Watch Foals play recent single ‘Looking High’ for the first time

The trio returned to the venue the following night (April 21) where they debuted ‘Looking High’. Tune in here:

‘Looking High’, frontman Yannis Philippakis explained, “is looking back to a more hedonistic time in my life, and a more innocent time in society in general, pre-pandemic and before the existential threat of climate change”.

He continued: “It takes place in an alley in Oxford with two clubs – The Cellar and The Wheatsheaf – that all the city’s nightlife gravitated towards.”

Foals’ current run of UK gigs continues in Birmingham tonight (April 23) ahead of various festival appearances this summer. You can see their upcoming live schedule below and find tickets here.

APRIL
23 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham
25 – Bonus Arena, Hull
26 – O2 City Hall, Newcastle
27 – Centre, Brighton
29 – Olympia, London
30 – Olympia, London

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MAY
1 – Olympia, London
2 – Olympia, London
5 – Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
6 – Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
8 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
29 – Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Coventry

JUNE
22–26 – Glastonbury Festival
27 – Fairview Park, Dublin
29 – Sounds of the City, Castlefield Bowl, Manchester

JULY
8 – Sounds of the City, Millennium Square, Leeds
9 – TRSNMT, Glasgow
23 – Latitude Festival, Suffolk

Speaking to NME about the forthcoming ‘Life Is Yours’ back in February, Philippakis said that “this is our idea of a going out record”. 

“We were thinking about parties, club nights and being drunk on the bus at 2am trying to get home,” he explained.

“All of it: the excitement before you go out, meeting up with your friends, the wild abandon. ‘Who’s got the pingers? Where are we going?’ This is all of that youthful excess of going out.”

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Listen to Sinead O’Brien’s new song, ‘There Are Good Times Coming’

“A mantra anchors me as I spin and fall in an alternate space. Watch the ripple effect of things play out; life, ideas, episodes. A subtle movement makes the biggest tremors.

“There are moments where the music is sparse and the lyrics hang around a while. It’s a strange space, warmth and coolness in the air. Full moon, dogs barking in the distance and an empty railway station.

“‘There Are Good Times Coming’ is not a dream, it’s a restless night.”

‘Time Bend And Break The Bower’ album tracklisting:

1. ‘Pain Is The Fashion Of The Spirit’
2. ‘Salt’
3. ‘Girlkind’
4. ‘End Of Days’
5. ‘Like Culture’
6. ‘The Rarest Kind’
7. ‘Holy Country’
8. ‘Spare For My Size, Me’
9. ‘There Are Good Times Coming’
10. ‘Multitudes’
11. ‘Go Again’

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Speaking about the upcoming album, O’Brien added: “The story of the album is built up in layers; one song giving context to the next.”

“I thought about becoming undressed; testing my ideas, my voice. Working myself out across themes of identity, curiosity, creative process. Experimenting with the form and shape of language, using tone and delivery to get to the immediate centre of what I am saying.

“The record opens and closes with poems, these tracks have a really clear direction – a form which is set apart from the ‘songs’. I hold stops in different places, moving emphatically through the lyrics, changing the meaning. No punctuation – only the voice mapping out the way.”

“The album title ‘Time Bend and Break The Bower’, from the song ‘Multitudes’, came into my head and made its demands, an idea that pressed on me throughout the record. It has a very active role. The clock symbol is enlarged, it looms like a moon over my activity watching, counting me down to zero. Dripping with self-sabotage and the feeling of being chased; it pulls and pushes against the verses which talk of ’Multitudes’; the things that faithfully come back – the images, the words, creativity. It is creativity itself.”

O’Brien will play a full UK and Ireland tour this autumn – check out the dates below and buy tickets here.

October 2022
9 – Cluny 2, Newcastle, UK
10 – King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, UK
11 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK
12 – Deaf Institute, Manchester, UK
14 – Bodega, Nottingham, UK
15 – Future Days, The Crossing, Birmingham, UK
17 – Lafayette, London, UK
19 – Green Door Store, Brighton, UK
20 – Ramsgate Music Hall, Ramsgate, UK
21 – Exchange, Bristol, UK
26 – Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Ireland
27 – Whelans, Dublin, Ireland
28 – Black Box, Belfast, UK
29 – Dolans Warehouse, Limerick, Ireland

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Foals debut new songs ‘2am’ and ‘2001’ live as they kick off 2022 tour in Edinburgh

You can see fan-shot footage from Foals’ Edinburgh show below.

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New #FOALS song snippet: the title track from #LifeIsYours album, live from the Edinburgh gig at Usher Hall (20/04/22). @foals pic.twitter.com/nP2ARAIt7p

— Doug (@douglashunter90) April 20, 2022

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You can see Foals’ setlist from last night’s Usher Hall gig below.

‘Wake Me Up’
‘Mountain At My Gates’
‘The Runner’
‘Olympic Airways’
‘My Number’
‘Black Gold’
‘Exits’
‘2am’
‘In Degrees’
‘Birch Tree’
‘2001’
‘Late Night’
‘Spanish Sahara’
‘Providence’
‘Inhaler’

‘Black Bull’
‘What Went Down’
‘Two Steps, Twice’

Foals’ UK tour continues in Edinburgh tonight (April 21) ahead of a run of festival appearances this summer. You can see their upcoming live dates below and find tickets here.

April
21 – Usher Hall, Edinburgh
23 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham
25 – Bonus Arena, Hull
26 – O2 City Hall, Newcastle
27 – Centre, Brighton
29 – Olympia, London
30 – Olympia, London

May
1 – Olympia, London
2 – Olympia, London
5 – Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
6 – Empress Ballroom, Blackpool
8 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
29 – Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Coventry

June
22–26 – Glastonbury Festival
27 – Fairview Park, Dublin
29 – Sounds of the City, Castlefield Bowl, Manchester

July
8 – Sounds of the City, Millennium Square, Leeds
9 – TRSNMT, Glasgow
23 – Latitude Festival, Suffolk

Speaking to NME back in February about their upcoming new LP, Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis said that “this is our idea of a going out record”.

“We were thinking about parties, club nights and being drunk on the bus at 2am trying to get home. All of it: the excitement before you go out, meeting up with your friends, the wild abandon. ‘Who’s got the pingers? Where are we going?’ This is all of that youthful excess of going out.”

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PUP share new single ‘Matilda’ and announce UK and Ireland tour

“She was a gift from my friend Ryan, after watching me accidentally break the only guitar I owned in the middle of a long tour,” Babcock said. “I had no money to buy a replacement, and Ryan’s act of kindness is up there on my list of ‘nicest things anyone’s ever done for me’.

“I played Matilda nonstop for 7 years at every PUP show, even when my bandmates started complaining that she sounded like shit. As the band got bigger, the pressure to sound better was building and so I bought a ‘good’ guitar and played Matilda less and less. Before I knew it I hadn’t played her in over a year.”

Babcock went on to explain that the idea to write ‘Matilda’ came from an “intense feeling of guilt and sadness and shame and nostalgia and regret, watching her rot away in a corner”.

