We have one of our occasional Guest Editors writing the lead in Camdenist this week. And, while the voice is new, the topic is an urgent cultural conundrum in need of solutions, one that we look at regularly.

Most recently, that was when agreeing with the words of potential heel-biting Prime Ministerial challenger/Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, last month, as he flagged the dangers of the UK’s various world-famous music destinations relying rather too heavily on their former glories.

Marc Burrows is an award-winning author, comedian and culture journalist, currently touring the UK with The Britpop Show, a multimedia stand-up celebration of 90s Britpop.

Here, he sets out why his deep love of 90s Britpop is precisely why he doesn’t want to hear it regurgitated endlessly in the local venues which very much helped make its name.

Last weekend, the BRITs handed Noel Gallagher the Songwriter of the Year award.

At the ceremony’s first ever outing in Manchester, no less – the city where the songs were born, and performed once more to a crowd who'd grown up singing them back to him. It was a lovely moment. A hometown coronation.

There’s just one small wrinkle: Noel Gallagher didn't actually write any songs in 2025. He performed thirty-year-old ones to two million people, and three Oasis albums simultaneously occupied the UK Top Five. That was apparently enough.

You can see the logic, and I've argued the case for it myself, elsewhere. In a streaming age, where Spotify's own data shows that only three of its top ten most-played songs of 2025 were even released that year, there's something to be said for recognising songs that still do the heavy lifting decades later.

‘Wonderwall’ has over two billion streams. ‘Don't Look Back In Anger’ crossed a billion in 2025. They're practically public utilities at this point. They should be added to the Monopoly board.

But there's a version of that argument that should make anyone who cares about new music quite uncomfortable. When Britain’s biggest songwriting award goes to a man who hasn’t picked up a pen in years, what message does that send to the twenty-three-year-old with a guitar and a pub gig on a Tuesday night?

There's a deeper irony here, too. Britpop was built on the idea that working class kids with cheap guitars and sheer nerve could storm the gates of the music industry. That was the whole point.

Thirty years on, those same songs have become the gates. The movement that defined itself against the establishment has become the establishment – canonised, commodified, and streaming in perpetuity, while the next generation of scrappy bands with something to say can't get a foot in the door.

This is where Camden comes in, because it’s very, very easy to get lost in the musical mythology of the area, which is vast and legitimate.

The Dublin Castle. Dingwalls. The Roundhouse. KOKO. The Good Mixer, where Blur and Elastica and Menswear propped up the bar while the NME photographers circled like vultures. Amy Winehouse sashaying down the High Street. Madness. The Clash. Half of punk, most of Britpop, and a solid chunk of everything in between happened within spitting distance of Camden Lock. You could put a blue plaque on every second building and still run out of wall space before you ran out of stories.

None of that means very much to a band trying to get a gig in 2026.

The grassroots circuit that once provided the pipeline from sticky-floored pub to sold-out arena is in worse shape than it has ever been. Venues are closing, costs are rising, and the economics of being a new artist in the streaming era are, with the greatest of respect to Spotify's cheerful press releases, absolutely brutal.

Add AI-generated music flooding the platforms, diluting the pool, and you've got a system that increasingly rewards the already-established at the expense of the not-yet-known.

Camden still has venues. Good ones, some of which only survived the pandemic by the skin of their teeth. The likes of The Fiddler's Elbow, Black Heart and Underworld are still booking bands every night of the week. That's worth celebrating. But celebration alone isn't a strategy.

Camden doesn't just have a heritage to protect – it has a responsibility to build on it.

Heritage that doesn't generate a future is just a museum with a gift shop. Noel Gallagher's songs are woven into the fabric of British life, and nobody – least of all me, a man who is literally touring a stand-up show about Britpop – is arguing otherwise.

But the best tribute to Camden's extraordinary musical past isn't another heritage walk or a commemorative beer mat. It's making sure the next great band can afford to play here, and that someone’s actually in the room when they do.

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FESTIVAL: 🤝 Now in its third year up at Highgate’s Lauderdale House, the coming of the Persian New Year will be celebrated at Nowruz Festival 2026, marking the 14-day-long, 3,000-year-old springtime tradition of gathering, sharing stories and hoping for a better future.
With current events in the region causing so much upheaval and concern, this year’s festival will offer in important space for solidarity, talks from Iranian authors about the future, and space to explore the rich artistic heritage of the region. All events are free, Wed 11th Mar to Mon 6th Apr, and include a Haft-Sin Trail in Waterlow Park showcasing seven up-and-coming female Iranian artists.

MUSIC: 🎶 After a year of barnstorming live shows, including at Little Simz’ Southbank-based Meltdown Festival and supporting Cat Burns, British-Ugandan vocalist and songwriter Mega is bringing her blend of modern soul to KOKO for the early live set tonight, Fri 6th Mar.

COMEDY: 😂 Offering a formula of ‘six bullets in the chamber, one gun’, Revolver Comedy is back at Chalk Farm’s The Dark Horse this Thurs 12th Dec with six standups given only 10 mins to make the crowd laugh. The bill includes Phillip Reiss, Tom Voice, Hugo Webber, Nick Koukides, Will Hyslop and Emmanuel O.

ART: 🎨 Camden Town’s tucked away gallery Corner7 returns next Thurs 12th Mar, after providing a roof for visiting overseas artists in recent months, with The Hinge and the Knife, an exhibition by Royal College of Art Information Experience Design students, in response to Jan van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece, 1432. The historic artwork is approached as a living structure, opened, re-joined, and reinterpreted through contemporary materials, gestures, and systems. Look out for special performances on Fri 20th Mar, too.

MUSIC: 🎤 American singer Audrey Hobart plays two nights at the 02 Forum Kentish Town on Tues 10th & Wed 11th Mar, branching out successfully as a solo artist following her acclaimed co-written songs with Gracie Abrams.

DANCE: 👯 London Contemporary Dance School’s The Ball looks at joy as a collective practice, which sounds like a fantastic starting point for a good show. It explores celebration as a public, performative act with social and political stakes, reframing cheer and care as timeless acts of solidarity. Drawing on influences from Bridgerton to Harlem, New York; a school disco to a grandad's 90th birthday, it’s at The Place Thurs 12th - Sat 14th Mar.

CLUB: 🎧 David ‘Ram Jam’ Rodigan hosts the second in his series of three Sunday session at at the Jazz Cafe this Sun 8th Mar, with No Objections, Rebel Clash and Papa Face, plus there’s a reggae jungle special next week (15th) with Kenny Ken, DJ Ron, MCGQ and a surprise special guest. Fiya!

STAGE: 🎭 A bold new debut at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre explores the tumultuous marriage of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller. The play journeys from the couple’s harmonious beginning to it’s acrimonious end, charting the painful collapse of their partnership, revealing the pressures of fame, creativity and addiction. Arthur & Marilyn runs 17th - 21st Mar.

DANCING: 💃🏻 At the very first glimpse of warmer, longer evenings, the epic vibes of Rueda Libre returned to Coal Drops Yard this week, kicking off a long season of their joyous weekly social salsa dances in the central square. All levels are encouraged to join in. Wed 11th Mar is the next one.