Alex Rigotti
Alex Rigotti is a freelance music and culture editor and journalist whose coverage joins fast-turnaround music news with detailed features on how artists, fandom and politics intersect. They report breaking stories and live music updates for NME and Paste Magazine, while filing longer pieces across a wide range of culture titles. Their work spans mainstream pop and rock, club and electronic music, underground scenes and broader cultural debates around art and identity.
Live shows, setlists and tour news
Rigotti treats live music as a news beat, filing regular reports on tours, surprise sets and festival appearances. Their coverage of Foo Fighters’ 2026 European tour opener focuses on a precise setlist, instrument changes and the decision to bring back deep-cut tracks, mirroring a broader habit of documenting what happened onstage rather than just that a show took place. At NME, recent pieces on Oasis’ forthcoming Knebworth 2027 shows highlight transport, camping, hospitality and accessibility logistics, showing a practical interest in how major gigs work for attendees.
They also cover late-notice cancellations and reschedulings, such as The Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds 60’ tour dates being pulled at the last minute, treating these stories as part of the live-music ecosystem fans need to understand.
Across outlets, they bring the same detail to club and rock tours, writing news on Metallica and Limp Bizkit’s planned joint dates, intimate warm-up shows by artists like Miles Kane, and request-driven tours such as Brandi Carlile’s “Burn The Setlist” run. Setlists, venue size, ticketing information and onstage collaborations recur as core elements, whether they are covering Steve Lacy opening a tour with a The Smiths cover or Jack White teaming up with The Strokes’ Nick Valensi at the Hollywood Palladium.
The emphasis is on concrete live details, making their reporting useful for readers tracking how artists present their work onstage.
Pop, rock and legacy artist news
Rigotti’s daily news output covers contemporary pop stars, guitar bands and legacy acts with the same direct tone, favouring clear quotes and specific developments over commentary. On the pop side, they report on Taylor Swift’s record-breaking MTV VMA wins and the legal dispute around the ‘Life Of A Showgirl’ suit, foregrounding lawyers’ arguments and the court’s decisions. Stories on The Weeknd underscore long-term career positioning, relaying Abel Tesfaye’s insistence that “The Weeknd isn’t going anywhere” as part of a larger narrative about artist personas and longevity.
Legacy and rock artists receive similarly granular treatment. Rigotti covers Jonny Greenwood reflecting on his early years in Radiohead as a “clumsy guitar player,” Ozzy Osbourne describing Paul McCartney’s influence and openness to collaboration, and Liam Gallagher outlining the conditions for Oasis touring again, all through reported quotes. Their news on Dolly Parton’s estate dispute and U2’s work with Rosalía shows an interest in how veteran artists manage catalogues, reputations and cross-generational collaborations.
Across this work, they move quickly between legal cases, awards, collaborations and catalog news, maintaining a straight, factual style that prioritises what an artist said or did over interpretation.
Emerging artists, Radar and underground scenes
Beyond headline names, Rigotti has a sustained focus on emerging acts and new scenes, shaped by previous responsibilities as a contributing editor for NME’s Radar section. Their Radar-era updates invite pitches on up-and-coming acts, and that ethos carries through into profiles and interviews with artists such as Daine, who they wrote up as the star of NME’s Cover ahead of a debut album release. Recent pieces introduce readers to hybrid-genre acts like Kimj, described as architecting a rebellious new sound in the Asian underground, and Maruja, a jazz-punk band reflecting on a “life-affirming” year and punk’s 50th anniversary.
This work combines discovery with scene-mapping.
In features on punk anniversaries and underground electronic movements, Rigotti lets artists explain their own context, using their words to sketch how new sounds emerge from specific local and social milieus. Coverage of lists and tastemaker polls, including commentary around major “Sound Of” selections, reflects an awareness of how industry recognition can both spotlight and crowd out newer acts.
Across these pieces, the through-line is a commitment to giving lesser-known artists space while still situating them within wider genre and industry trends.
