Times seem to be hard, as the number of tours and shows being announced at the moment seems to have dwindled rather a lot in the past week or so. Scary stuff, but hopefully times will pick up soon.

Meanwhile one band that almost certainly won’t be feeling the pinch is Take That who have just announced a sizeable tour of stadiums next summer. Called “The Circus - Live”, it reportedly “promises to be the bands most visually dramatic, diverse and exhilarating tour yet”, and is named after their new album, “The Circus”, which is out on 1st December.

So that should keep some screaming mums busy for the summer months!

Tickets are priced between £45 and £55 each and are on sale on Friday (31st October) at 9am.

Saturday 6th June 2009 - Sunderland Stadium of Light
Tuesday 16th June 2009 - Cardiff Millennium Stadium
Saturday 20th June 2009 - Glasgow Hampden Park
Friday 26th June 2009 - Manchester Old Trafford Cricket Ground
Saturday 27th June 2009 - Manchester Old Trafford Cricket Ground
Sunday 28th June 2009 - Manchester Old Trafford Cricket Ground
Friday 3rd July 2009 - Wembley Stadium
Saturday 4th July 2009 - Wembley Stadium

Punchy melodies coupled with infectious lyrics are bound to make Farewell a hit in the UK; especially with fans of Cute Is What We Aim For and Say Anything. Originating from North Carolina, Farewell are here to take the UK by storm with their debut tour, supporting none other than YouMeAtSix.

The tour will also help to promote their first album: “Isn’t This Supposed To Be Fun?” released earlier this year. The album contains 13 full length tracks of power pop goodness. It bears reminiscence to Motion City Soundtrack with the occasional negativity in the lyrics; but when coupled with the lively guitar and keyboard melodies, it turns it into what every screaming teenage girl loves: a fabulous collection of catchy tunes they can sing along to.

The album opens with “Start it Up”, a song that’s guaranteed to push away any flickers of doubts about the band, and pull in every power pop lover to listen further. Lead singer, Marshall Davies, brings this song, along with the others, the right edge to match the lyrics to the catchy tunes bound to make every teenager want to get up and move.

Stand out tracks on the album include “War”, “September Brought the Fall”, “Hey Heather” and up-coming single “Eighty-Eights” released 20th October.

This 5 piece band from America are definitely a band to keep your eye on, and in for big things over here if they can give as good a performance on stage as they do on their record.

You can catch Farewell supporting YouMeAtSix at the below tour dates:

Wednesday 15th October - Middlesbrough Empire
Thursday 16th October - Norwich Waterfront
Friday 17th October - Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Saturday 18th October - Wolverhampton Wulfrun
Sunday 19th October - Northampton Roadmender
Tuesday 21st October - Leeds Met University
Wednesday 22nd October - Glasgow ABC1
Thursday 23rd October - Manchester Academy 2
Friday 24th October - Liverpool Carling Academy
Saturday 25th October - Southampton University
Sunday 26th October - Oxford Carling Academy
Monday 27th October - London Astoria
Tuesday 28th October - Cardiff Solus
Wednesday 29th October - Brighton Komedia
Thursday 30th October - Exeter Phoenix

The only band to have a frontman who can give Johnny Borrell a run for his money in the irritating self-important front man league, Snow Patrol, have announced a unique 48 hour tour around the UK and Ireland around release day of their new album, A Hundred Million Suns which is out on Monday 27th October.

The ‘Take Back The Cities Tour’ will see the band play four capital cities across the UK and Ireland in a 48 hour period stopping off in Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh and London.

Tickets for these shows are priced £22.50, and due to the intimate nature of the events are available exclusively to members of their fan club via a lottery draw. Each lucky ticket holder will also get an exclusive free Live CD of the show they attend, picking up an artworked CD on the night, which will contain details of how to download highlights of the show the next day.

Sunday 26th October - Dublin Gate Theatre (Lunchtime show)
Sunday 26th October - Belfast Empire (Evening show)
Monday 27th October - Edinburgh Assembly Rooms (Midday show)
Monday 27th October - London Bloomsbury Theatre (Evening show)

I’ll be honest… my knowledge of Israeli rock singer-songwriters is lacking at best.

However when I got a press release earlier today introducing me to Aviv Geffen, I was intrigued - he’s got over 14 albums released over 15 years, and seems to be rather a big deal in the Middle East.

And now he’s coming to the UK.

He’s playing an exclusive London gig on 10th of October at London’s Roundhouse in preparation for releasing a single and album in the UK for the first time.

In the same press release, the F-Gen competition was announced, which sees Aviv opening the doors for video directors, stylists and artists to completely design the look and feel for the upcoming video’s, artwork and tour costumes ahead of a full UK tour and single release next year reportedly.

So, if you fancy something a bit different why not pop on down to London’s Roundhouse to catch Aviv next Friday… tickets are £8 each from the Roundhouse Box Office.

We all know that I have a love for a lot of shoegazy stuff at the moment, with stuff like Kyte, Sigur Ros and Trespassers William having all perked up my ears in recent times.

Now there’s a new one to add to the list - Manchester’s Spokes, a fivesome who make one hell of a beautiful noise that draws from the likes of Sigur Ros, Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire - all amazing bands in their own right.

