The lineup for the 2009 XFM Winter Wonderland in London has been announced.

Razorlight, The Temper Trap, The Big Pink, Bombay Bicycle Club, Local Natives (pictured right), Goldhawks and Cassidy will all play the gig, taking place at the O2 Academy in Brixton on Wednesday 16 December 2009 – just over a month away. With that many bands I doubt there will be much of the usual “standing around looking bored”, which is what we like to see.

Don’t be at all surprised if there are some top-secret “special guests” as well… we might well be wrong, but it’s always possible…

Many of the live sets will be broadcast on XFM.

Tickets are available to purchase for just £25 from the Xfm Xchange 084547 83936 or at See Tickets

Meanwhile the Manchester leg of the Christmas shows has sold out, featuring Delphic, Frank Turner, The Cribs and Echo & The Bunnymen.

The Temper Trap have announced a new tour for mid 2010 to continue their meteoric rise to stardom here in the UK.

Tickets are on sale now for all of these dates. Catch the Melbourne guys at:

Tuesday 27th April 2010 – Bournemouth O2 Academy
Wednesday 28th April 2010 – London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Thursday 29th April 2010 – London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Saturday 1st May 2010 – Cardiff University
Monday 3rd May 2010 – Nottingham Rock City
Tuesday 4th May 2010 – Birmingham O2 Academy
Wednesday 5th May 2010 – Norwich UEA
Friday 7th May 2010 – Liverpool O2 Academy
Sunday 9th May 2010 – Manchester O2 Academy
Monday 10th May 2010 – Newcastle O2 Academy
Tuesday 11th May 2010 – Leeds O2 Academy
Thursday 13th May 2010 – Glasgow ABC
Friday 14th May 2010 – Edinburgh HMV Picture House

The Temper Trap’s debut album, Conditions, has been a slow burner of my summer. Gorgeous anthems that just stink of summer romances, I knew I had to catch them again after I was introduced to them at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Swindon.

Taking to the stage at Bristol’s Thekla (a gorgeous floating nightclub that used to be a boat) at 9:30 sharp, they ploughed through the entirity of their debut album, full of energy and looking like they were just starting out (and hadn’t been on the road for almost a year). Things started off strongly but rather tepid with “Rest” and “Fader”, before the big hits were rolled out towards the end.

Banter was kept to a minimum from the band apart from the usual “Hello”’s and “Thank You”’s. Lead Singer Dougy Mandagi also took the time to introduce Jeff, a 6-foot something afro’d guy who has been at numerous Bristol gigs I’ve been to, for giving them “so much support with all that jumping”.

Closing out the main set with the triple header of “Sweet Disposition”, “Resurrection” and the “Drum Song”, they knew just what their strengths were. The pop-tastic anthemic nature of Sweet Disposition had everyone jumping to rock the boat, screaming at the top of their lungs “A moment, a love, a dream, aloud, so stay there, cause I’ll be coming over”. Sweetness indeed. Resurrection maintained this, whilst Drum Song gave everyone a chance to rock out, strobes galore, jumping all over the shop, hair flying around the place. This is what music should be – fun, memorable, and meaningful. Amazing.

After the jump: Photos and setlist
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The Temper Trap have announced a string of UK tour dates for September around the UK.

The slowly rising stars will play a string of dates to round off a successful summer of playing festivals. Tickets are on sale now for all dates.

Friday 18th September 2009 – Norwich Arts Centre
Saturday 19th September 2009 – Oxford O2 Academy 2
Monday 21st September 2009 – Leeds Cockpit
Tuesday 22nd September 2009 – Bristol Thekla
Wednesday 23rd September 2009 – London Relentless Garage
Thursday 24th September 2009 – Newcastle Cluny
Saturday 26th September 2009 – Glasgow King Tuts
Sunday 27th September 2009 – Manchester Ruby Lounge
Monday 28th September 2009 – Birmingham Hare and Hounds
Tuesday 29th September 2009 – Brighton Audio

The Temper Trap were one of the BBC’s “Sound of 2009″ shortlisted bands, and have some amazing tunes, as Steve introduced a few months ago. I checked them out on the Introducing stage, and they certainly lived up to expectations.

Double handclaps, anthemic tunes that are both accessible and multilayered. Little banter between songs meant they were able to plunge through a pretty much solid 30 minute set, featuring bloggers delight (and my first introduction to the band) “Sweet Disposition” and current single “Science of Fear”.