He continued: “I love this guitar and I love Ryan and wanted to do right by them, and I felt like I’d failed them both. I convinced the band that Matilda deserved one last rip on a PUP record, and I played her during the bridge of this song. It sounds so shitty. But good shitty. Great shitty.

“For me, it was the most joyful and cathartic moment in the entire making of this record.”

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The official ‘Matilda’ video, directed by Jefferson Dutton, follows the journey of the beaten-up instrument in question – you can tune in above.

PUP have also confirmed a run of UK and European headline shows, which will take place between October and November. Tickets go on general sale at 10am GMT this Friday (March 4) – purchase yours from here.

PUP’s 2022 UK and Ireland dates are as follows:

OCTOBER 2022

12 – Leeds Beckett Students Union, Leeds
13 – O2 Ritz, Manchester
14 – The Roundhouse, London
16  – SWG3 Galvanizers,  Glasgow
17 –  Academy 2, Dublin
19 – Chalk, Brighton
20 – SWX, Bristol
21 – O2 Institute,  Birmingham

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Massive Attack confirm summer Dublin show

Tickets for the show will go on general sale at 10am on Friday (February 18) and will be available to purchase here. 

Robert Del Naja aka 3D of Massive Attack. CREDIT: Thomas Niedermueller/Getty Images

In November, Massive Attack helped launch a campaign to expose corporate “greenwashing” at COP26. Del Naja teamed up with green industrialist Dale Vince and artist Bill Posters to reveal the practice, which involves companies giving a false impression or providing misleading information about how environmentally sound their products are.

“The general public are very much aware of the harm caused by the disinformation that is propagated via social media platforms,” Del Naja said at the time. “This project aims to show that Facebook in particular is responsible for most of the climate disinfo in current circulation and will also reveal the dimensions of the greenwash industrial complex – and the profits it generates for the platforms.

“The cultural and live music sectors have been historically used by major transnational polluters (fast food/airlines/automotive) as public arenas to do their dirty laundry. As artists we have spent decades attempting to persuade promoters and venues to remove unethical, polluting identities and sponsors from live music events. This is the cultural sector’s opportunity to return the favour via this public service intervention.”

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Months earlier, the group called on the government to introduce a plan to cut carbon emissions at concerts. After producing a report on the music industry’s carbon emissions, Del Naja criticised the UK government for not doing enough to support the industry in reducing those figures.

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Weezer celebrate their 30th anniversary: “We are nowhere near the end of our story”

“…So here we are on 2/15/22, 30 years on. So much has happened, so many songs, albums, singles, soundtracks, fans, tours, shows, photo shoots, interviews, so many good times – and a few bad ones here and there of course. Brian joined us when Jason left, Mikey joined us when Matt left, Scott joined us when Mikey left. We’ve gained countless thousands of great friends, and lost some of our dearest friends, including Mikey, Ric Ocasek, and Mykel and Carli Allan, who started the Weezer Fan Club.”

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The post continued: “…So much has changed, and yet, having been there for it for every step of the way I can truly say that for all the changes and amazing adventures that have happened, the spirit of Weezer has not changed hardly, if at all. Everyone still just wants to make great music, rock out and keep things interesting. And 30 years on, we are nowhere near the end of the story.

“Thank you for sticking with us, 2022 is going to be another fascinating year for Weezer and you. – karl #karlscorner #SZNS #hearyoume”

Weezer will perform a run of dates in the UK and Ireland this year with Green Day and Fall Out Boy for their Hella Mega Tour – you can see the dates below.

JUNE 2022

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24 – London Stadium, London
25 – John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield
27 – Venue TBA, Dublin
29 – Bellahouston Park, Glasgow

Meanwhile, Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo has built a streaming platform to host thousands of Weezer demos.

The tracks were originally released in 2020 as part of Cuomo’s “web programming class”.

Available to buy in era-bundles, the demos range from Cuomo’s musical ventures pre-Weezer all the way through to 2017’s ‘Pacific Daydream’. Now, he’s built an app to play those demos and called it Weezify. It’s available on the Apple Store and through Google Play.

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Watch Pale Waves perform new song ‘Jealousy’ as they kick off UK tour

They also debuted new track ‘Jealousy’ – a ‘90s inspired alt rock track with plenty of attitude. Check out footage below:

PALE WAVES NEW SONG pic.twitter.com/13ujLSW1MB

— Pale Waves Updates (@PaleWavesUpdate) February 11, 2022

Pale Waves also gave us a first play of a new song “Jealousy” pic.twitter.com/XpJJwatGrO

— Steve 🥌 (@Nintendoubt815) February 12, 2022

 

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Vocalist Heather Baron-Gracie told fans a new song would be released in the next few weeks.

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Pale Waves played:

‘Change’
‘Television Romance’
‘Eighteen’
‘Tomorrow’
‘Fall To Pieces’
“One More Time’
‘Wish You Were Here’
‘Kiss’
‘Odd Ones Out’
‘Jealousy’
‘Red’
‘My Obsession’
‘The Tide’
‘Noises’
‘Easy’
‘She’s My Religion’
‘There’s A Honey’

Earlier this year, Pale Waves confirmed that they had finished recording their third album and it will be released this year.

In September last year, the band revealed they were in the studio recording their new album by sharing some behind the scenes photos. One of which was a notebook containing the potential lyrics “Fragile as a feather, can’t afford to break. As I’m getting older, fear I’ll make the same mistakes. Broken around the edges.”

Baron-Gracie then went on to confirm the band had written a new song inspired by Netflix‘s Sex Education by posting a still from the show featuring Otis and Maeve (portrayed by Asa Butterfield and Emma Mackey respectively). “Wrote a song about their relationship and I guess it ended up on album 3,” she captioned the photo.

Pale Waves tour the UK throughout February. Tickets are available here and dates can be seen below.

FEBRUARY 2022
11 – O2 Academy Bristol
12 – University Great Hall, Cardiff
13 – Rock City, Nottingham
14 – O2 Academy Birmingham
16 – O2 Academy Bournemouth
17 – O2 Academy Leeds
19 – Limelight, Belfast
20 – Academy, Dublin
21 – O2 Academy Glasgow
23 – O2 Academy Sheffield
25 – O2 Academy Leicester
26 – O2 Academy Oxford
28 – Roundhouse, London

MARCH 2022
1 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester

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Alfie Templeman announces debut album ‘Mellow Moon’: “It’s a place to get away from anxieties”

Speaking of his new single ‘Broken’, Templeman described it as “a good representation of what’s gone on in the past couple of years and how people my age are feeling”.

“It explores the smaller thoughts and fears that nobody really brings up because there are bigger things going on in the world right now but really, your mental wellbeing is just as valid as anything else,” said Templeman. “You’re alive, you deserve to know that everything’s OK.”

He continued: “I’ve spoken about mental health to friends and on social media, but I’ve never been this open about it in my music. Because of that, I didn’t want to go too emo straight away. I didn’t want to go full Elliot Smith. It’s an upbeat pop song but the lyrics are very sad.”

Templeman revealed that the Coldplay-inspired riff was first written back when he was 14, with the rest of the track taking influence from Chic disco legend Nile Rodgers.

