The annual “Love Music, Hate Racism” event has been announced. The carnival, on Sunday, April 27th in London’s Victoria Park will see Babyshambles, Roll Deep, The Paddingtons, Patrick Wolf and Fionn Regan all play amongst other bands and artists.

Speakers will include Tony Benn, Derek Simpson (Unite), Mark Serwotka (PCS), Weyman Bennett (LMHR), Gemma Tumelty (NUS).

The carnival will also include the stars of the original 1978 carnival playing live, three stages and a huge dance marquee. The best thing however is that it’s all FREE.

More information is on the Love Music Hate Racism website.

The amazingly talented Mr. Patrick Wolf has announced a year ending date at Shepherds Bush Empire on Thursday 20th December.

The show will will be in two parts. In the first he will appear solo as he will on the other UK dates. There will then be a quick break before Patrick returns to the stage where he will be joined by the band for a final show of 2007.

Tickets for this special date aren’t on sale yet, but his mySpace promises they will be “soon” - when I know you’ll know.

Patrick Wolf has added more dates to his November tour as I promised earlier in the week.

According to his myspace: “Patrick is undertaking a solo tour of the UK in November, accompanying himself on the piano, uke, viola, and probably a few more instruments. Dates are below, and all should be on sale by Monday at the latest. We will be making an announcement about a very special London date in the coming weeks.”

Patrick plays:

Tuesday 20th November - Colchester Arts Centre
Wednesday 21st November - Brighton St George
Thursday 22nd November - Exeter Phoenix
Saturday 24th November - Bristol Trinity Theatre
Sunday 25th November - Manchester Lowry
Monday 26th November - Leicester Y Theatre
Tuesday 27th November - Sheffield Memorial Hall
Thursday 29th November - Glasgow Oran Mor
Friday 30th November - Middlesborough MIMA

Patrick Wolf has announced a string of dates for November - expect more to be added to the list of dates - going no further north than Salford will go down like a lead balloon I’m sure, likewise not playing London… well, it won’t be popular.

Catch him at:

Tuesday 20th November - Colchester Arts Centre
Saturday 24th November - Bristol Trinity
Sunday 25th November - Salford Quays The Lowry Centre
Tuesday 27th November - Sheffield Memorial Hall

Tickets go on sale soon. Probably Friday at 9am. On presale now through Live Nation (if you have an account).

I’d never heard of Connect festival before yesterday, when I saw that their lineup had been announced. Wow. Whilst they don’t have bands who have the mass appeal of the likes of Arctic Monkeys (booo! Hisss!) or Snow Patrol, they do have some truley innovative, exciting and interesting bands that make you have faith in the music industry for once.

On the Friday they have:
Beastie Boys
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The Go! Team
CSS (Boooo! Hiss!!)
Nouvelle Vague
King Creosote
James Yorkston
Alex Smoke
Trashcan Sinatras

On the Saturday they have:
Primal Scream
Mogwai
Teenage Fanclub
The Divine Comedy
Modest Mouse
Sons & Daughters
Rilo Kiley
Vashti Bunyan
The Black Dog
The Only Ones
The New Pornographers
1990s

On the Sunday they have:
Bjork
LCD Soundsystem
Idlewild
Big Star
The Polyphonic Spree
My Latest Novel
Tilly & The Wall
Patrick Wolf

(my favourites in italics, in case you didn’t know!)

As I mentioned yesterday, the rest of the Somerset house gigs have been announced, with an impressive lineup. I’d quite like to see most of these bands… but obviously I probably won’t get a chance.

Thursday 12 July Mogwai in surround sound
Friday 13 July Kasabian
Saturday 14 July Bert Jansch featuring Beth Orton and Bernard Butler
Sunday 15 July Guillemots
Monday 16 July Lily Allen
Tuesday 17 July Mika
Wednesday 18 July Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Thursday 19 July The Roots
Friday 20 July Amy Winehouse
Saturday 21 July Hot Chip

Presale is now available here