Scotsman critics' choice: Four must-see shows on this week

THE Scotsman's arts critics round up their must-see films, theatre and concerts for the next week.

US musicians Nils lofgren, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Van Zandt perform on stage. Picture: Getty Images

POP: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

It is the start of the outdoor gig season, and they don’t come any mightier than Springsteen and his exemplary E Street Band, above, who regularly turn in energetic three-hour sets which seem to last half that time. This latest tour celebrates his 1980 double album, The River, which was given the box set treatment last year. The E Street Band eat that kind of stuff for breakfast so expect a heart-stopping, pants-dropping, house-rocking, earth-quaking, etc, etc time in their exhilarating company. Fiona Shepherd

Hampden Park, Glasgow, 0844 844 0444, 1 June

ART: Cathy Wilkes

The heart skips at the thought of each new show by Glasgow’s Cathy Wilkes. Her recent retrospective at Tate Liverpool reminded us just how much she has anchored a generation of female artists. In sculptural installation, scuffed and smudged paintings, hesitant tapestry and ancient, worn textiles Wilkes tells vital tales of sorrow and survival. Moira Jeffrey

The Modern Institute, Aird’s Lane, Glasgow, until August 27, 0141-237 1488, www.themoderninstitute.com

THEATRE: Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour

It was a blazing success on last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, and beyond; and now, the National Theatre of Scotland’s explosive and beautiful play with songs, based on Alan Warner’s 1998 novel The Sopranos, is back on tour, with its story of six rebellious Oban girls on a school choir trip to Edinburgh. With a script by Lee Hall, direction by Vicky Featherstone, and a playlist of brilliantly-sung classics from Mendelssohn to ELO, this is the NTS at its best – fierce, popular, and full of passion and compassion. Joyce McMillan

SECC, Glasgow, tonight; and on tour to Liverpool, Connecticut, Kilmarnock, Dundee and Galway, until July, www.nationaltheatrescotland.com

CLASSICAL: SCO in Largs

The SCO is out and about on its summer jaunts around Scotland again, and tonight features a concert in Largs of Mendelssohn and Richard Strauss. Pablo González conducts Mendelssohn’s Overture to The Fair Melusine and First Symphony, between which the orchestra’s principal clarinettist and bassoonist, Maximiliano Martín and Peter Whelan, above, conjure up the whimsical musical protagonists of Strauss’ entertaining double concerto, the Duet Concertino. Ken Walton

Barrfields Theatre, Largs, today, www.sco.org.uk