“I’ve spoken countless times about how much of a hero of mine he is,” said Templeman. “I’ve always liked bittersweet songs though. Radiohead were another big influence on me because with songs like ‘No Surprises’ – you can’t tell if that’s a dark song or a happy song. I want to make beautiful summer pop records, but I also want to keep being honest about myself with my lyrics, so ‘Broken’ is a good starting point for that.”

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Check out the rest of our chat with Templeman below, where he opened up about inspiring teenagers to make music, mental health and why there’s positivity behind everything he creates.

Alfie Templeman Credit: Lillie Eiger

Hi Alfie. What made you want to write about your mental health on ‘Broken’?

Templeman: “I was in a pretty dark place when I was writing the lyrics for the album. ‘Broken’ came about because throughout the pandemic, I’d go into my own head, visit that dark corner and push everyone else away. I realised I needed to figure things out and address what was happening because the only person that can really change you, is you. I just became more honest and open with myself. Justin Young from The Vaccines really helped me piece this track together though. He helped me find ways to describe what was going on in my head without it sounding too morbid.”

How did that feel?

“The deeper you go, the more painful it is, but you also discover more about yourself. It’s just part of growing up but I became less interested in what other people thought about me and cared more about how I felt about myself. ‘Broken’ shaped the whole of ‘Mellow Moon’ though because after I wrote it, I was more comfortable putting other songs on the record that were deeper, darker and more honest about how I felt.”

Why the title ‘Mellow Moon’?

“Sometimes I feel like I’m on a completely different planet, so the ‘Mellow Moon’ is my safe space. It’s a place where I go to relax, to get away from whatever anxieties are going on in my head. I feel like it’s finally time to invite people into that. Hopefully they find it safe and comforting, the same way that I do.”

Is there a thread that runs through this album?

“There’s a loose concept of going through different stages of mental health but there are also songs where I let loose and just enjoy myself. Those songs still have meaning though, they just provide a break from the intensity of the rest of the record. Nobody wants an album where every song is going to make you have an existential crisis.This album is very much dedicated to people my age, who have all been through the same shit.”

And it’s all brand new songs, right? 

“I just don’t want to look back. There was talk of adding some old songs to ‘Forever Isn’t Long Enough’ and making that my debut but I knew, with a little more time, I could write a really great record. And here we are with ‘Mellow Moon’. I think it’s a really strong, bold, confident album that shows off who Alfie Templeman is now.”

Have you got your eyes set on a Number One album?

“It’d be nice to get a Top 40 but I’m not too bothered. A Number One is a bit like meeting the Queen, it’s just something to brag about. That said, wait until May where I’m trying to sell my left kidney to flog a few more copies of the record. I’d be happy with people relating to what I’m talking about on the record.”

Before that though, you’ve got a big UK tour with a headline show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire…

“What’s going on? I’m gonna have such a crazy existential moment when I’m on that stage, looking at all those people that have come out to see me. It’s going to be really surreal. When we did Brixton Academy with Declan McKenna it was very cool but very scary. I’m just excited for this tour though. We’ve got a lot of things up our sleeves and we’re just gonna have fun with it. If people are expecting serious, theatrical music, I wouldn’t bother coming.”

What do you hope people take from your success?

“I hope it inspires other kids my age to go off and make their own music. When I was younger, I’d listen to people like Rex Orange County and Mac DeMarco and that really inspired me, because they were young and did it themselves. They made me feel like I could give it a go. And yes, I sucked for a while but I kept trying. I’m from a small place in the middle of nowhere and I’ve made a career out of bringing the ideas that float around in my brain to life. It really can happen to anyone. I hope people see that.”

Alfie Templeman – ‘Mellow Moon’

‘Mellow Moon’ is out May 27 via Chess Club Records. Pre-order it here and check out the tracklisting below.

1. ‘A Western’
2. ‘You’re A Liar’
3. ‘Broken’
4. ‘Folding Mountains’
5. ‘3D Feelings’
6. ‘Candyfloss’
7. ‘Best Feeling’
8. ‘Do It’
9. ‘Colour Me Blue’
10. ‘Galaxy’
11. ‘Leaving Today’
12. ‘Take Some Time Away’ 
13. ‘Mellow Moon’
14. ‘Just Below The Above’

Templeman kicks off his UK tour in March, with support in the UK from labelmate Pixy. Check out his full tour dates below.

MARCH

2 – The Cluny, Newcastle
3 – Saint Luke’s, Glasgow
4 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
5 – Gorilla, Manchester
8 – Leadmill, Sheffield
9 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
10 – O2 Institute, Birmingham
11 – Thekla, Bristol
12 – Patterns, Brighton
16 – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, London
18 – The Academy, Dublin
24 – Le Pop Up!, Paris
25 – YUCA, Cologne
26 – Paradiso, Amsterdam
28 – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels
29 – Molotow, Hamburg
30 – Kantine am Berghain, Berlin
31 – Kranhalle, Munich

For help and advice on mental health:

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Harry Styles adds more UK dates to his ‘Love On Tour’ stadium shows

However, the huge demand “exceeded everyone’s expectations”, causing Ticketmaster’s UK ticket outlets to crash.

Just under an hour later, Ticketmaster confirmed that their site was “back up and running”, telling fans that they should contact their customer service team if they were still experiencing problems.

LOVE ON TOUR. NEW DATES ADDED.

EMIRATES OLD TRAFFORD. MANCHESTER, UK. 16 JUNE 2022.
WEMBLEY STADIUM. LONDON, UK. 19 JUNE 2022.

TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY AT 9AM. pic.twitter.com/8URbqpGh2m

— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) January 27, 2022

Now, Styles has added an extra date at Manchester’s Emirates Old Trafford on June 16 and London’s Wembley Stadium on June 19. You can purchase tickets here.

His full list of UK and European tour dates are now as follows:

June
11 – Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, UK 
15 – Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, UK
16 – Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester, UK (new show)
18 – Wembley Stadium, London, UK
19 – Wembley Stadium, London, UK (new show)
22 – Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland 
26 – Volksparkstadion, Hamburg, Germany 
29 – Tele2 Arena, Stockholm, Sweden 

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July
1 – Telenor Arena, Oslo, Norway
3 – Royal Arena, Copenhagen, Denmark
5 – Accor Arena, Paris, France
7 – Sportpaleis, Antwerp, Belgium
9 – Ziggo Dome, Amsterdam, Netherlands
11 – Olympiahalle, Munich, Germany
13 – Budapest Arena, Budapest, Hungary
15 – O2 Arena, Prague, Czech Republic
16 – Stadthalle, Vienna, Austria
18 – Tauron Arena, Krakow, Poland
20 – Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin, Germany
22 – Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany
25 – Unipol Arena, Bologna, Italy
26 – Pala Alpitour, Turin, Italy
29 – WiZink Center, Madrid, Spain
31 – Altice Arena, Lisbon, Portugal

Earlier this month Styles cancelled the Australian and New Zealand dates on his ‘Love On Tour’, citing “the continuing challenges for international touring”.

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Listen to Big Thief’s stipped-back new single, ‘Simulation Swarm’

While the latest release is a staple of the band’s live shows and a fan favourite, the song has never been released previously.

