‘There was a little bit of the devil in her’: Damon Albarn and Rufus Wainwright remember Marianne Faithfull

The Blur frontman remembers a boisterous songwriting session, while Wainright recalls a week of partying and conversations about ‘music, sex and the craziness of life’

The Guide #176: Seas of smartphones and bulky backpacks: the worst things about going to gigs

This week, our inbox filled up with critics’ and readers’ least favourite things about live music, from the death of the cloakroom to two-day drum solos

The Weeknd: Hurry Up Tomorrow review – a record that will floor you … and drive you up the wall

On a somewhat exhausting sixth album, Abel Tesfaye uses Brazilian funk, punishing house and lush 70s soul to press great songs into the service of rotten lyrics

Fury and denunciations: when pop idol Marianne Faithfull took to the stage – and silenced her critics

Faithfull’s casting in Chekhov’s Three Sisters in 1967 caused a perfect storm, yet she held her own against the vastly more experienced cast including Glenda Jackson. It was the start of many such triumphs

Madonna trying standup is no joke: she’s a natural comedian and genuine kook

News that the singer had done a slot in New York’s Comedy Cellar was met with derision, but she has always walked a fine line between comedy character and over-the-top pop star

Teddy Swims: I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2) review – extra-size emotion

The huge-voiced Atlantan behind last year’s megahit Lose Control is back, and in love, on this unignorable, playlist-pleasing follow-up

Melancholy, morphine and the Baader-Meinhof group: Marianne Faithfull’s 10 best recordings

From a career-detonating collaboration with the Rolling Stones in 1969 to a hypnotic experiment with 13-era Blur, Marianne Faithfull’s career was one of reinvention – yet always underpinned by her wrenching, affecting vocals

Manic Street Preachers: Critical Thinking review – older and wiser

The Welsh rockers’ 15th album finds them in thought-provoking mood

Australian music festival Groovin the Moo cancelled for second year in a row

The announcement comes one week after another major festival, Splendour in the Grass, also cancelled this year’s edition

Marianne Faithfull was a towering artist, not just the muse she was painted as

The late singer made her share of bad decisions – but someone this artistically adventurous and unafraid was never going to have an ordinary life

Marianne Faithfull, singular icon of British pop, dies aged 78

Singer and actor overcame drug addiction and homelessness to collaborate with everyone from the Rolling Stones and Metallica to Jean-Luc Godard

Lady Blackbird review – flamboyance and nuance from late-blossoming jazz-soul star

Behind the impressive Grace Jones-esque stage outfits, the US singer is blessed with both lung power and sensitivity

Don’t look back: after decades of apathy, A Complete Unknown has turned me into a Dylan nut

I went into the cinema without expectation, I left feeling like a besotted teenager and have listened to little other music since

‘My job was making hits’: Clive Langer on taking Bowie, Dexys and Madness to No 1 – and why he turned Madonna down

He skied with Bowie, boozed with Madness and recorded the Teardrop Explodes on acid. But does he regret blowing it with Dave Grohl? The great producer relives his smashes, parties and 11am vodkas

Luther: Never Too Much review – the mystery and brilliance of ‘love doctor’ Vandross

A feature-length documentary about the multi-platinum R&B singer does justice to his talents and tactfully handles the issue of his sexuality