Beer and arrows

Forty-five minutes 'til the weekend! Here's another five top-tips for the undecided East reader.

BRIGHTON LIVE, Various venues, Brighton. Fri 8. Free.

Today (Friday) is the third and final day of Brighton Live 2010 (give or take the media soirees and seminars either side), in which dozens of the city's venues open their doors for free for one-off gigs by favourite Brighton musicians. East's pick of around 18 shows this evening is the diverse trio of The Beautiful Word, Man Ray Sky and Pink Narcissus at The Brunswick in Hove, but you pretty much can't go wrong tonight wherever you end up. Unless, like us, you spend an hour and a half sitting in a North Laine pub wondering where all the performers are until the bar staff suddenly remember to announce the show's been cancelled, ahem.

BRIGHTON COMEDY FESTIVAL, Various venues, Brighton. From Fri 8. Various prices.

And as one festival ends, another begins, with the month long Brighton Comedy Festival kicking off this evening. The main event tonight is the opening Comedy Festival Gala at the Dome Concert Hall, with host Alan Carr, and top flight guests including Michael McIntyre, Adam Hills, Andi Osho, Simon Evans, Seann Walsh and Phil Nichol - all in aid of the Sussex Beacon charity. If that all sounds a bit daunting, there's two excellent shows happening round the corner in the Pavilion Theatre too: Robin Ince's Bad Book Club at 7.30pm, followed by Tommy Tiernan's Crooked Man at 9.15. Dozens more to come too, see www.brightoncomedyfestival.com for the run-down.

EASTBOURNE BEER FESTIVAL, Winter Garden, Eastbourne. Fri 7 - Sat 8. £4.50 - £7.

As we reported earlier, Eastbourne Beer Festival is well underway, with just a few tickets left available for the Saturday afternoon session. We ought to say that we've learnt the hard way that afternoon drinking isn't always a good idea - but the word 'learnt' implies the lesson had actually sunk in, whereas in actuality we keep doing it again and again. And, tomorrow, again...

THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS, Battle Abbey, Battle. Sat 9. £11.

There's a great family day out at Battle Abbey tomorrow (Saturday) morning, with a large scale re-enactment of The Battle Of Hastings on the very field where it took place back in 1066. If you don't want to know the result, look away now...

DUANE EDDY, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill. Sat 9. £22.

From the twang of an arrow, to the twang of a guitar. Rock & roll legend Duane Eddy rolls into Bexhill for a rare UK concert at the De La Warr Pavilion, where he will be joined by special guest Richard Hawley - the Sheffield crooner who played a fantastic concert at the venue only a year ago. Try not to miss this chance to see one of rock & roll's truly innovative guitarists - you'll want to tell your grandparents about it.