Listen to it below:

“One of the things that bonds us together as a band is pure magic,” lead vocalist Adrianne Lenker said in a statement recently about ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You’.

“I think we all have the same guide and none of us have ever spoken what it is because we couldn’t name it, but somehow, we are all going for the same thing, and when we hit it… we all know it’s it, but none of us to this day, or maybe ever, will be able to articulate in words what the ‘it’ is. Something about it is magic to me.”

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Big Thief will head out on a UK and European tour in 2022 in support of their upcoming new LP. You can see their UK and Ireland dates below.

February 2022
24 – Manchester Academy 1, Manchester
25 – Barrowland, Glasgow
26 – National Stadium, Dublin
27 – O2 Academy Bristol, Bristol

March 2022
2 – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
3 – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
4 – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London

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Watch Parquet Courts debut their new single ‘Watching Strangers Smile’ on ‘Ellen’

The track has been debuted by Parquet Courts during their latest appearance on the Ellen show, which you can watch below.

“Interestingly enough, this song is the B-side to the ‘Black Widow Spider’ single, which was released only in Japan via Big Love Records,” frontman Andrew Savage said in a statement.

“The music was recorded during the sessions for ‘Sympathy For Life’, but it was left unfinished. I recorded the vocals on my own to sort of keep from going stir crazy that first lockdown summer. Apologies to my neighbours for the long afternoon spent screaming these vocals in my bedroom.”

The band also performed the fan-favourite ‘Stoned and Starving’ during their Ellen appearance at the request of the titular host, which will be shared at a later date.

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Parquet Courts will head to the UK and Ireland in June for a string of tour dates, details of which you can see below. Any remaining tickets are available here.

June
8 – Chalk, Brighton
9 – O2 Brixton Academy, London
11 – Helix, Dublin
12 – Albert Hall, Manchester
13 – Stylus, Leeds
15 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
16 – O2 Institute, Birmingham

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Pale Waves’ third album will be released this year

In September last year, the band revealed they were in the studio recording their new album by sharing some behind the scenes photos. One of which was a notebook containing the potential lyrics “Fragile as a feather, can’t afford to break. As I’m getting older, fear I’ll make the same mistakes. Broken around the edges.”

Baron-Gracie then went on to confirm the band had written a new song inspired by Netflix‘s Sex Education by posting a still from the show featuring Otis and Maeve (portrayed by Asa Butterfield and Emma Mackey respectively).

“Wrote a song about their relationship and I guess it ended up on album 3,” she captioned the photo.

Next month, Pale Waves will kick off their tour for second album ‘Who Am I?’. However Martin Rossiter was initially unhappy that one of the support bands were using the same name as his Britpop group Gene.

“Genuine question. What should we do about this?” Rossiter tweeted, sharing a screenshot of the other Gene’s Twitter account which showed he had been blocked by them. “I don’t want to financially screw over any up and coming musicians but they’ve taken our name. They’re on a poster supporting Pale Waves and it feels wrong.”

I asked for people's opinions (which I now regret) and a lot of people have offered valuable advice but to abuse people is just unacceptable especially women in a space which is already hard enough for them to exist in.

— Martin Rossiter (@MartinRossiter) December 5, 2021

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He later followed it up by saying: “I asked for people’s opinions (which I now regret) and a lot of people have offered valuable advice but to abuse people is just unacceptable especially women in a space which is already hard enough for them to exist in.”

Pale Waves will play:

FEBRUARY 2022
11 – O2 Academy Bristol
12 – University Great Hall, Cardiff
13 – Rock City, Nottingham
14 – O2 Academy Birmingham
16 – O2 Academy Bournemouth
17 – O2 Academy Leeds
19 – Limelight, Belfast
20 – Academy, Dublin
21 – O2 Academy Glasgow
23 – O2 Academy Sheffield
25 – O2 Academy Leicester
26 – O2 Academy Oxford
28 – Roundhouse, London

MARCH 2022
1 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester

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Watch Bono sing ‘Running To Stand Still’ at annual Dublin busking event

Bono performed U2’s ‘Running To Stand Still’ for this year’s stream, backed by guitarists, a pianist, a drummer and a violinist. The track was originally released in 1987 as part of the band’s seminal album ‘The Joshua Tree’. Watch it below now – Bono’s performance begins around the 12:16 mark.

Other performers at 2021’s Simon Busk included Hansard, Damien Rice and a rare appearance by Shane MacGowan to play The Pogues’ ‘Dirty Old Town’. You can donate to Simon Community here.

Meanwhile, Bono recently teamed up with Scarlett Johansson for a new version of U2’s classic hit ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’. The Irish musician and the Hollywood star joined forces to record the song together for the movie Sing 2.

Johansson plays Ash the porcupine in the film, while Bono voices a rock star lion named Clay Calloway.

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U2 also contributed a new original song to Sing 2’s official soundtrack. ‘Your Song Saved My Life’ appeared on the tracklist alongside hits including Prince’s ‘Let’s Go Crazy’, The Weeknd’s ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ and Coldplay’s ‘A Sky Full Of Stars’.

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Wolf Alice postpone gigs in Glasgow and Dublin

Tickets will automatically roll over to the rescheduled dates when they’re locked in, however any fans that are unable to make them will be entitled to a refund.

pic.twitter.com/vFvXVB1cVK

— Wolf Alice (@wolfalicemusic) December 24, 2021

At the time of writing, all 15 of the remaining dates on Wolf Alice’s UK tour are on track to go ahead as planned. All but two of them are sold out, with gigs lined up in Newcastle, Norwich, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, London, Southampton, Bexhill On Sea, Birmingham, Plymouth and Bristol. A little over a week later, the band will embark on an equally massive trek throughout Europe.

Amid the gigs will be a slate of festival appearances, with the band set to perform at Reading & Leeds, Best Kept Secret and Tempelhof Sounds, among others. More details on all the shows they’ve got coming up can be found on their website.

Wolf Alice released their third album, ‘Blue Weekend’, back in June via Dirty Hit. In a five-star review, NME’s Rhian Daly called it “the group’s most cohesive listen, [which] keeps intact the restless spirit that makes their work so unpredictable and exciting”.

Wolf Alice previously brought their new record to a tiny show at Kingston venue Pryzm as part of a tour supporting the Music Venue Trust’s Revive Live campaign. Reviewing the show, NME wrote: “What’s impressive is how seamlessly the band shift gears, segueing from tender vulnerability to teeth-baring riffs without missing a beat.”

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Speaking to NME, bassist Theo Ellis said that it was “amazing” to be back out on the road post-COVID restrictions. “There’s such a huge and different community of people that have been affected by [the pandemic] in the music world,” he said. “It’s not just us – it’s all of our crew, all the people who work at these festivals, all the people who work at venues.

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JoJo announces UK and European headline tour for 2022

The news comes after JoJo had planned to embark on a UK and European headline tour this year, but in January cancelled the dates due to coronavirus concerns.

“Performing live is one of my favourite parts of being an artist,” JoJo said in a statement. “It felt so right being back onstage for those dates in October, and I can’t wait to do it on a bigger scale in more cities next year!”