Catch more info over on the official BBC Radio 1 site
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Ahhh, Swindon. Home of XTC, the magic roundabout, and, errrr, Billie Piper. And now it can add a much more credible item to that list: the host of 2009’s Radio 1 Big Weekend. Playing host to the best of today’s music, I was fortunate enough to be invited down to check out the Saturday lineup.

After a 2 mile trek to the site, I launched straight in with a quick gander at Huw Stephens, playing a rather strong set on the Outdoor stage. Having heard Westwood from a few miles away, it was nice to hear Huw dishing out some quality tunes with a lack of sound effects and horns and stuff. A quick scoot over to the “In New Music We Trust” tent to catch the rather good King Blues, who were a bit crazy but full of energy. Read my review here. Another crazy but full of energy person was Florence and the Machine (right) who I caught last summer at Ben and Jerry’s Summer Sundae, and thought was rubbish, however she had improved vastly, belting out her stories with conviction and energy. Catch a review here.

As is usual with these Big Weekends, the DJs are expected to earn a large part of their salaries by putting themselves up on stage – Chris Moyles was the first to do this, doing a 15 minute song parodies set, featuring and amazing “My Lamb Bhuna” from Comedy Dave and JLS. Not amazing, but certainly better than the repeats of “Sex on Fire” and “Jump in the Pool” that seemed to echo around the site all day. I wasn’t around in the days of the Radio 1 Roadshows, but this comprehensive festival is far better than anything anyone could do on a beach or in a small city centre. A proper festival, it’s made all the more amazing when you consider the organising and planning that’s been put in – not one band (that I saw anyway) overran or went on stage late, everyone knew what they were doing, and frankly it was incredible that it was all so expertly organised.

I took a wander over the the INMWT stage to see what all the fuss was about for Deadmau5. Turns out, he’s really quite amazing. And his hat lights up, which is always a bonus. Got everyone dancing like nobody did till Basement Jaxx. Read a review here. However, after Deadmau5 was the one I really wanted to catch – Friendly Fires. You know my love for this trio, so my third time catching them needless to say was out of this world – Samba dancing, exotic dancing girls aaaaaand a steel band section. Wow. Read a review here.

The Temper Trap (left) have been gaining a lot of press coverage lately, so I checked them out on the Introducing stage, who followed an acoustic set (well, two songs, hardly a set) from Flo and the Machine – a much more subdued set, but ace nonetheless. The Temper Trap however were far from subdued. Their tunes are really accessible, really radio-friendly, and above all really good. It’s hard not to see them getting more coverage later in the year when their album’s out. Read more here.

Taking a wander I ended up bumping into the lovely Stornoway (who Jess so expertly introduced the other day). Lovely band, lovely fellas, read the interview and live review here.

Feeling re-invigorated by some Pizza, time to catch the end of the Doves‘ (pictured top) set. “Caught by the River” and “There Goes The Fear” (after which this blog is named) showed that Jes Williams and co really did justify their high billing, sounding just as fresh as the day I first heard them. A quick dash to catch Stornoway close out the Introducing stage, and a dash back again to the INMWT tent to catch Basement Jaxx close things for me – new material, crazy stage show, louder than, well, anything that’s ever been in Swindon before. Lovely. Having caught Snow Patrol before at Tsunami Relief and Live8, I decided to call it a day.

Thanks to all at Radio 1 for making my day possible. After the jump there will be pictures, but for now, I’m going to sleep. ‘Night.

Looking for a review of the Saturday of the Big Weekend? Click Here.

BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend is an annual musical festival with bit of a twist. Every year, the 2 day event takes place in a different town, with past locations including Dundee, Preston and Maidstone. This 2009, Radio 1 will be bringing their Big Weekend to Lydiard Park, Swindon, on Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th of May. Tickets to the event are free, and are obtained through a random lottery on Radio 1’s website (registration has now closed). Lucky winners will blag a pair of tickets to their selected day (Saturday or Sunday), with Swindon residents receiving allocation priority in order to make the event more accessible to locals.

