Catherine Bohart loves control, hates change and is a serial planner. It’s been an interesting couple of years… A blisteringly funny new stand-up show filled with horrendous life advice, cheery nihilism and reluctant self-discovery from one of the UK and Ireland’s most exciting comics.

HBO and Netflix star Ahir Shah (Live at the Apollo, Mock The Week, Have I Got News For You, QI) is back with his new stand-up show Golden. His last show, Ends, won the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show, sold out shows across the world and was recorded as a comedy special for Netflix. Ahir has also been seen and heard on shows including Ahir Shah: Dots (HBO), Jurassic World 3, Foundation (Apple TV), Richard Osman's House of Games (BBC2), The Last Leg (C4), The Mash Report (BBC2), Frankie Boyle's New World Order (BBC2) and The Now Show (BBCR4).

Rosie Holt: The Illegal Aliens Have Landed! Rosie and her MP alter-ego are back, fighting their biggest foe yet. Labour are trying to continue the Conservatives work of stopping the boats while also still appearing left wing," but they have an even bigger problem when UFOs arrive. Will the government stand strong? Or insist they are just waiting for the facts as aliens start to abduct and eat the British public? A sci-fi streaked satire.

These days, David Ford feels much more at home operating on the fringes of the music business, not trying to be famous, not trying to get rich. It might be an unconventional way to conduct a musical career, but this is not a conventional guy, as evidenced by his most recent album, Animal Spirits, a surprisingly accessible, even soulful collection of songs about economics. As an artist Ford still defies classification or comparison. Singer-songwriter doesn’t begin to cover it. He writes and performs with fluency across multiple genres, plays every instrument on the stage and even invents new ones to create truly unique recordings and performances. Every live show is different. Ford’s trademark one-man loop machine circus grows more complex and audacious every year, but then he is just as likely to show up with a six-piece band, a string quartet, jazz drummer or a choir and his most recent UK tour proved he can be equally compelling sat in an armchair, playing acoustic guitar and telling stories. The result is a live spectacle described by The Guardian as “unmissable”. As well as playing sold-out headline shows on both sides of the Atlantic, he has toured with and supported artists such as Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint, Ray LaMontagne, Aimee Mann, Sara Bareilles, Gomez, Aqualung, Richard Ashcroft, Suzanne Vega, Augustana, Ingrid Michaelson and Jakob Dylan.

Mr B invented chap-Hop in the summer of 2007, having drunk too much sherry and inadvertently created a new culture. Since then, he has travelled the world, spreading his beats, rhymes and manners. He has recorded 13 albums and has rapped for Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight and for Rob Da Bank, Steve Lamacq, Claudia Winkleman, Tom Robinson, Shaun Keaveny on the radio and for Zoe Ball on Sky TV. He has been described as ‘a cross between the home service and Run DMC’ by Evening Standard. ‘Too funny and dope’ (Nile Rodgers).

Formerly one half of folk-pop duo Hudson Taylor (30 million Spotify streams, a Number 1 Irish album, stages with The Rolling Stones, Hozier, and George Ezra), Harry is now forging a solo path rooted in honest, unguarded songwriting. Based between Dublin and Berlin, his new material sits at the crossroads of indie rock, folk, and pop, drawing on themes of personal transformation and relationships. Written, performed and self-produced by Harry, and mixed by Paul Carr, Hiding From Nature is his most personal work to date: the sound of an artist who has stopped performing a version of himself and started making the record he’s always wanted to make. He’s joined on stage by Seraphina Taylor, whose backing vocals and multi-instrumental work give the live show its quiet magic.

What?! Mark Thomas has been ‘standing up’ for 40 years? Impossible!! But how old does that make you…? Alas it is true; one of our oldest surviving alternative comics celebrates 40 years at the mic as he takes his brand-new show on the road this autumn. So, here’s what he has done so far in numbers; performed comedy for 40 years, won 8 awards for performing, 4 for human rights work and 1 he invented for himself, made 6 series of the Mark Thomas Comedy Product (Channel 4), written 6 books and 5 play scripts, made 5 series of the Manifesto for Radio 4, made 3 Dispatches for Channel 4, sued the police (and won) 3 times, curated and authored 2 art exhibitions with artist Tracey Moberly and had 1 Guinness World Record for holding 20 protests in 24 hours. If that’s not enough, he’s also walked 724km around the length of the Israel Wall in the West Bank, been credited with changing the law on tax avoidance, started a comedy club in Palestine with Dr Sam Beale and campaigned successfully for things like trade union recognition for cinema workers and getting multinationals to change their practices. You’re right, there’s more, but your attention is running out and we’re running out of space. So, let’s just say he’s generally mucked about trying to have fun and upset the right people…which he is really, really good at. This is a taster menu of political and personal mayhem, jokes, rants and a state of the nation broadcast as he tries to turn ‘what the hell is going on’ into a cogent evening of stand-up.

Indie Midlands presents A VOID + special guests

Mad Dog Mcrea blend a unique mixture of folk rock, pop, gypsy jazz, bluegrass and ‘shake your ass’ music. From self-penned songs of adventure, drinking, love and life, to traditional songs of gypsies, fairies, legless pirates and black flies – Mad Dog never fail to capture their audience with their infectious songs. In constant demand and having played just about every festival and two-bit, jibe-arsed dive in Christendom, Mad Dog Mcrea are, in every sense of the word, a live, band.

Martin Harley is a supremely talented acoustic roots and blues guitarist, singer and songwriter with a burgeoning global reputation. Renowned for his prowess as a slide guitarist, Martin is almost unique in the UK in his playing lap slide. During year-round worldwide touring he’s absorbed a plethora of diverse influences, honing his craft into the classic song-writing style he possesses today. In the US, Martin has headlined Music City Roots in Nashville and toured coast to coast with ZZ Ward, Delta Rae and opened for Iron and Wine, Bruce Hornsby, Five for Fighting, World Party, Beth Hart, Joe Bonamassa amongst many others.

BBC Radio Young Folk Awards Nominee, UKE Magazine Best Newcomer winner and now English Folk Expo Mentor Scheme participant, Amelia Coburn is a truly stunning solo performer who bears comparisons to Kate Bush and Nick Drake with beguiling original folk and jazz influenced songs. Amelia has performed at Cambridge Folk Festival, Costa Del Folk in Ibiza and numerous other national and international events including sell out solo shows in her native North East and elsewhere as well as supporting a diverse range of artists including The Wedding Present, Steve Harley and the late folk legend Vin Garbutt.

Beaux Gris Gris and the Apocalypse: a California based roots rock band. A mind-boggling, blistering finish with everything thrown in including the kitchen sink... truly memorable! Presented by Midnight Mango.