One of the few music stars to be his own cockney rhyming slang, James Blunt has announced an arena tour for early October.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (29th February) at 9am.

Friday 3rd October - Cardiff International Arena
Saturday 4th October - Sheffield Arena
Monday 6th October - Nottingham Arena
Tuesday 7th October - Birmingham National Indoor Arena
Wednesday 8th October - Manchester Evening News Arena
Friday 10th October - Glasgow SECC
Saturday 11th October - Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre
Monday 13th October - Newcastle Arena
Tuesday 14th October - London O2 Arena

I’ll be honest: I don’t know much about Royworld other than their immensly catchy single “Man in the Machine”. However, they’ve announced a country wide jaunt in May, so be sure to see what they can come up wit, and to make sure they’re not just a one hit wonder, by going along to one of their shows.

Tickets for the below dates go on sale on Wednesday (27th February) at 9am. Catch them at:

Saturday 3rd May - Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach
Monday 5th May - Birmingham Bar Academy
Tuesday 13th May - Manchester Night & Day
Thursday 15th May - Norwich Arts Centre
Monday 19th May - London Borderline

New Yorkers Vampire Weekend have announced a string of dates for May ahead of going off on the festival circuit.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (29th February) at 9am.

Thursday 1st May - Bristol Bierkeller
Friday 2nd May - Birmingham Carling Academy 2
Saturday 3rd May - Edinburgh Liquid Rooms
Sunday 4th May - Glasgow Oran Mor
Tuesday 6th May - Newcastle Northumbria University
Wednesday 7th May - Leeds Cockpit
Thursday 8th May - Manchester University
Monday 12th May - Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
Tuesday 13th May - London Electric Ballroom

Los Campesinos! have announced a gruelling tour that sees them play 11 shows in 11 days in the middle of April.

Their debut album, Hold On Now, Youngster, is released today, so tickets are sure to go soon.

Most dates are on sale now from the local box office.

Thursday 10th April - Cardiff Solus
Friday 11th April - Tunbirdge Wells Forum (underage matinee)
Friday 11th April - Tunbrige Wells Forum (18+)
Saturday 12th April - London LSE Afterskoolclub
Sunday 13th April - Norwich Waterfront
Monday 14th April - London Brixton Windmill
Wednesday 16th April - Hereford Jailhouse
Thursday 17th April - Bradford St Georges Hall
Friday 18th April - London Camden Crawl
Saturday 19th April - London Camden Crawl
Sunday 20th April - London Hoxton Bar and Grill

R.E.M.’s UK live return is imminent finally, with the US threesome playing four massive UK stadium dates throughout August. Their new album, Accelerate comes out in about April, and they’ll then be touring the US and Europe extensively before coming over to the UK, following on from their massive 2005 Hyde Park show.

I’ll be going to at least one of the tour dates, though which one I don’t know - seeing them live shows that REM still have it.

Tickets for the four dates are on sale on Friday (29th February) at 9am as usual.

Saturday 24th August - Manchester, Lancashire County Cricket Club
Sunday 25th August - Cardiff, Millennium Stadium
Tuesday 27th August - Southampton, Rosebowl
Friday 30th August - London, Twickenham Stadium

We all love the Summer Sundae festival in Leicester. You know, the one that has helped to give a leg up to such bands as Hot Chip, Jamie T, The Young Knives and Kasabian. Well, as a warm up to this year’s festival (taking place on 8th - 10th August at DeMontfort Hall) the festival organisers are holding a special evening at the intimate Firebug venue in Leicester next Saturday, 1st March.

“A Taste of Summer Sundae” will see Envy and Other Sins headline, supported by Johnny Foreigner, Tired Irie and my current favourite band, Kyte.

Tickets are on sale now from Tickets Portal at the tiny price of just £2 each (plus the usual booking fees). If only I lived a bit closer to Leicester….

