Every year NME takes over London’s best gig venues to put on some of the best names in the world, live. The month of gigs, which takes place every February in the run up to the awards ceremony itself – to be held this year on February 24 at the O2 Academy Brixton. These are just the first names announced – normally the gigs fill the 28 days of February, often with multiple clashes around different venues.

Tickets for these shows go on sale at 9am tomorrow morning (27th February). We’ll add to this list as we hear of more gigs.

Tuesday 2nd February 2010 – Miike Snow at London Scala
Wednesday 3rd February 2010 – Hadouken! at London Scala
Saturday 20th February 2010 – Simian Mobile Disco at London matter (pictured top)
Monday 22nd February 2010 – New Young Pony Club at London Islington Academy
Tuesday 23rd February 2010 – Yeasayer at London Heaven
Tuesday 23rd February 2010 – Girls at London Scala

The Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club, the Big Pink, and the Drums have been named for the lineup of the Shockwaves NME Awards Tour 2010. The tour runs for a little over a fortnight in February, starting in Newcastle on 4 February 2010.

NME.com reports that general tickets go on sale at 9 AM GMT on Friday 13 November, but it appears that presale tickets are already available through Seetickets. The tour will call at:

Thursday 4th February 2010 – Newcastle O2 Academy
Friday 5th February 2010 – Glasgow Barrowland
Saturday 6th February 2010 – Manchester Academy
Sunday 7th February 2010 – Leeds O2 Academy
Tuesday 9th February 2010 – Nottingham Rock City
Wednesday 10th February 2010 - Norwich UEA
Thursday 11th February 2010 – Birmingham O2 Academy
Saturday 13th February 2010 – Cardiff University
Sunday 14th February 2010 – Bristol O2 Academy
Monday 15th February 2010 – Brighton Dome
Tuesday 16th February 2010 – Bournemouth O2 Academy
Thursday 18th February 2010 – Portsmouth Pyramids Centre
Friday 19th February 2010 – Cambridge Corn Exchange
Saturday 20th February 2010 – Brixton O2 Academy

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