In this week’s newsletter: Everyone has to start somewhere … and in front of someone. Thankfully, these soon-to-be-huge artists left the mime act and dodgy covers (mostly) in the past

From the Beatles slogging through mammoth sets for jeering sailors in Hamburg basement bars, to Ed Sheeran playing just about every open mic night in the south of England, even the biggest acts had to start small. So when we asked Guide readers to share their memories of seeing now-massive bands and artists before they were famous, it was inevitable we’d get some great tales. So much so, in fact, that we’ve decided to devote the main chunk of this week’s Guide to your pre-fame gig recollections. We’ve also asked Guardian music writers – seasoned veterans of seeking out the next big thing – to share a few of their memories. Read on for tales of Kurt Cobain in Yorkshire, Playboi Carti’s set in an east London snooker club and an ill-advised David Bowie mime performance …

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© Photograph: Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images

© Photograph: Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images

© Photograph: Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images

Planetscale explores caching in a highly graphical, animated and interactive way. I've been working on a hydrological problem involving relocating a river and Planetscale's animated interface helped me understand some fundamentals about short-term detention and release of water flow that I hadn't realised before. I suspect there is a lot of heuristic depth for other disciplines to learn from their approach. Planetscale self deprecatingly describe their approach as just scratching the surface.