Every year the event has boasted an impressive line-up (past artists include Madonna, Muse and Foo Fighters), and this 2009 is absolutely no exception. Snow Patrol (pictured top), Kasabian (pictured right)and Dizzee Rascal will be headlining the ‘Main Stage’ on Saturday, while Lily Allen, Akon and Franz Ferdinand will be taking over the top slots on Sunday. Other artists who will be featuring within the main arena over the weekend include The Script, Calvin Harris, The Wombats, The Saturdays, Scouting for Girls, Ne-Yo, Alesha Dixon and N-Dubz.

Meanwhile, headline acts hitting the smaller ‘In New Music We Trust Stage’ on Saturday include Basement Jaxx, Doves and Jack Penate, while Sunday will be tastily offering up The Enemy, Maximo Park and Gossip. Further impressive artists appearing on this stage across the May weekend include Friendly Fires, Florence and the Machine, Fightstar, Enter Shikari, Ladyhawke and White Lies.

Should you fancy checking out some new music while at the event, why not head over to the ‘Introducing Stage’, where you can get up and close with a range of upcoming talent including Stornoway, The Temper Trap, Bombay Bicycle Club, Thee Vicars, Gallop and Marina and the Diamonds. And if that’s still not enough, you can catch a wide-range of top DJs spinning the decks over at the ‘Outdoor Stage’, with Radio 1 favourites including Chris Moyles, Annie Mac, Tim Westwood, Zane Lowe and Rob da Bank all making an appearance.

Registration for tickets to the event has now closed, but never fear, as the BBC will be broadcasting highlights of the festival on Radio 1 and BBC Three across the weekend. You’ll also be able to catch footage online, as well as on your trusty red button. If you’d like more information on the event, along with a full line-up, head over to the Big Weekend’s website now.

Top photo comes from Radio 1’s Flickr Stream.

The Temper Trap have been tipped as the best band to come out of Australia for the last ten years and despite being an avid Jet and Wolfmother fan, I agree. Why? Whats not to like? Progressive and easy on the ear, its hard to take a dislike to this band with melodic guitar playing and inventive rhythms.

Yet despite this, The Temper Trap still have their haters and, to be fair, the music is an acquired taste. However if they are good enough for the likes of Cold War Kids and Kasabian, then there must be something about them. There alternative sound has has been professionally crafted with Vocals from Dougy that would not be out of place in a choir while the guitarist Lorenzo adds a U2 “edge” to the band.

It must be said that it is probably too early to judge the band as their hit single “Sweet Disposition” is a decent track but it’s not the most outstanding song. With  years ahead of them to produce more material, the and could make a great noise and live up to their speculation. Or, they could become a bit of flop and sound like a musical experiment but one ting is for sure, they need to improve their impact and presence but, if this is not the best the band can be, then we have some very exciting years ahead.

I know, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts.

First up, following on from Mike’s posts about his tips for BBC’s Sound of 2009 competition (part 1 here, part 2 here), they’ve announced the longlist, which features no less than FIVEartists we have already featured on TGTF. The longlist sees Dan Black (who we featured here and here, and is pictured, right), Florence and the Machine (who we introduced here), La Roux (who we introduced here), White Lies (who we gave details of their tour here).  VV Brown has also been tipped in comments around the site too. On the longlist, they’re joined by:The Big Pink, Empire of the Sun, Frankmusik, Kid Cudi, Lady GaGa, Little Boots, Master Shortie, Mumford & Sons, Passion Pit and The Temper Trap.

Phew, there’s a lot of new music there! To conteract the newness of those, we bring you an oldie but a goldie: Tom Jones, but as you’ve never seen him before….

If that’s not some clever CGI, I don’t know what is…

Our friends over at Gig Junkie have pointed out that they have a lot of pretty amazing competitions going at the moment – if times are tight for you, pop on over and enter a competition or two – they have the chance to win tickets to see Kings of Leon, VIP style.

It seems rather a lot of you love Nickelback (pictured, right, and who incidentally are on tour next year… see my seamless link there?), so you might want to check out some exclusive tracks they played in the USA recently. I’ve had “Gotta Be Somebody” stuck in my head recently, and got to admit that slowly they’re getting under my skin!

Our friends over at Winston’s Zen have just posted their new monthy Zen list of all things great and free in MP3 land – check it out and have a listen.

Right, I think that’s it for tonight… I’m off to have a listen to those of the BBC Sound of 2009 longlist nominees that I don’t know much about, and Winston’s Zen’s new MP3s….