LFG 2022🔥🔥🔥
Presale’s begin tomorrow in select markets. Please check IG story for more details. General on-sale is this Friday, October 29th at 10:00am local time 💙 https://t.co/ny8D1ZwfCW pic.twitter.com/VDCmcau4ua

— JoJo. (@iamjojo) October 25, 2021

Tickets go on sale on Friday (October 29) at 10:00am local time – you can get them here. Take a look at the UK and European dates below.

MAY 2022

3 – The Roundhouse, London, UK
6 – Academy, Dublin, Ireland
9 – O2 Ritz, Manchester, UK
10 – The Garage, Glasgow, UK
12 – Concorde 2, Brighton, UK
13 – O2 Institute, Birmingham, UK
15 – Alhambra, Paris, France
16 – Luxor, Cologne, Germany
18 – Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands
21 – Grelle Forelle, Vienna, Austria
23 – Santeria Toscana 31, Milan, Italy
25 – Lido, Berlin, Germany
27 – DR Concert House, Studio 2, Copenhagen, Denmark
28 – Parkteatret, Oslo, Norway
30 – Fryshuset (Klubben), Stockholm, Sweden

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Back in May 2020, JoJo opened up about the support she received from Taylor Swift during the protracted legal battle she had with her former record label several years ago.

“I was literally being completely silenced,” she explained. “Taylor is in a different position in her career. I was really sidelined, and it was pretty hurtful.”

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IDLES’ Joe Talbot says ‘Ultra Mono’ “translated badly” in the absence of live music

“The album itself was a caricature of what people thought of us and we wanted to kind of twist that up and then burn that effigy so we would start [upcoming fourth album] ‘Crawler’.”

IDLES. CREDIT: Gary Miller/Getty Images

Talbot continued: “We can’t make another ‘Joy’ [As An Act Of Resistance], we can’t make another ‘Ultra Mono’. We just can’t go back. Because we’ve done it. To death.

“We’ve done the biggest loudest most brash big rock album version of ourselves we can and we won’t go back there. We have to move forward.”

As for ‘Crawler’, Talbot explained that the record delves into “the worst years of [his] life but also the best, the most brilliant”. “If you don’t like hearing tales of struggle then you won’t like it,” he added. “But it makes me feel happy because I’m here. I’m alive.”

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Set for release on November 12, IDLES’ fourth studio effort has been previewed with the single ‘The Beachland Ballroom’, which arrived with an accompanying two-part video. The album was co-produced by Kenny Beats and IDLES guitarist Mark Bowen.

IDLES will embark on a UK and Ireland headline tour in early 2022 – you can see the full schedule below.

JANUARY 2022

16 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
17 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
18 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
19 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
21 – Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
22 – O2 Academy, Birmingham
24 – Vicar Street, Dublin
25 – Vicar Street, Dublin
26 – Vicar Street, Dublin
28 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
29 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
30 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester

FEBRUARY 2022

1 – O2 Academy, Sheffield
2 – O2 City Hall, Newcastle
3 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
4 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
5 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow

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Lil Tecca announces 2022 UK and Ireland headline tour

The ‘Tecca Loves You Tour’ will head to North America in February, beginning with a concert in Boston, Massachusetts on February 14. Gigs are also scheduled for Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and other cities.

That leg will conclude with a performance at Terminal 5 in New York City on April 8.

Lil Tecca’s 2022 UK/Ireland tour dates are as follows:

JANUARY 2022
12 – Olympia Theatre, Dublin
14 – O2 Institute, Birmingham
15 – O2 Ritz, Manchester
16 – O2 Forum Kentish Town, London

A deluxe edition of ‘We Love You Tecca 2’ – boasting five new songs – came out last month (September 1).

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Lil Tecca’s music was described as “a hazy smokescreen of trip-hop, skittering beats and wryly-written raps” in the NME 100 list for 2020.

“Tecca’s rap-into-song-into-rap method of autotuned delivery is clearly a creation that appeals to the masses (hello, Post Malone),” the entry added.

“The jittery trap beats which lay the foundation for his raps to bounce off will also keep energy levels high at his live shows.”

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Taking Back Sunday share cover of Weezer’s ‘My Name Is Jonas’

Speaking on their cover, Taking Back Sunday frontman Adam Lazzara told Consequence: “In 2019 we were on tour… a lot! Over time soundcheck got pretty laborious. One day before a show in Cincinnati, OH somebody started playing the opening chords to My Name Is Jonas…

“We all grew up listening to Weezer. Playing this song together was so much fun and broke up the monotony of day to day touring life. We started adding the song to our setlist and recorded it on a day off in Buffalo NY. We love this song and we hope our rendition does it justice.”

You can listen to Taking Back Sunday’s take on ‘My Name Is Jonas’ below:

Taking Back Sunday are due to hit the UK next year for a tour with Alkaline Trio – you can see the dates below.

MARCH 2022

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1 – O2 City Hall, Newcastle 
3 – O2 Academy, Glasgow 
4 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester 
5 – O2 Academy, Birmingham 
6 – O2 Academy Brixton, London 

Weezer will also perform a run of dates in the UK and Ireland next year with Green Day and Fall Out Boy for their Hella Mega Tour – you can see the dates below.

JUNE 2022

24 – London Stadium, London
25 – John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield
27 – Venue TBA, Dublin
29 – Bellahouston Park, Glasgow

Last month, Green Day pranked Weezer by storming on stage in strange costumes at the end of one of the latter’s sets.

The two bands have been touring together with Fall Out Boy for the rescheduled ‘Hella Mega Tour’, and look to be making as much fun as possible about life on the live circuit.

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Cate Le Bon announces new album ‘Pompeii’ with lead track ‘Running Away’

“The subtitle is: You will be forever connected to everything. Which, depending on the time of day, is as comforting as it is terrifying. The sense of finality has always been here. It seems strangely hopeful. Someone is playing with the focus lens.”

She continued: “The world is on fire but the bins must go out on a Tuesday night. Political dissonance meets beauty regimes. I put a groove behind it for something to hold on to. The grief is in the saxophones.”

Le Bon performed every instrument on ‘Pompeii’ (except drums and saxophones) while alone in an “uninterrupted vacuum”. Although she was mostly by herself, the artist was joined by her longtime collaborator/co-producer Samur Khouja for sessions in Cardiff.

An enforced period of downtime due to the coronavirus pandemic resulted in a “more extreme version” of Le Bon’s studio process, making way for a collection of “playful, satirical and surreal” songs.

‘Pompeii’ also features the tracks ‘Dirt On The Bed’, ‘Moderation’ and ‘Wheel’ – check out the full tracklist below.

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1. ‘Dirt On The Bed’
2. ‘Moderation’
3. ‘French Boys’
4. ‘Pompeii’
5. ‘Harbour’
6. ‘Running Away’
7. ‘Cry Me Old Trouble’
8. ‘Remembering Me’
9. ‘Wheel’

Cate Le Bon will take the record out on the road in 2022, with UK and Ireland dates set to kick off in Southampton on March 12. Tickets go on general sale here this Friday (October 15) at 10am BST.

