We don’t normally announce one off gigs that bands do, on the basis it opens us up to everyone wanting to promote their gig. However these two we just couldn’t pass up…

NME darlings Bombay Bicycle Club have announced a one off show in London on Saturday 24th April, at London’s HMV Forum. You can get your Bombay Bicycle Club tickets at 9:30 on Friday (26th February).

Meanwhile the pretty amazing Frank Turner has announced his biggest headline show to date, this time at London’s O2 Brixton Academy on Sunday 12th December. Grab your tickets from Gigsandtours from Friday (26th February) at 9am. Expect huge sing-alongs

Frank Turner – Poetry of the Deed

Ahh, Frank Turner. The voice of a generation some might say. I saw him a few weeks back in Oxford, where he was pretty amazing and from all accounts his last few weeks on tour have been nothing short of amazing. He just seems to be going from strength to strength, and this is his latest single, ‘Poetry of the Deed’, from his new album of the same name.

Normally these quickly made “performance” videos don’t make the cut for Video of the Moment, but let’s face it, Frank is amazing, so we’ll make an exception this time.

Fresh from wowing us last week in Oxford, Frank Turner has announced even more UK tour dates for next year.

Tickets are on sale now and going amazingly quickly. Catch Winchester’s finest at:

Wednesday 17th March 2010 – Manchester Academy
Thursday 18th March 2010 – Leeds O2 Academy
Friday 19th March 2010 – Bristol O2 Academy
Sunday 21st March 2010 – Birmingham O2 Academy
Monday 22nd March 2010 – Norwich Waterfront
Tuesday 23rd March 2010 – Portsmouth Pyramid Centre
Wednesday 24th March 2010 – London Roundhouse

Last night was my first Frank Turner live experience. I was pointed in his direction by the marvellous Winston’s Zen earlier in the year, and since then he’s rarely been out of my top 10 last.fm most played artists of the week. Not entirely sure what to expect, I took my sister along to the (jam-packed) Oxford O2 Academy to check him out.

First support was the ace Beans on Toast. Normally first supports are a load of cack, but Beans on Toast rose to the occasion giving a strong collection of amusing anthems that were both topical and entertaining. Though I wouldn’t have minded if he laid off his “I’ve got a GCSE in Crowd Control” spiel which he seemed to use to fill the time between songs.

Next up were Fake Problems. They’ve been on our radar at TGTF for a while, (indeed, Steve reviewed their album back in March), but if I’m honest they just weren’t my sort of thing. Beans on Toast seemed to connect with the crowd much more (at least, from where I was standing near the mixing desk), and Fake Problems just went for the “deafen them into submission” approach. It sort of worked, but just wasn’t my cup of tea. Sorry.

Finally, 9:30 rolled around and Frank came on to one of the biggest cheers I’ve heard since that fateful McFly gig last summer (yes, I still don’t know why I was dragged to see them either…). I always forget just how many amazing songs he has – just about every song on the setlist was a crowd-singalong, from the opening trio of “Live Fast Die Old”, “The Road” and “Long Live The Queen” to the closing bars of “Photosynthesis”.

“Long Live the Queen” morphed itself into a celebration of life rather than the loss of a close one, “The Real Damage” a sing-along that most bands can only dream of, and “Reasons not to be an Idiot” became a jubilant exploration of our faults. Having the audience in his hand, banter was kept to a minimum (other than a quick introduction of his Mum who was watching on the side of the stage), Frank letting his songs do the talking.

Personally, the highlight was was a gorgeous cover of The Postal Service’s District Sleeps Alone – completely different to his own songs, he re-vamped it and gave it a unique touch. Something I completely was not expecting, and one that summed up my evening.

Unsure of what to expect at the start of the evening, it turns out that Frank Turner may well be one of the UK’s best live performers at the moment. Entertaining, aware of the current climate and talented, he is one guy that I have firmly put on my list of  “bands to see again, and again, and again”, along with Bloc Party, Ben Folds, Idlewild, Friendly Fires and Delays.

Frank Turner’s UK tour continues till next Thursday, with all dates (except Plymouth) sold out at the moment. After the jump: some pictures.

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The amazing Frank Turner has announced an epic tour for October, his biggest to date. It will be his first to promote his third solo album, ‘Poetry Of The Deed’, which will see Frank go in a more rock direction.

His second album, Love Ire and Song seems to have quickly become a firm favourite of mine, easily one of my favourite albums in 2009, if not ever. It’s catchy, has amazing stories and is just, well, great. Take a listen, then go catch him on tour.

Tickets for all dates go on sale on Friday (6th March) at 9am, and cost £10 each with the exception of London, for which tickets are £13 each.

Tuesday 13th October 2009 – Dublin, Academy 2
Wednesday 14th October 2009 – Belfast Stiff Kitten Club
Thursday 15th October 2009 – Glasgow QMU
Friday 16th October 2009 – Manchester Academy 2
Saturday 17th October 2009 – Newcastle Uni
Sunday 18th October 2009 – Nottingham Rock City
Monday 19th October 2009 – Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
Tuesday 20th October 2009 – Oxford Academy
Thursday 22nd October 2009 – Leeds Met University
Friday 23rd October 2009 – Cambridge Junction
Saturday 24th October 2009 – Plymouth University
Sunday 25th October 2009 – Exeter Lemon Grove
Monday 26th October 2009 – Bristol Anson Rooms
Tuesday 27th October 2009 – Cardiff University
Wednesday 28th October 2009 – Winchester Guildhall
Thursday 29th October 2009 – London Shepherd’s Bush Empire

To find tickets, we suggest you try using Needtickets. Needtickets.com offers you the most comprehensive ticket service in the UK. With one click you can search every nationwide online ticket agent and as a result you can find tickets for any live music event that can be booked online. Every ticket is 100% guaranteed as Needtickets.com only offers links to official agents.

