Hard Rock Rising

The Hard Rock organisation (best known for their cafés, but also in charge of a festival and a record label) host a high-stakes battle of the bands. The prize: a six-stop world tour, an album and a music video, and $10,000 worth of music gear. The thousands of bands who entered have been narrowed down by Facebook voting to nine groups for the final London heats. You can't decide who wins (that's down to the judging panel: a radio DJ, a live music exec, James Walsh from Starsailor and Phil Manzanera from Roxy Music), but you can come along and watch three very nervous bands turn it up to 11 – and feel good about it, since money taken on the door is going to the Richard House Hospice.