The full schedule is as follows:

March
12 – Engine Rooms, Southampton 
15 – Hackney Empire, London
16 – Albert Hall, Manchester
17 – Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow
18 – Empire Music Hall, Belfast, IE 
19 – The National Concert Hall, Dublin, IE 
21 – UK Arts Club, Liverpool 
22 – Irish Centre, Leeds
23 – The Mill, Birmingham

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IDLES announce new album and share first single ‘The Beachland Ballroom’

The album’s announcement comes alongside the release of its first single, ‘The Beachland Ballroom’, an “honest-to-goodness soul song” named after the iconic Ohio venue.

“It’s the most important song on the album, really,” IDLES frontman Joe Talbot said of the track. “There’s so many bands that go through the small rooms and dream of making it into the big rooms. Being able to write a soul tune like this made me go, fuck — we’re at a place where we’re actually allowed to go to these big rooms and be creative and not just go through the motions and really appreciate what we’ve got.”

He added: “The song is sort of an allegory of feeling lost and getting through it. It’s one that I really love singing.”

Bowen chimed in about the track, adding: “I didn’t know Joe could sing like that. He’s been trying to write ‘Be My Baby’ since the very beginning, but he didn’t want to be the punk guy wearing the Motown clothes. He wanted it to feel natural, and this song is.”

‘CRAWLER’ arrives on November 12 – see the tracklisting below and pre-order it here.

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1. ‘MTT 420 RR’
2. ‘The Wheel’
3. ‘When the Lights Come On’
4. ‘Car Crash’
5. ‘The New Sensation’
6. ‘Stockholm Syndrome’
7. ‘The Beachland Ballroom’
8. ‘Crawl!’
9. ‘Meds’
10. ‘Kelechi’
11. ‘Progress’
12. ‘Wizz’
13. ‘King Snake’
14. ‘The End’

IDLES are gearing up to head out on a sold-out 23-date North American tour that begins on October 7. They will then play a run of sold-out UK and Ireland shows throughout January and February 2022 including a four-night stretch at O2 Academy Brixton in London. See the UK and Ireland dates below:

JANUARY 2022

16 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
17 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
18 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
19 – O2 Academy Brixton, London
21 – Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
22 – O2 Academy, Birmingham
24 – Vicar Street, Dublin
25 – Vicar Street, Dublin
26 – Vicar Street, Dublin
28 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
29 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
30 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester

FEBRUARY 2022

01 – O2 Academy, Sheffield
02 – O2 City Hall, Newcastle
03 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
04 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
05 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow

Meanwhile, IDLES have been announced as one of the main headliners of Creation Day Festival 2022.

The festival is being curated by Creation Records co-founder Alan McGee, and had been set to debut this year before coronavirus-enforced restrictions forced its cancellation.

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The Magic Gang talk “dream” Blossoms tour and reveal plans for new EP

Plans to connect with gig-goers extend to meet and greets, which the band said they are happy to do providing fans feel comfortable enough to step forward following the recent rise in UK COVID rates.

“Whoever’s comfortable and feels safe coming forward to say hello, we’ll be there; that’s just the way we are,” Kaye said. “I don’t think we can shy away from that because when you’re there and it’s happening it feels unnatural to hide away and not say hello to the people that have come to see you.”

Kaye added: “We’re being responsible. We’re testing every morning so we’re doing what we can to be safe.”

The Blossoms tour, which concludes at Manchester’s AO Arena on September 18, will include stops in Leeds, Birmingham, Leicester, with three nights scheduled at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town.

“I think there’s a bit more appreciation for where we’re actually playing because they’re such big venues,” Magic Gang drummer Paeris Giles told NME. “It’s like, wow, we’re playing three nights at Kentish Town Forum and then the big show at Manchester Arena. We feel very grateful to be able to do that.”

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Kaye added: “The idea of playing venues to that many people feels like a dream.”

After the run of Blossoms dates, The Magic Gang will head out on their own UK and Ireland tour in October to support their second album, ‘Death Of The Party’, which was released in August last year. Speaking on the difficulty of not being able to tour the album until now, Kaye said the whole process was tough but that he found joy in other things.

“I find being a musician when you’re not touring is a little tough anyway because you have to maintain a bit of discipline and structure in your day-to-day. Whether you’re writing music consistently or whatever it is, you have to implement your own structure,” he said. “So being in that period for a year and a half was pretty stressful and you do a lot of navel-gazing and thinking about yourself.

“You’ve got to find purpose in other things really. I definitely started to find joy in other day-to-day things.”

Having already played a few pre-tour gigs at Tramlines Festival and Boardmasters Festival, as well as a run of National Lottery funded shows, Kaye said the band’s new material is going down better than he thought it would with the fans.

“When we were rehearsing for these early shows I was a little bit nervous about playing the newer stuff,” he admitted. “I was like, ‘Maybe we should put a few more old ones in there.’ But as soon as we started playing the shows the response was really warm for the new ones. Weirdly they’ve been going off more than the first album, which is really cool.”

To follow on from the album, The Magic Gang have revealed that they’re about to start work on another new project. “We’re writing,” Kaye revealed. “I think the next thing’s gonna be an EP.

“We’ve written loads but what we’re trying to figure out – because pretty much all of us write – is what the sound is going to be moving forward and what we wanna do.

He continued: “So it’s not that we need more time to write, we need more time to figure out what we like about what we’ve already written. So rather than just coming out and doing another album straight away we wanna find our feet a little bit within the band.”

CREDIT: Press

The forthcoming EP will be the band’s fourth and the follow-up to 2017’s ‘EP Three’, which they put out to whet the appetites of fans ahead of their self-titled debut LP. “That was sort of our strategy in order to build a following for the first album – and it worked,” explained Giles.

Asked when they hope to start recording the new EP, Kaye replied: “We’re gonna start in September.”

Blossoms UK tour dates can be seen below. The Magic Gang will support on August 30-31, September 9-15 and 18.

August 2021
30 – Bonus Arena, Hull
31 – O2 Academy, Glasgow

September 2021
2 – Engine Shed, Lincoln
3 – Victoria Hall, Stoke-On-Trent
4 – O2 Academy, Birmingham
7 – Junction, Cambridge
9 – O2 Academy, Leeds
11 – O2 Academy, Newcastle
13 – O2 Forum Kentish Town, London
14 – O2 Forum Kentish Town, London
15 – O2 Forum Kentish Town, London
17 – O2 Academy, Leicester
18 – AO Arena, Manchester

See The Magic Gang’s own upcoming tour dates below. You can get more information and buy tickets here.

October 2021
6 – Academy 2, Dublin, Ireland
7 – Old Fire Station, Carlisle, UK
8 – Arts Club, Liverpool, UK
10 – Tramshed, Cardiff, UK
11 – O2 Academy Oxford, Oxford, UK
12 – The 1865, Southampton, UK
13 – Chalk, Brighton, Brighton, UK
14 – Rock City, Nottingham, UK
15 – Gloucester Guildhall, Gloucester, UK
17 – O2 Institute2 Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
18 – Riverside, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
19 – Beat Generator, Dundee, UK
20 – The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, UK
21 – SWG3, Glasgow, UK
22 – Waterfront, Norwich, UK
24 – Leadmill, Sheffield, UK
25 – O2 Ritz Manchester, Manchester, UK
26 – London EartH, London, UK

In a four-star review of ‘Death Of The Party’, NME‘s Will Richards wrote: “Here The Magic Gang have acted on pure instinct and feeling. This is an album that, despite its recognition of the downside of things, ends up as a more reassuring – and more real – listen than their debut. With its collage of genres and refusal to co-opt modern trends, album two finds the band moving towards something timeless.”

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Haim postpone UK tour due to COVID travel restrictions

As per an official updated poster, Georgia will fulfil her previously announced “special guest” slot on next year’s tour. An extra date for Dublin has also been added for June 28 as part of the city’s Trinity Summer Series.

“We can’t wait to bring wimpiii to the stage and we’re going to go even harder as soon as we’re allowed to play for you!!!” Haim wrote on Instagram. “Until then, everybody stay safe and we love you.”

You can see the band’s announcement and the full list of concerts below.

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A post shared by HAIM (@haimtheband)

June
28 – Trinity College, Dublin

July
13 – Millennium Square, Leeds
14 – SSE Hydro, Glasgow
16 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
17 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
19 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
20 – Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
21 – The O2 Arena, London

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Next month’s shows would have seen Haim showcase their acclaimed third album ‘Women In Music Pt. III’, which came out in June 2020, to UK audiences for the very first time.

The sisters have, however, appeared in various live-streamed settings over the course of the pandemic – including on Glastonbury’s Live At Worthy Farm, which was broadcast back in May.

Reviewing the show, NME wrote: “[Haim played] a gorgeous sunset slot and mark the long-awaited live debut of their huge level-up of a third album, ‘Women In Music Pt. III’. From ‘Summer Girl’ to ‘Don’t Wanna’, Haim’s newest songs feel tailor-made for sunset on the Pyramid Stage, a setting that will surely await them at – fingers crossed – a full-scale Glastonbury in 2022.”

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The Offspring take on James Corden by launching ‘Cockpit Karaoke’

“Since I’m a pilot, we thought it would be great if Noodles and I had some fun and got to sing along to some of our many hits.”

You can watch the first ‘Cockpit Karaoke’ clip below:

The Offspring are scheduled to head out on a UK and Ireland arena tour this November, with The Hives set to support.

The veteran band will hit the road in support of their latest album ‘Let The Bad Times Roll’, which was released on April 16. The tour will visit Dublin, Cardiff, Birmingham, London, Glasgow, Manchester and Leeds. You can see the full list of dates below.

November 2021
21 – 3Arena, Dublin
23 – Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
24 – Resorts World Arena, Birmingham
26 – The SSE Wembley Arena, London
27 – The SSE Hydro, Glasgow
29 – AO Arena, Manchester
30 – First Direct Arena, Leeds

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You can get tickets for the tour here.

Meanwhile, new footage has emerged of the Friends cast performing the sitcom’s famous theme tune in Friends: The Reunion on James Corden’s ‘Carpool Karaoke’.

The clip featured as part of the full Late Late Show segment with James Corden but never made the final cut in the show’s recent comeback on HBO Max in May.

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Chartreuse announce new EP, ‘Is It Autumn Already?’

1. ‘Feed Be Fed’
2. ‘Things Are Changing Too Quickly’
3. ‘Swedish Water’
4. ‘Don’t Exit’
5. ‘Deep Fat’
6. ‘Only You’

Due to arrive on November 19, the EP is previewed by new single ‘Things Are Changing Too Quickly’. The poignant, mid-tempo indie toe-tapper is accompanied by a Fred Qvortrup-directed video – watch it below.

Made up of Hattie Wilson, Mike Wagstaff, Rory Wagstaff and Perry Lovering, Chartreuse have also announced a mini headline tour which will take place after a run of festival performances.

Kicking off at The Lexington in London on November 30, the tour will take in Green Door Store in Brighton, The Cluny in Newcastle, Birmingham’s Hare & Hounds and finishing up in Dublin on December 7. You can buy tickets here.

See the full list of Charteuse’s upcoming live dates below:

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SEPTMEBER 2021

25 – Dot To Dot Festival, Bristol
26 – Dot To Dot Festival, Nottingham

OCTOBER 2021

16 – Live at Leeds
17 – Wild Paths Festival, Norwich

NOVEMBER 2021

13 – Stag and Dagger Festival, Glasgow
14 – Stag and Dagger Festival, Edinburgh
30 – The Lexington, London
29 – Green Door Store, Brighton

DECEMBER 2021

1 – The Cluny, Newcastle
3 – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham
7 – Upstairs at Whelan’s, Dublin

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Watch Holly Humberstone debut new track ‘Please Don’t Leave Just Yet’

“One of the biggest crowds of the weekend AND @HolHumberstone debuted a new track ‘Please Don’t Leave Just Yet!’ Such a treat,” Tramlines tweeted, sharing a clip of Humberstone’s performance.

One of the biggest crowds of the weekend AND @HolHumberstone debuted a new track ‘Please Don’t Leave Just Yet!' Such a treat ❤️ pic.twitter.com/pAlexorRkR

— Tramlines Festival (@tramlines) July 25, 2021

The new song is set to appear on Humberstone’s forthcoming new EP, which she first mentioned when previously she spoke about ‘Please Don’t Leave Just Yet’ during an appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden.

Rumours of the track first surfaced back in February after the song was registered with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Humberstone will head out on a UK and Ireland headline tour later this year, taking place in October and November. The tour includes a number of gigs that have been rescheduled, including stops in Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff and Nottingham.

You can see details of Humberstone’s upcoming headline tour dates below.

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AUGUST, 2021
15 – Omeara, London (SOLD OUT)
16 – Omeara, London (SOLD OUT)
17 – Omeara, London (SOLD OUT)
18 – Omeara, London (SOLD OUT)

OCTOBER, 2021
26 – The Cluny, Newcastle Upon Tyne
27 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds [rescheduled]
28 – Yes (The Pink Room), Manchester (SOLD OUT) [rescheduled]
30 – Whelan’s, Dublin
31 – Oh Yeah Music Centre, Belfast

NOVEMBER, 2021
2 – King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow [rescheduled]
3 – O2 Institute 3, Birmingham
4 – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff (SOLD OUT) [rescheduled]
8 – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
10 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham [rescheduled]

Humberstone has also been announced on the bumper line-up for Primavera Sound Festival 2022.

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Listen to Connie Constance’s upbeat new single ‘Prim & Propa’

“It’s about looking at that big white house and the perfect grass and saying ‘Yeah, nah, not for me, mate – not without my people enjoying it with me’.

“It’s an anthem for everyone that feels betrayed and let down by this country,” she continued. “It’s for the single parents, the people that work their arses off every single day and can barely get their head above water.

“It’s a reminder that we’ve got what’s important right here with us: ‘When you want more then look around, if you’ve got love you know you’re good / Cause when the grass is greener, the people are meaner.”

Constance will embark on a UK and Ireland headline tour this September in support of her ‘Prim & Propa’ EP – see the full schedule below.

September
23 – The Louisiana, Bristol
24 – Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh
28 – Oslo, London
29 – YES, Manchester
30 – Workmens Club, Dublin

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Back in March, Connie Constance performed as part of the virtual SXSW 2021. Reviewing her set, NME wrote: “[Her] eclectic, conversational pop can switch between the quivering, quiet power of ‘WOAH’ and the swaggering disco-punk belter of ‘Monty Python’ with ease.

“Constance’s set is a frustratingly brief display of her energetic, personality-driven tunes – but she does a fine job of making the format work for her.”

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Listen to Everything Everything’s stark new song ‘Mercury & Me’

The ‘Mercury & Me’ video was created by Everything Everything frontman Jonathan Higgs. Describing the process of creating the visual, he said: “The video was made in 3D using motion capture, and was my first attempt at capturing a live performance and recreating it in software. I tried to make an atmosphere that reflected the starkness of the song.”

Check it out below.

Alongside releasing ‘Supernormal’ earlier this year, Everything Everything also shared details of new UK tour dates for 2022, rescheduling their planned spring 2021 UK and Ireland tour by a year.

See the new dates below.

MARCH 2022
30 – Tramshed, Cardiff
31 – Rock City, Nottingham

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APRIL 2022
1 – O2 Academy Leeds
2 – Newcastle University
4 – SWG3 Galvanisers, Glasgow
5 – O2 Academy Liverpool
7 – Waterfront, Norwich
8 – Manchester Academy
9 – O2 Academy Birmingham
11 – O2 Academy Bristol
12 – Brighton Dome
13 – The Roundhouse, London
16 – Academy, Dublin

In a four-star review of 2020’s ‘Re-Animator’, NME wrote: “On the surprisingly huge Manchester band’s fifth album, frontman Jonathan Higgs channels his inner Thom Yorke, and writes the biggest song of his career.”

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Watch Sports Team’s ‘Wicker Man’-themed video for new single ‘Happy (God’s Own Country)’

Speaking about the track, the group added: “We recorded this at the end of last year at a time when it was hard not to feel exhausted by the scale of insincerity everywhere.

“It’s a sort of Cold War Steve collage, a cut and paste diorama of cronyism, cottagecore and window-dressed Toryism, with the frustrated energy of live performance without a stage.”

Last month, the group announced details of a new B-sides and rarities vinyl being sold exclusively through independent retailers.

‘Plant Test’ features music from 2016 to 2021, including unmastered new material following on from the band’s 2020 debut album ‘Deep Down Happy’. ‘Happy (God’s Own Country)’ is the first song taken from the project and their first new music since the release of their first album.

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The group also announced details of their rescheduled tour dates, which will take place across the UK and Ireland this October and November. You can see a full list of the ‘Red Hot Rock Show’ dates below.

Sports Team Rescheduled Tour Dates 2021

OCTOBER
1 – O2 Academy, Liverpool
2 – Manchester Academy, Manchester
26 – SWG3, Glasgow

NOVEMBER
17 – Rock City, Nottingham
18 – Leeds University Stylus, Leeds
21 – Whelan’s, Dublin
23 – SWX, Bristol
25 – O2 Academy Brixton, London

Reviewing the band’s debut LP, NME wrote: “You can find Rice and his sidekick Rob Knaggs either charmingly or irritatingly gobby, and the joy lies in the tribalism that’s inherent to Sports Team’s approach.

“After a listen of ‘Deep Down Happy’, you’re left in absolutely no doubt as to what the six-piece stand against and this unabashed straightforwardness and refusal to bend makes them a unique prospect.”

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Snoop Dogg shares new single ‘CEO’ and reschedules UK and Ireland tour

The rescheduled tour also includes a new date and will now see Snoop visiting Killarney, County Kerry in Ireland. Tickets for this event go on sale at 9am on March 31.

You can listen to Snoop’s new track and see all tour dates below:

Snoop Dogg 2022 Tour Dates 

MARCH
2 – SSE Hydro, Glasgow
3 – Resorts World Arena, Birmingham
5 – AO Arena, Manchester
7 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
8 – O2 Arena, Leeds
9 – 3Arena, Dublin
11 – INEC Arena, Kerry
12 – SSE Arena, Belfast

Last week, it was revealed that Snoop, Ice Cube, Too Short, and E-40 have launched a hip-hop supergroup of dreams, called Mt. Westmore.

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The four rappers are reportedly set to release their debut album next month, with more “volumes” coming in the future.

“We have recorded somewhere in the neighbourhood of 50 songs. Volume 1 will be released in April and the rest of the volumes will follow,” Too $hort told DJ Vlad in a recent interview, formally announcing the project.

“At the age we’re at is a good time to do a thing like this and kind of extend your career a bit in a different way… The minute we join forces, we get a handful of new business opportunities that none of us would’ve had.”

Back in February, Snoop spoke about who he’d like to play him if a biopic of his life was ever made.

Speaking to AP Entertainment, Snoop said: “There’s so many dope actors that have graced the screen and there’s so many dope actors that have yet to grace the screen.

“I don’t know who could play me. It would have to be someone who could win me over.

“When I think of someone playing you, I think of how Jamie Foxx played Ray [Charles in the 2004 biopic Ray]. That was, like, spot on,” he continued.

Anwan Glover (Notorious, 2009), LaKeith Stanfield (Straight Outta Compton, 2015) and Jarrett Ellis (All Eyez on Me, 2017) have all portrayed Snoop on the big screen in the past.

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Watch Arab Strap’s disturbing video for new single ‘Here Comes Comus!’

“It takes place in a pub, a club, and city alleyways, all the places I’d hoped we’d be able to enjoy again by now – but it’s been so long since I’ve had a big night out that listening to it now seems almost nostalgic,” the musician added, referencing the impact the coronavirus crisis has had on nightlife.

“He still pops round to see me at home now and again, but I know he’s holding back and planning for the future, and one day soon we’ll dance again.”

‘Here Comes Comus!’ is accompanied by a dark official video, which was directed by Bryan M. Ferguson and explores the song’s themes of overindulgence.

“When I first heard Aidan’s lyrics on the track, my mind was quickly flung into a murky pit of complete debauchery,” Ferguson explained. “And I really wanted the video to be a story of excess to match not just the lyrics but the whole mythology of Comus being the rebellious god of festivity who pretty much represents anarchy and chaos.”

Upon the announcement of ‘As Days Get Dark’, Moffat revealed that the record is “about hopelessness and darkness. But in a fun way.”

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He added: “It’s definitely Arab Strap, but an older and wiser one, and quite probably a better one.”

Arab Strap are due to embark on a UK headline tour this September. At the time of writing, the dates remain unaffected by the current lockdown restrictions – you can see the schedule below.

September 2021
4 – Manchester Academy 2, Manchester
5 – Dublin Vicar St, Dublin
6 – The Mill, Birmingham
7 – SWX, Bristol
8 – Electric Ballroom, London
9 – Boiler Shop, Newcastle upon Tyne
10 – Barrowland Ballroom Glasgow

 

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