Following on from last year’s amazing lineup, the Mencap Little Noise sessions are back again this November to raise more money for the mental disability charity.

The series of gigs at London’s Islington Union Chapel will take place over about 2 weeks, with more dates and artists to be announced

The charity’s ambassador, Jo Whiley, may be on maternity leave from her job at Radio 1, but she’s managed to get an incredible lineup to play. She commented: “Mencap’s Little Noise Sessions are a great opportunity to see big name bands play an acoustic gig in an intimate setting, whilst raising money for a really worthwhile cause.”

Fans wanting to buy tickets need to register on Mencapmusic.org.uk between October 1 and 16. All proceeds from ticket sales go to Mencap.

Saturday 8th November - Glasvegas, Cage the Elephant
Sunday 9th November - Razorlight, Florence and the Machine, Esser
Monday 10th November - Stereophonics, Seasick Steve
Tuesday 11th November - Adele, Angus And Julia Stone
Wednesday 12th November - Biffy Clyro, Friendly Fires, Frank Turner
Thursday 13th November - James Morrison, Katy Perry, Sam Beeton
Friday 14th November - Kasabian, Reverend and the Makers, The Hours, Fight Like Apes
Saturday 15th November - Keane, The Script, Bryn Christopher, Red Light Company
Tuesday 18th November - The Fratellis

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

I thought I’d done a post about this Road To V Band that are destined for big things, but a quick search through the archives shows that I was very wrong!

The Outside Royalty are finalists in the competition, and are set to play the Islington Academy on Thursday night.

They are one of those bands that are unlikely to win the competition because they’re a bit too “out there” for most peoples liking, however deserve to go onto big things. Sounding like a more together Arcade Fire they combine epic songs with great storytelling about normal day-to day things. Hailing from Pittsburgh and relocating to London, the band are clearly on a mission, and look set to strike a chord with Londoners with their sharp dress sense and chaotic shows.

“Falling, Part 2″ is intricate, delicate and memorable. Just like music should be. Adam’s vocals fit the songs perfectly, along with their cast of more than able musicians. Their cover of the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby is the stuff of legends, amazingly epic, and brings a new dimension to the Beatles. Similar to what Scissor Sisters did for Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb, this could be one of the covers of the year.

If nothing else you should check them out before they (hopefully) get massive later this year once they’re signed.

“Tonight is all about something that doesn’t happen enough these days – Musicians helping each other” announced Tom McRae last night as the Hotel Café tour rolled into London after a year long tour of the USA. The feeling was great: a series of artists who are all too small on their own to undertake a full UK tour, but altogether they have the ability to sell out a venue in days.

Taking a revue style to the evening, Tom opened proceedings at 8:30, and we then witnessed an amazing 2 hours and 40 minutes of non stop music. No lengthy change over’s with houselights up, we’re talking one person walks off as the next comes on, with different people joining in on different tracks when they felt the urge to, before “we start to bump each to each other, drop guitars, and generally run headlong into chaos until someone makes us leave the stage”.

First song, Hawaii and the sound goes halfway through. No problem: he just keeps on strumming and talks to the crowd, explaining the tour and how the evening is going to work. One more song and he’s off, to be replaced by Steve Reynolds, who has a voice that sounds like he’s lived in a musty back-street pub for most of his life. Two songs from Steve, and he’s quickly replaced by Joe Purdy, who has, quite frankly, legendary facial hair (which leads to a comment from Tom that he “shaves once a month and if Joe doesn’t for an hour he ends up like this….”). Joe Purdy managed to be a skilled guitarist and harmonica player, a genius if ever there was one. Next up was Cary Brothers, who was one of the main reasons I had been to see the evening: his two songs “Ride” and “Blue Eyes” are some of the best around. He played “Ride” first then “Honestly”, both from his forthcoming album next year.

Then we had a very nice surprise: Aqualung. In the spirit of the real Hotel Café in LA, bands are quite welcome to turn up and play a few songs, or just sit around and get trashed with the other artists. Aqualung came and played a new song and then “Brighter than Sunshine” – just fab, and they stuck around to play keys on “Blue Eyes” later in the evening.

After this point things got a bit blurry: the artists came back on, joined each other, did different songs, until about 10:50 when Tom came back, did “Silent Boulevard”, “Boy with the Bubblegum” and “My Vampire Heart”. By this point everyone was in very high spirits, and things were getting a bit more ragged, but still very coherent, and had everyone in the crowd in exceptionally high spirits not seen since the Pipettes swept through the capital.

All in all an excellent evening of entertainment, well worth the money: not many bands this year put on 2 hours 40 minutes of non stop music: they’re playing at Kings College Student Union next week, so go and see Tom and the artistes of the Hotel Café: it’s well worth the money, and you will have one of the best evenings of the year.