Indie bed wetters Athlete have announced a quick five night small UK tourfor mid September as they roadtest some new material.

Tickets are on sale now from the local venue box offices.

Wednesday 10th September - Bedford Esquires
Thursday 11th September - Tunbridge Wells The Forum
Friday 12th September - Hertford Marquee
Saturday 13th September - Aldershot West End Centre
Sunday 14th September - Colchester Arts Centre

Do you like moany mope “rock”? Then you’ll be pleased to hear that Athlete are doing a new tour early next year!

(I’m aware to some it may seem incredibly stupid that I’m loving Air Traffic and hating Athlete - I just think Air Traffic have more exciting tunes than Athlete these days)

Tickets go on sale for this tour at 9am on Friday (16th November)

Thursday 17th January - Exeter University
Friday 18th January - Oxford Carling Academy
Saturday 19th January - London Roundhouse
Sunday 20th January - Cardiff University
Tuesday 22nd January - Leicester University
Wednesday 23rd January - Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
Thursday 24th January - Warrington Parr Hall
Friday 25th January - Hull University
Sunday 27th January - Aberdeen Music Hall
Monday 28th January - Sheffield Plug
Wednesday 30th January - Ipswich Regent Theatre
Thursday 31st January - Bath Pavilion
Friday 1st February - Reading Hexagon
Sunday 3rd February - Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall
Monday 4th February - Brighton Dome
Tuesday 5th February - Cambridge Corn Exchange

Looking for the 2008 Mencap Gigs? Click here. This page is about 2007’s Mencap Gigs!

Updates: I’ve just added the 20th November gig and the 26th November gigs, thanks to a comment from Kathryn below. This was originally posted on 4th October.

The brilliant Mencap have announced this year’s “Little Noise Sessions”, a series of intimate, acoustic gigs, which will take place from Tuesday 20th November to Wednesday 28 November 2007, at Islington’s Union Chapel in London. They’ll be hosted by Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley.

To get tickets you’ll have to register here to get tickets when they go on sale. Ticket registration opens on Tuesday 2 October and closes at 12.00 Friday 19 October. Those who have registered can then buy tickets online on a first-come-first-served basis from 9am on Monday 22 October. Tickets are £35 each.

The gigs will raise money for Mencap’s Arts Awards scheme which enables children and young people with a learning disability to take part in local arts projects.

Tuesday 20th November - Secret Headliner, Jack Penate, Laura Marling, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong
Wednesday 21st November - Athlete and The Hoosiers
Thursday 22nd November - Will Young, Newton Faulkner and Adele
Friday 23rd November - Biffy Clyro, We Are Scientists and Young Knives
Saturday 24th November - The Pigeon Detectives and The Metros
Sunday 25th November - Snow Patrol and Cajun Dance Party
Monday 26th November - Kate Nash, Robyn, The Ting Tings
Tuesday 27th November - The Enemy + Special Guests
Wednesday 28th November - Keane, Rilo Kiley + Scouting For Girls

One of Manchester’s finest rising stars, The Courteeners have announced details of a special one off hometown show for Christmas.

They’ll play the Manchester Ritz on Thursday 13th December.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (12th October) at 9am.

The band are also set to release their new single ‘Acrylic’ on October 22.

Athlete have announced a quick three date tour of very intimate venues, with no tickets available online, only from the listed record shops beside each date. This is the celebrate their new album “Beyond the Neighbourhood”, which is out on Monday 3rd September.

These dates are sure to sell out quickly, so get your tickets now!

Monday 3rd September - Leeds, The Wardrobe, 6 St Peters Square (Tickets are available from Jumbo, Crash and Virgin and HMV, all in Leeds centre)
Tuesday 4th September - Liverpool, Alma De Cuba, St Peters Church, Seel Street (Tickets are available from Quirks Records, Ormskirk, Action Records Preston, Virgin and HMV Liverpool)
Thursday 6th September - Birmingham, The Factory Club, Custard Factory, Gibb Street (Tickets are available from Swordfish records, Virgin and HMV Birmingham)

Next week’s Tiscali Showcase at Soho Revue Bar will be headlined by Athlete, with support coming from fast, angular Parka and Eugene McGuinness who sounds distinctly like a distinctly wacky Air Traffic, or a slowed down stoned Architecture In Helsinki. They’ll all play the Soho Revue Bar next Thursday, 16th August.

