What's On Entertainment Previews

GIG
Simply Red, The O2 arena

They're back again folks. Mick Hucknall is becoming a familiar face at The O2 of late with a solo show at the Indigo2 last year and Simply Red's first visit to the arena on their swansong tour in December.

And fans have another chance to catch the red-headed singer at the North Greenwich venue, which he opened in 2000, back when it was known as the Millennium Dome.

Although there will certainly be material from 2007 album Stay, it's fairly safe to say this farewell string of gigs is about the hits. Expect Holding Back The Years, Something's Got Me Started and Fairground.

April 2-3, 6.30pm, £40-£50, 0844 856 0202, theo2.co.uk, Jubilee: North Greenwich

GIG
Metallica, The O2 arena

Some kind of monster or lame and weak at the core?

The life of Metallica behind the music, so intimately captured during the making of St Anger, is clearly a complex and tense affair.

But frankly, does anyone care? The one thing this band have been able to do consistently is deliver stomping metal in all its shades of black. And last year's Death Magnetic marked another successful rebirth.

Whether it's James Hetfield's fierce vocals, Kirk Hammet's blazing guitar sound or Lars Ulrich's powerful beats, it's worth seeing this most musically solid of ensembles.

March 28, 6.30pm, £45, 0844 856 0202, theo2.co.uk, Jubilee: North Greenwich

STAGE
The Vagina Monologues, Hackney Empire

Billed as the "ultimate girls' night out", this play draws together a collection of outrageous and thoroughly human stories.

Based on the Vagina Interviews by Eve Ensler, who spoke to women all around the world, this witty piece has become something of a rite of passage for female actors, attracting the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Kate Winslet, Sophie Dahl and Jerry Hall in past years.

This production features Holby City's Sharon D Clarke, former EastEnders star Jessie Wallace and Little Miss Jocelyn's Jocelyn Jee, pictured.

April 2-4, various times, £17.50-£19.50, 020 8985 2424, hackneyempire.co.uk, Rail: Hackney

EVENT
Carmac Harp Days, Trinity College of Music

Now in its third year, the Camac Harp Days are a celebration of the instrument at its highest international level.

The young Parisian harpist Constance Luzzati will make her London debut and new writing for both acoustic and electric harps will be featured.

Hosted by Trinity College of Music, the festival opens with the institution's Head of Harp Gabriella Dall'Olio in recital with a programme including the world premiere of Tim Jackson's Be Not Afear'd.

The festival provides the opportunity to experience both talented young harpists at the start of their careers, and artists at the top of their profession.

March 31-April2, various times, 020 8305 4444, tcm.ac.uk, DLR: Cutty Sark