It’s hard to shake the feeling that The Great Escape, the annual three-day gigathon for new bands and Brighton’s answer to Texas’s South-By-South-West, has grown too unwieldy for its own good. Certainly, the queues outside venues that snake all the way to Eastbourne offer little hope to the majority of seeing the year’s buzz bands such as The Strypes, Swim Deep or Parquet Courts.

Rumours that the Spice Girls will be reuniting to perform at the Olympic Games closing ceremony look to be true after the band were pictured apparently rehearsing for Sunday's extravaganza.

Olympics organisers have revealed how they intend to enhance the spectator experience at London 2012 with music and other visual presentations.

It's possibly easier to come across a rock god than a black cab in London at the moment. First up was Bruce Springsteen, who found out what unplugged really means when his concert at Hyde Park was summarily curtailed after over-running his allotted time.

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Researchers have tried to quantify how happy people are by charting the emotion on an index. From Tuesday, it is the turn of the arts to explain happiness, with a new exhibition aiming to express the emotion through objects.

Department store Fortnum and Mason has unveiled its Christmas window decorations, with not a bauble in sight.

Basement Jaxx's creative resource has let them survive the 1990s' dance-pop heyday with hardly a scratch.

Library closures across the country are challenged for the first time at the High Court today.

Ballet extravaganza is a step too far for the Pet Shop Boys

After boos, death threats and a breakdown, the enfant terrible of dance returns – this time with a three-act ballet scored by the Pet Shop Boys

Pet Shop Boys have come a long way since the ill-fated disco musical Closer to Heaven.

Theatre, ballet and opera are embracing some unexpected talents