“The emotional intensity and waves of melody heard in their songs sound like they come as naturally to the band as breathing.” (Drowned In Sound)

“Spokes were next and could well be my new favourite band. This 5-piece had me absorbed from the second they stepped on stage to the second they finished. With all the vigour and natural emotion of say, a temperate Broken Social Scene, their poignant waves of unassuming melody and up-tempo variation was captivating.” (Narc Magazine)

They’re off on a pretty sizeable tour in November, stopping off at some of the murkier venues in our country, but none the less if they’re playing at a venue near you be sure to stop off and take in their beautiful music - tickets for the below dates are on sale now from the local venues. So why not download the free MP3 below, and then pop out to see them to warm up a November evening?

MP3: Spokes - Young People All Together

Thursday 6th November - Darlington Forum
Friday 7th November - Halifax Royal Oak
Saturday 8th November - Newcastle Arts Centre - Basement Theatre
Sunday 9th November - Glasgow Captain’s Rest
Monday 10th November - Dundee The Doghouse
Tuesday 11th November - Aberdeen The Tunnels (with Volcano!)
Wednesday 12th November - Leeds The Library
Friday 14th November - Sheffield The Casbah
Saturday 15th November - Leicester Sumo
Monday 17th november - London The Big Chill House
Tuesday 18th November - Lampeter University of Wales
Wednesday 19th November - Preston Mad Ferret
Thursday 20th November - Manchester Night & Day
Saturday 22nd November - Barrow Canteen (with Mogwai DJ Set)

As much as we all love to hate Mick Hucknall and friends (otherwise known as Simply Red), they have had some excellent tunes over their years (and yes, I feel dirty for saying that).

To celebrate their new greatest hits collection (out 17th November), they’re off on the road again in spring next year, playing the below dates.

Thursday 26th March 2009 - Cardiff CIA
Friday 27th March 2009 - Sheffield Arena
Saturday 28th March 2009 - Birmingham NEC
Monday 30th March 2009 - Bournemouth BIC
Tuesday 31st March 2009 - Brighton Centre
Thursday 2nd April 2009 - London O2 Arena
Sunday 5th April 2009 - Manchester MEN Arena
Monday 6th April 2009 - Glasgow SECC
Tuesday 7th April 2009 - Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Thursday 9th April 2009 - Nottingham Trent FM Arena

The complete lineup for this year’s Swn Festival in Cardiff has been announced. The event, which runs around a number of venues in the Welsh capital boasts The Pipettes, Future Of The Left, Goldie Lookin Chain and Pete And The Pirates amongst it’s 130 artist strong lineup.

The event, which runs from Friday 14th - Sunday 16th November, is the brainchild of BBC Radio 1’s Huw Stephens. Featuring bands, DJs, conferences, art, film, workshops, Scrabble and exhibitions, this is the festival’s 2nd year.

Wristbands cost £45 and allow free entry to all events on a first come, first served basis. Each event at Swn will also be priced individually for cash payments on walk up, however priority will always be given to wristband holders. The opening party on 13th November will be for wristband holders only.

Alongside an amazing few days of music, the festival will also feature two days of seminars on Thursday 13th and Friday 14th November at The Atrium with a bundle of music industry experts, movers and shakers, and will include Huw Stephens interviewing the band Scouting For Girls ahead of their sellout show at the CIA. Stephens will quiz them on their meteoric rise from nowhere to becoming a chart-topping act.

After the jump: the full list of artists and bands playing.
Read the rest of this entry »

White Lies, the rapidly getting big NME hype band have announced another string of UK tour dates for late November.

Two days after their Koko show they’ll be back off around the UK, supporting Glasvegas on their trek around the UK.

Tickets are on sale now, priced between £6 and £11.50.

Thursday 20th November - Gloucester Guildhall
Friday 21st November - Southampton Joiners
Saturday 22nd November - Hull Welly Club (Club NME)
Sunday 23rd November - Stoke-On-Trent Sugarmill
Wednesday 26th November - London Koko

Basement Jaxx have announced their first UK tour in two years.

Tickets go on sale on Thursday (2nd October) at 9am. Catch them at:

Wednesday 11th February 2009 - Manchester Apollo
Thursday 12th February 2009 - Manchester Apollo
Saturday 14th February 2009 - Newcastle Carling Academy
Sunday 15th February 2009 - Leeds Carling Academy
Wednesday 18th February 2009 - Birmingham Carling Academy
Thursday 19th February 2009 - Birmingham Carling Academy
Friday 20th February 2009 - London Roundhouse
Saturday 21st February 2009 - London Roundhouse

The Kaiser Chiefs have announced a massive string of UK tour dates for next Spring as they gear up to release their third album.

Their new album, “Off With Their Heads” is out on Monday 20th October and is probably going to go massive, so I’d reccomend getting your tickets when they go on sale!

Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday (3rd October).

Catch Ricky and co at:

Sunday 22nd February 2009 - Nottingham Trent FM Arena
Monday 23rd February 2009 - Sheffield Arena
Tuesday 24th February 2009 - Birmingham NIA
Thursday 26th February 2009 - Edinburgh Corn Exchange
Friday 27th February 2009 - Aberdeen AECC
Saturday 28th February 2009 - Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Monday 2nd March 2009 - Manchester MEN Arena
Tuesday 3rd March 2009 - Liverpool Echo Arena
Wednesday 4th March 2009 - Cardiff CIA
Friday 6th March 2009 - London Wembley Arena