hyde Park?

Let us know…

Fans can peruse two floors of images, shot by “band insider” Phil Griffin including previously unpublished and private photos, as well as pics from upcoming official Bon Jovi book When We Were Beautiful. The British Music Experience will also be showing teaser screenings of the soon-to-be-released Bon Jovi documentary of the same name.

If you’ve already got Bon Jovi gig tickets, there’s an extra reason to get your ripped denim-clad self to the BME, as entry is reduced to £5 for Bon Jovi ticket holders.

Here’s Jon Bon proving he’s still a beauty rocking a fetching skull necklace.

When We Were Beautiful at the British Music Experience, 7-25 Jun 2010, entrance to museum £15, £5 for Bon Jovi ticket holders. www.britishmusicexperience.com/Bon-Jovi

Folu Babatola worked on the PR for the Red Bull Academy and after a very hectic few weeks, he’s taken time to reflect on the Academy’s time in London:

“If you haven’t been living under a rock (or you simply attempt to avoid any kind of media on your commute) you’ll probably have seen something about the Red Bull Music Academy, which has been in London for the last five weeks. There’s been a daily music paper, a three-hour radio show on NME Radio every night and a three-part series on Channel 4.

Then there were the gigs and club nights, 27 over 30 nights, ranging from the first ever cross-genre sound clash at The Roundhouse, to a demonstration of 3D clubbing at the Royal Albert Hall, to seeing 12 seminal producers perform their favourite tracks for a packed Scala.
 
Having managed to fit so much into a short time we’re now slowly acclimatising to the real world.  I’m being reminded that not everyone stays up til 5am at Plastic People yet is at work by 8 the next day!
 
But that’s what the Academy does to you; it removes every preconceived idea of how you should enjoy music. There are no barriers to consumption, creation or analysis of music. You just do it and enjoy the ride.

London has been lucky to host the Academy, and the Academy was lucky to be here. Nowhere else in the world could you find such an amazing melting pot of musical genres; no other city could impress and excite musicians in quite the same way as our town.”

Watch the Red Bull Music Academy video below, as former student Mr Hudson gives his view on what makes it so special: