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

Iglu & Hartly have announced a string of new UK Tour dates for early December.

The press release says that this is

“most likely the last time you’ll get to see the guys in rooms small enough to kiss the sweat from the ceiling”

Fun.

Catch a free MP3 of their biggest (and probably only) hit below, and then check out the tour dates and decide if they’re really worth going out and getting cold for in December.

MP3: - Iglu & Hartly - In This City

Tickets go on sale on Wednesday (8th October) at 9am for the below dates.

Catch Iglu & Hartly at:

Monday 1st december - Edinburgh Liquid Room
Sunday 7th December - Lincoln Engine Shed
Monday 8th December - Birmingham Academy 2
Tuesday 9th December - Manchester Academy 3
Wednesday 10th December - London ULU