Tickets at £8.50 each are available here to over 18’s only unfortunately. Doors are at 8:45pm.

Photo is taken from Narisa’s flickr stream under the Creative Commons License

Athlete have announced that they will be playing a “secret” low key gig in South East London next Thursday, 5th July. Apparently the venue is easily accessibly by bus, DLR and British Rail. Full details of the location of the gig will be sent out with the tickets a few days before the event.

200 tickets will be available from their official website at 9am tomorrow (Tuesday 26th June).

Photo is taken from Narisa’s flickr stream

Those lovely people at iTunes have set up their own “festival” in the centre of London to take place at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) throughout July, with a raft of the best in current bands playing each night.

iTunes will be recording each of the shows and are planning to make songs from the shows available via their music shop. The ICA holds about 350 people, making the shows exceptionally intimate.

The bands include, in date order:

Mika supported by Leon Jean-Marie (1)
Crowded House supported by Justin Nozuka (2)
Travis supported by The Hoosiers (3)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club supported by Nine Black Alps (4)
Groove Armada supported by Mutya Buena and Beardyman (7)
Ash supported by Ben’s Brother (8)
The View (9)
Imogen Heap supported by James Wolff (10)
Editors supported by GoodBooks (11)
Scott Matthews (12)
Athlete supported by Tiny Dancers (13)
Paolo Nutini (14)
Gianna Nannini (15)
Ludovico Einaudi supported by Dhafer Youssef (16)
The Bad Plus supported by Rebekka Bakken (17)
The Pigeon Detectives supported by The Rakes (18)
Beverley Knight supported by Raul Midón (19)
Stereophonics supported by Little Man Tate (20)
Jamie Scott & The Town (21)
Wir Sind Helden (23)
Amy Winehouse supported by The Rumble Strips and Remi Nicole (25)
Just Jack supported by Mr Hudson & The Library (26)
Jack Penate (27)
The Maccabees supported by Goldspot (28)
Duke Special supported by Tom McRae (29)
The Coral supported by Candie Payne (30)

Tickets will be given away free via radio, TV stations and band and fan websites. The specific details of which will be announced soon. Some tickets are already available from the itunes festival website.

Photo taken from Mteson’s flickr stream.

The first of this week’s on sales have been announced, with The Twang, Klaxons and Athlete all announcing dates that are on sale on Friday morning at 9am, with the exception of The Twang, which are on sale at 9am on Thursday (apparently). Expect them all to sell out very quickly.

One of my favourite bands of the moment, those Brum lads The Twang, are off on their biggest tour to date. They play:

Newcastle Carling Academy - Monday 8 October
Middlesbrough Town Hall - Thursday 11 October
Liverpool University - Friday 12 October
Sheffield Octagon - Sunday 14 October
Manchester Academy - Monday 15 October
Preston Uni 53 Degrees - Tuesday 16 October
Loughborough University - Thursday 18 October
Leeds University - Saturday 20 October
Birmingham Carling Academy - Thursday 25 October
London Brixton Academy - Friday 26 October
Exter University - Wednesday 31 October

Everyone’s favourite psychedelic lovers, Klaxons, are on tour. They play:

Manchester Apollo - Monday 26 November
Newcastle Carling Academy - Wednesday 28 November
Leeds University Union - Saturday 1 December
Birmingham Carling Academy - Tuesday 4 December
Brixton Academy London - Wednesday 5 December

London pansies Athlete have announced a pretty major tour, covering most of the UK in the first half of October this year.

Nottingham Rock City - Tuesday 2 October
Leeds University - Wednesday 3 October
Birmingham Carling Academy - Thursday 4 October
Newcastle Carling Academy - Sunday 7 October
Bristol Carling Academy - Monday 8 October
Southampton Guildhall - Wednesday 10 October
London Shepherds Bush Empire - Thursday 11 October
London Shepherds Bush Empire - Friday 12 October
Manchester Carling Academy - Sunday 14 October
Liverpool Carling Academy - Monday 15 October
Norwich UEA - Wednesday 17 October
Lincoln Engine Shed - Thursday 18 October

Photo of Klaxons taken from Daniel Heaf’s flickr stream