Already a shoe-in for me for gig of 2008, Tom McRae has announced that he’s bringing the artistes of Hotel Cafe to the UK once again in April. The Essex singer-songwriter did it in 2006, and is coming back to play bigger venues, more dates, with more stars from the legendary Los Angeles venue. Catherine Feeny, Brian Wright, Jim Bianco, Cary Brothers, and Greg Laswell are all playing the shows, along with the usual cast of “extras”, special guests and big name stars.

Tickets are on sale now, priced at £15 each. There are two London shows, but at the moment the second one hasn’t been put on sale yet, and I’m not sure when it will be. Catch me down the front at the first London date.

Thursday 17th April - Ireland (venue to be confirmed)
Friday 18th April - Ireland (venue to be confirmed)
Sunday 20th April - Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Monday 21st April - Leeds, Cockpit
Tuesday 22nd April - Manchester Club Academy
Thursday 24th April - Glasgow, Oran Mor
Friday 25th April - Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire,
Saturday 26th April - Birmingham Barfly,
Monday 28th April - Bristol Thekla
Tuesday 29th April - Brighton, Concorde 2
Wednesday 30th April - London Kings College
Saturday 17th May - London Kings College

Cat Power has announced four dates in June around England, following on from her rise to fame in recent months, in part to her appearance on the Juno soundtrack.

Tickets to see Chan Marshall go on sale tomorrow, Wednesday 20th February, at 9am.

Sunday 8th June - London Hammersmith Apollo
Monday 9th June - Bristol Colston Hall
Tuesday 10th June - Birmingham Academy
Wednesday 11th June - Manchester Academy

The Charlatans have announced a May UK tour, following their announcement of their Forest show in June. Some of the few of the brit-pop era to make it through to the 00’s and still be successful, this jaunt will probably accompany some new material. (Does that sound halfway believable?)

Tickets go on sale on Friday (22nd February) at 9am.

Saturday 10th May - Leicester Leicester University
Sunday 11th May - Liverpool Carling Academy
Monday 12th May - Oxford Carling Academy
Tuesday 13th May - Bristol Carling Academy
Thursday 15th May - London Forum
Friday 16th May - Southampton Guildhall
Saturday 17th May - Lincoln Engine Shed
Monday 19th May - Aberdeen Music Hall
Tuesday 10th May - Glasgow Carling Academy
Thursday 22nd May - Newcastle Carling Academy
Friday 23rd May - Sheffield Carling Academy
Saturday 24th May - Manchester Academy

Fresh from playing the NME Shockwaves tour, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong have announced a massive 25 date UK tour for April and May.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, 22nd February at 9am. Catch them at:

Monday 21st April - Hull Asylum
Tuesday 22nd April - Loughborough Room 1
Thursday 24th April - Reading University
Friday 25th April - Coventry Warwick Marketplace
Sunday 27th April - Bournemouth Old Fire Station
Monday 28th April - Guildford Surrey Rubix
Thursday 1st May - Stoke Underground
Friday 2nd May - Coventry Kasbah
Saturday 3rd May - Tamworth Palace
Monday 5th May - Liverpool Academy 2
Tuesday 6th May -Newcastle Academy 2
Thursday 8th May - Aberdeen Tunnels
Friday 9th May - Glasgow King Tuts
Saturday 10th May -Bristol Thekla
Monday 12th May - Preston 53 Degrees
Tuesday 13th May - Oxford Academy
Wednesday 14th May - Leeds Cockpit
Thursday 15th May - Manchester Academy 3
Saturday 17th May - Sheffield Leadmill
Sunday 18th May - Birmingham Academy 2
Monday 19th May - Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Tuesday 20th May - Brighton Concorde 2
Thursday 22nd May - London Scala
Sunday 25th May - Portmouth Wedgewood Rooms
Tuesday 27th May - Norwich Waterfront

Photo is taken from Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong’s myspace page and is copyright Dan Curwin.