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

Stereophonics have announced a sizable UK tour for December stopping at a number of larger arenas on our fair island.

Tickets go on sale on Thursday (14th August) at 9am.

Tuesday 2nd December - Glasgow, SECC
Thursday 4th December - Aberdeen, AECC
Saturday 6th December - Cardiff, International Arena
Tuesday 9th December - Liverpool, Echo Arena
Wednesday 10th December - Manchester, MEN Arena
Friday 12th December - Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena
Saturday 13th December - Nottingham, Trent Arena
Monday 15th December - Birmingham, NIA
Tuesday 16th December - Brighton, Brighton Centre
Wednesday 17th December - Bournemouth, International Centre
Friday 19th December - Sheffield, Arena
Saturday 20th December - London, O2 Arena

Those lovely Welsh guys, The Stereophonics have announced two small shows ahead of their festival shows at T in the Park and Oxygen.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, 30th May, at 9am. However, some tickets go on presale tomorrow (Thursday 29th May) at 9am from here.

Catch them at:

Tuesday 8th July - Folkestone, Leas Cliff Hall
Wednesday 9th July - Carlisle, Sand Centre

XFM have announced details of a string of Winter Wonderland UK Tour dates, with all sorts of megastars lined up to play some sensational gigs.

As with previous years, all dates are in aid of Shelter, the homeless charity.

Tickets go on sale next Friday (9th November) at 9am, but many of the headlining bands and XFM members can get them as soon as next Wednesday or Thursday by pre-registering or such like.

Sunday 9th December - London Brixton Academy -
Bloc Party, Supergrass, Kate Nash, One Night Only, School of Rock Winner
Monday 10th December - Glasgow Academy -
Stereophonics, The Twang, Special Guests, Figure 5, School of Rock Winner
Tuesday 11th December - Manchester Apollo -
The Charlatans, Special Guests, The Courteeners, The Ting Tings, School of Rock Winner
Wednesday 12th December - Cardiff University -
Super Furry Animals, The Enemy, Kids In Glass Houses, Special guests, Duffy (accoustic set)

Photo is taken from Shane Bee’s flickr stream under the creative commons license

Those lovely people at iTunes have set up their own “festival” in the centre of London to take place at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) throughout July, with a raft of the best in current bands playing each night.

iTunes will be recording each of the shows and are planning to make songs from the shows available via their music shop. The ICA holds about 350 people, making the shows exceptionally intimate.

The bands include, in date order:

Mika supported by Leon Jean-Marie (1)
Crowded House supported by Justin Nozuka (2)
Travis supported by The Hoosiers (3)
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club supported by Nine Black Alps (4)
Groove Armada supported by Mutya Buena and Beardyman (7)
Ash supported by Ben’s Brother (8)
The View (9)
Imogen Heap supported by James Wolff (10)
Editors supported by GoodBooks (11)
Scott Matthews (12)
Athlete supported by Tiny Dancers (13)
Paolo Nutini (14)
Gianna Nannini (15)
Ludovico Einaudi supported by Dhafer Youssef (16)
The Bad Plus supported by Rebekka Bakken (17)
The Pigeon Detectives supported by The Rakes (18)
Beverley Knight supported by Raul Midón (19)
Stereophonics supported by Little Man Tate (20)
Jamie Scott & The Town (21)
Wir Sind Helden (23)
Amy Winehouse supported by The Rumble Strips and Remi Nicole (25)
Just Jack supported by Mr Hudson & The Library (26)
Jack Penate (27)
The Maccabees supported by Goldspot (28)
Duke Special supported by Tom McRae (29)
The Coral supported by Candie Payne (30)

Tickets will be given away free via radio, TV stations and band and fan websites. The specific details of which will be announced soon. Some tickets are already available from the itunes festival website.

Photo taken from Mteson’s flickr stream.