Rebecca Ferguson: The Hits at Christmas

Rebecca Ferguson brings her show The Hits at Christmas to The Stables on Monday 7 December, with the performance starting at 7:30pm in the Jim Marshall Auditorium. It's a stripped-back set: her voice supported solely by piano, with Tom Seals on the keys. The programme runs through her biggest hits alongside her own interpretations of favourite Christmas songs.

Ferguson has been a familiar name since 2010, when she came to prominence as the runner-up of The X Factor, finishing behind Matt Cardie but ahead of One Direction. Her 2011 debut album Heaven sold more than a million copies, followed by 2013's Freedom, which reached number two in the UK and was built around her breaking free from her former management. She later covered Billie Holiday on 2015's Lady Sings The Blues and returned with new material on 2016's Superwoman, and has been nominated for MOBO and MTV Europe Music Awards. She's widely regarded as one of the UK's finest live vocalists — The Telegraph placed her 'in the same league as Aretha Franklin' and The Guardian called her talent 'undeniable'.

Because the show is just voice and piano, it's a different way to hear her than the full-band arrangements of her records. The set mixes the songs she's best known for with the Christmas standards she's chosen to cover, so it works as a retrospective of her career as much as a seasonal gig. Tickets start from £42.50 including booking fee, with show-only tickets at £47.50 and £42.50, and a VIP Meet & Greet for £104.50. The Stables is on Stockwell Lane in Wavedon, MK17 8LU.