Music and culture features
Rigotti’s long-form features extend beyond straightforward music news into essays and reported stories about how culture, politics and identity intersect with art. Their portfolio includes pieces on campaigners fighting the criminalisation of rap lyrics in court, drawing on the Art Not Evidence movement and reporting from the House of Commons to show how Black artists’ work is treated as evidence against them. Another NME feature on Eurovision 2024 explores the debate over whether to watch the contest in a charged political moment, treating fandom and boycott arguments as part of a broader cultural conversation.
In culture writing for other outlets, Rigotti applies the same reported, specific approach.
Essays on queer feminist bodybuilding and astrotherapy at Dazed use interviews and personal experience to probe how wellness, identity and belief systems are being remixed in contemporary culture. Features for titles such as Billboard, Architectural Digest and Museums + Heritage Advisor range from profiling artists like Arthur Jafa and Mark Leckey to summarising key developments at sector events, always anchored in concrete details and quotes.
Their broader biography as a music and culture editor and journalist, with past editorial roles at NME alongside freelance work across media, supports a style that treats music stories as part of a larger cultural landscape rather than an isolated beat.
4 more music journalists.
Abigail Kellett
Abigail Kellett is a news reporter at the Halifax Courier who stands out for visually led coverage that shows how culture, nightlife and local life play out on the ground. She documents gigs, festivals and major live shows at venues such as The Piece Hall through curated photo sets that capture atmosphere, crowd and setting as much as performers, and she uses extensive image galleries to tap reader nostalgia for nights out in Halifax town centre. Her beat spans arts, entertainment, going out, heritage, books and literary events, along with community life, people stories, local challenges, milestones, transport, regeneration, lifestyle and food. She reports through photographs, checklist-style features, reader-driven lists and roundups of most-read stories, turning announcements, programmes, author events, festivals, shop lists and everyday characters into stories about place, shared memory and how people spend their time.
Adam Lyon
Adam Lyon is a digital audience and content editor whose news beat sits at the intersection of Ayrshire’s cultural life, business environment and public affairs. He works for the Ayr Advertiser and as Digital Audience & Content Editor for Newsquest in the west of Scotland across multiple weekly titles. He covers Ayrshire news with a strong thread of music and local culture alongside business, courts and public affairs. He reports on music when it has a clear community or national hook, treating songs as news events rather than reviews. His business work explains how local firms and retail policy shape town centres. His court coverage uses round-ups of sheriff court cases to show patterns and outcomes. He also fronts video previews and is active in a football supporters trust community.
Adam Maidment
Adam Maidment is a senior What’s On and LGBTQ+ reporter whose work links big-name gigs, new venues and cultural flashpoints to everyday fan culture and inclusion. He covers music, nightlife and the wider cultural scene for the Manchester Evening News, focusing on how concerts, openings and immersive events land with real people and communities. His beat spans live music, arenas and stadiums, new restaurant and bar openings, food reviews, exhibitions, street art and nightlife infrastructure, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ audiences and neighbourhoods. He reports on venue ambitions and problems, cultural institutions and equality issues, and franchise-led experiences, using straightforward, on-the-ground reporting and clear description. Drawing on a background in community reporting, he looks for underrepresented perspectives and uses social media, analytics and local sourcing to find stories where culture, identity and place meet.
Alison Brinkworth
Alison Brinkworth is a freelance journalist who treats music as a gateway into place, history and everyday life, often through exhibitions, performances and city-centre events. She covers music within the wider cultural and lifestyle scene, leaning toward accessible, on-the-ground stories framed by familiar artists, venues and local attractions. Her work often focuses on music exhibitions and attractions built around well-known performers, alongside theatre reviews, live events and city attractions. She brings a lifestyle, travel and human-interest sensibility, using interviews and personal stories to show how people spend their time. With over 25 years of experience across print, digital, social media and internal communications, she writes clear, factual, audience-facing articles with dates, locations and organisers, suited to listings, guides and practical recommendations.