Just a quick one to round up the week, before we sign off for the weekend.

As we all know, Sundays were made for relaxing. I myself plan on doing absolutely zilch this Sunday – a chance to recharge the batteries and relax. However, this week (for once) there’s a reasonable amount worth watching on TV. If you’re suffering from a hangover after a big Saturday night, why not lie back on the sofar to catch the final of Orange unsignedAct with Sony Ericsson on Channel 4 from 1-2pm, with the results at 2:35pm. It’s between three pretty great artists: Tommy Reilly, Hip Parade and Scarlet Harlots. Read our introduction to the show here, and then our interviews with Hip Parade and Scarlet Harlots to get a picture of what to expect. I’m rooting for Tommy, but who knows who could win!

Later on Sunday evening, MTV One spends a day in the life of Pete Doherty (pictured top), which is quite fun to watch before that dreaded sleep before Monday Morning rolls around again. It’s on at 10pm, and we got a sneak peek last week – full details here.

This week we were fortunate enough to catch the Kerrang tour and In Case of Fire as it pulled into Oxford’s O2 Academy – read our review here. There is a chance that next week we’ll be bringing you a review of Bloc Party at Wolverhampton’s Civic Hall, but this is yet to be confirmed.

Before we leave you for the weekend, enjoy the below video. It’s Frank Turner’s “Reasons not to be an Idiot”. I’m slow on the Frank Turner love train, but he’s realy amazing. Check out the video below, and we’ll catch you next week.

The sensational Shockwaves NME Awards shows have been announced for next January and February to start off a 2009 in great style. The likes of Franz Ferdinand, The Wombats and Simian Mobile Disco are among this year’s great gigs, with more to be announced shortly.

Franz Ferdinand’s frontman Alex Kapranos said of their opening night honour: “We’re going to play the gig to celebrate ‘Ulysess’ coming out and Heaven is the best place to go and celebrate. The new songs are the type that should be heard in clubs so we liked the idea of playing a show in one. We want people close to us who are dancing and sweating, that’s the vibe that we want. We definitely don’t want polite theatre shows for this record- we want some excitement!”

Tickets are available exclusively at NME from 9am on Wednesday, 26th November and then go on general sale on Monday 1st December.

UPDATE: More gigs added today (2nd December 2008) – full details below.

Catch the full details of the gigs below:

Tuesday 20th January 2009 – Franz Ferdinand @ London Heaven
Sunday 8th February 2009 – The Gaslight Anthems, Frank Turner and The Polar Bear Club @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Monday 9th February 2009 – Howling Bells @ London Islington Academy
Tuesday 10th February 2009 – The View @ London Koko
Wednesday 11th February 2009 – Ida Maria @ London Koko
Thursday 12th February 2009 – Ida Maria @ Manchester Club Academy
Thursday 12th February 2009 – Simian Mobile Disco and Chrome Hoof @ London Koko
Friday 13th February 2009 – Ida Maria @ Glasgow Garage
Friday 13th February 2009 – Mystery Jets and Little Boots @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Sunday 15th February 2009 – Black Lips and Vivian Girls @ London Islington Academy
Monday 16th February 2009 – Secret Machines @ London Islington Academy
Tuesday 17th February 2009 – Iglu and Hartley @ London Islington Academy
Wednesday 18th February 2009 – Black Kids, Boy Crisis, Passion Pit @ London Koko
Wednesday 18th February 2009 – Tricky @ Manchester Club Academy
Wednesday 18th February 2009 – Iglu and Hartley @ Manchester Academy 3
Thursday 19th February 2009 – Tricky @ Glasgow Arches
Thursday 19th February 2009 – Iglu and Hartley @ Glasgow QMU
Thursday 19th February 2009 – Roots Manuva @ London Koko
Friday 20th February 2009 – Tricky @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Monday 23rd February 2009 – Wombats @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Tuesday 24th February 2009 – Metronomy @ London Koko
Tuesday 24th February 2009 – Wombats @ Manchester Academy
Thursday 26th February 2009 – Wombats @ Glasgow Barrowlands

When I saw The Gaslight Anthem were playing Shepherds Bush Empire for the NME Shockwaves tour next year, I was a bit puzzled. How could a band come under the radar and play a venue that big and expect to sell it out?

I’ve since done a bit of research and it seems that my musical radar seems to have plain and simply missed them out, which is a hell of a shame – they’re pretty darned amazing and full of energy it seems – its pop punk, but for adults. Mature, loud, and good. Just how music should be.

Their new single, “Old White Lincoln” is after the dates, and is sounding amazing – it’s out on Monday and available to preorder from Recordstore. If you like that, you might also want to get hold of a copy of their sophomore album, “The ‘59 Sound” available now.

Support on all dates comes from Frank Turner (who I have it on good authority from Winston that he is amazing) and The Polar Bear Club.

Tickets are on sale now for all shows, priced around the £10 to £14 mark each. Catch The Gaslight Anthem and friends at the below shows:

Monday 2nd February 2009 – Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms (Tickets)
Tuesday 3rd February 2009 – Birmingham Academy (Tickets)
Wednesday 4th February 2009 – Manchester Academy 2 (Tickets)
Thursday 5th February 2009 – Bristol Academy 2 (Tickets)
Friday 6th February 2009 – Brighton Concorde (Tickets)
Sunday 8th February 2009 – London Shepherds Bush Empire (NME Awards Show) (Tickets)
Monday 2nd March 2009 – Norwich @ Waterfront (Tickets)
Tuesday 3rd March 2009 – Nottingham @ Rock City (Tickets)
Wednesday 4th March 2009 – Dublin @ The Academy (Tickets)