• Four-piece alternative group The Secret Kids will play a gig at The Wheatsheaf on Saturday night. The local rockers bounced back to their usual gigging schedule in May after guitarist Simon Goodall returned from paternity leave, and have been making noise at pub venues ever since. Catch them in all their raucous glory at the High Street venue. Tickets cost £5 on the door.
  • The Port Mahon shares its name with a naval vessel, so it’s fitting that boat rockers Listing Ships have chosen to play this St Clement’s pub on Monday. The maritime-inspired three-piece will support American alternative band Arbouretum, and have also invited along Coma Wall, an acoustic side-project from Witney’s sludge metal ensemble, Undersmile. Tickets cost £8 in advance from wegotickets.com
  • Lo-fi party band Beta Blocker And The Body Clock have organised a rather alluring follow-up to their self-promoted gig, dubbed Forever Twitching. It takes place on Tuesday at their favourite haunt The White Rabbit; they’re bringing along fellow local band Whoo-Ah! and their garage rock friends in Sex Hands for a night of top tunes, artsy video displays and, best of all, free pizza.
  • It scarcely seems believable... one of the biggest names in rock, playing to a glamorous gaggle of ladies in posh frocks in high heels. But this Saturday the man behind one of the biggest-selling albums of all time will be blasting out a mix of riffs and rock operatics at a venue more used to thoroughbred horses than gnarled rockers.

Larger than life ballad-monger Meat Loaf is the unlikely star of this weekend’s Ladies Day at Newbury Racecourse, and will play a two-part set featuring a full rendition of his classic Bat Out Of Hell album and a selection of other hits.

Lest we need reminding, Bat Out of Hell is a rock leviathan which stayed in the charts for more than nine years and still sells 200,000 copies each year. Don’t miss the chance to see the oversized legend, just a short drive down the A34. For tickets go to racecoursenewbury.co.uk

  • It being summer and all, there has not been a lot of action at the city’s main music venues of late. So lovers of alternative rock must scarcely have believed their ears upon learning one of America’s best bands is pitching up on at the O2 Academy Oxford on Monday for a rare show. Following their outing at this weekend’s V Festivals, EELS roll up on the Cowley Road for one of only six non-festival UK shows.

Best known for such hits as Novocaine for the Soul, Last Stop: This Town, Mr E’s Beautiful Blues and Susan’s House, the band centres on singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Everett – known to all as ‘E’.

The tour follows the release of their 10th album Wonderful, Glorious and precedes new single Kinda Fuzzy, released on September 2. Tickets are £23.50 from ticketweb.co.uk

  • A quick reminder that next Friday marks the start of the country’s greatest rock festival – Reading. The big, messy bash, which takes place just over the county boundary at Little John’s Farm, will host sets by the likes of Alkaline Trio, Green Day, Eminem, Biffy Clyro, Chase & Status, System of A Down, Fall Out Boy, Skrillex, Deftones, Nine Inch Nails, Phoenix, Azealia Banks, Funeral For A Friend, Pulled Apart By Horses, Shikari Sound System and Oxford’s own Foals. If you’re a fan, let’s hope you’ve got your ticket, because the whole weekend is sold-out.

In next week’s Guide, Chase & Status talk to us about their whirlwind festival summer.