What's On in London

School's Out Trick or Treat Edition! — Half-term just got a serious upgrade — Rollernation is pulling on its Halloween costume and inviting families and thrill-seekers to lace up their skates for a spooky spin around the rink from 1:00pm. Expect festive chaos, disco lights, and the particular joy of watching small children wobble heroically in skeleton onesies. Tickets run from £16 to £50 depending on what you book, making it one of the more memorable half-term afternoons money can buy.

A Night at The Opera by Candlelight (feat. Nessun Dorma) — There are very few things in life that a candlelit performance of Nessun Dorma inside the beautiful St Mary Le Strand cannot fix, and this evening concert at 6:00pm is the kind of experience that makes you feel genuinely glad to be alive in a city this rich. The intimate scale of the venue means the voices fill every corner, and the flickering candlelight does something extraordinary to the acoustics — or at least to your imagination. Tickets are £35 to £50, and worth every penny for a night that will stay with you.

Jo Carley And the Old Dry Skulls — With a band name that was practically made for the 29th of October, Jo Carley and the Old Dry Skulls descend on The Grace in London at 7:00pm for what promises to be a dark, theatrical, and utterly compelling live set. This is the kind of gig where the music feels like it was written in a storm, and the room smells of anticipation and spilled beer in the best possible way. Entry is just £2 to £10, making it one of the finest value propositions on the London listings this week.

The Bleak Winter Sermon Over London — The name alone is worth the price of admission — The Bleak Winter Sermon Over London takes to the stage at The Fiddler's Elbow at 7:00pm, and if the title is anything to go by, this is going to be brooding, atmospheric, and utterly fitting for the eve of Halloween. The Fiddler's Elbow is a Camden institution that has championed left-field and alternative live music for years, and a night like this is exactly why. Tickets are just £8, so there is absolutely no excuse to be sitting at home.

Mozart and Moonlight by Candlelight — St Mary Le Strand is pulling double duty tonight, and its second candlelit concert at 8:00pm might be the more quietly devastating of the two. Mozart under candlelight in a church that has stood since 1723 is the sort of thing that reminds you why cities with history are so endlessly alive, and on an autumn night in late October it will feel nothing short of cinematic. Tickets are £35 to £50 — book ahead, because a room this atmospheric and a programme this beautiful will not have empty seats for long.

'Tonic'; Jazz, Soul, Funk Jam — If you need something looser and later to round out your Thursday, Downstairs at Sucre hosts Tonic — a jazz, soul, and funk jam session from 8:30pm that is exactly the kind of warm, spontaneous night out London does quietly brilliantly. Jam nights like this have an energy that no ticketed headline show can quite replicate: musicians push each other, the room gets in on it, and by 10pm you have no idea how the evening got this good. Check the website for entry details and just go.