Whilst gearing up for the release of their new single Idaho (due on 27th August), indie/rock institution Feeder have announced that they are to play an exclusive live show at BT London Live in Hyde Park on 10th August, as part of the London 2012 Olympic celebrations. They'll be sharing the stage with Ocean Colour Scene and The Temper Trap.
Legendary former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash has as of this morning confirmed an upcoming 5-date UK tour set for October. The gigs begin in Edinburgh at the city's Corn Exchange on October 7th and run through until October 15th when the guitarist and his band headline Newcastle's O2 Academy. The run of gigs also includes shows in Manchester, Birmingham and London.
Following the overwhelming demand for Bat For Lashes' Manchester Cathedral show scheduled for October 22nd, an extra date has been added for the following night in the same venue on the following night (Tuesday 23rd).
The first professionally-shot live footage of The Stone Roses in 16 years (performing live at Benicassim) has emerged online.
Five minutes of footage shows the band performing I Wanna Be Adored at the Spanish music festival on July 14th. The song was the opening number of the band's 16-song set, with frontman Ian Brown kicking off with a few words of Spanish before grabbing a glowstick as the band begins to play. 'Pro-shot' footage of other songs from the performance have yet to appear online. The band have been followed by a film crew led by Shane Meadows, and hence have so far been reluctant to allow their sets to be included in broadcasts.
The Stone Roses are currently taking their major 'reunion' tour through Asia, where they have shows lined up in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. They will return to Europe in August and have UK dates scheduled at V Festival on August 18th and 19th and Belfast's Vital Festival on August 22nd.
Earlier this summer, the reformed band played a trio of rapturously-received homecoming shows at Heaton Park in Manchester. A canister of "captured atmosphere" from the first date later attracted bids of over £500 on eBay.
The band also delivered a well-received set at Scotland's T in the Park on July 7th - their first performance north of the border in 17 years.
Blackpool's Rebellion Festival, scheduled to take place over the long weekend of August 2nd to 5th, has an excellent line-up this year, with the very best of the punk rock underground joined by big names including Public Image Ltd., Rancid and the Buzzcocks.
Following their recent announcement of a new studio album coming in September, Skunk Anansie are set to celebrate the album's release with an intimate show in London.
Skunk Anansie are scheduled to release their fifth album Black Traffic on 17th September and will perform a special Kerrange-sponsored show at London's Village Underground on 5th September. Black Traffic will be Skunk Anansie's second release since they reunited in 2009 and was produced by the band and Chris Sheldon (Foo Fighters, Biffy Clyro, Pixies). The album will also be the first material released on the band's own independent label.
Speaking about the show, vocalist Skin said:
"Its going to be killer. We'll play a lot of the new album and the best of the old stuff, with a few surprises too."
Skunk Anansie Tickets for 5th September at London Village Underground are on sale from 9am on Wednesday 25th July.
The xx have announced a trio of intimate UK shows for the second week of September.
The London band will take to the stage at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on September 10th - coinciding with the release or their second album Coexist. They will follow this hometown show with gigs at The Coal Exchange in Cardiff on September 11th and Edinburgh's Usher Hall on the 12th.
Elbow have this morning announced a UK arena tour for November and December 2012, with 5 shows confirmed for Nottingham, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and London. Elbow Tickets are on general sale from 9am on Friday 27th July.
Third in a series of demo/lo-fi EPs from (The Death Of) Six By Seven. Presented utterly stylishly in a grooved vinyl CD format, the proceeds of sales of the EPs are set to be put back into recording the project's second full length album.
Six By Seven, after numerous breakups/reformations are now creating new releases and gigging with a core of Chris Olley and James Flower from the original band line-up of the mid nineties, plus Pete Stevenson and Martin Cooper.
Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher will be performing their huge 1995 hit Wonderwall at the Olympics closing ceremony, after his brother Noel Gallagher has apparently turned down the opportunity.
The singer and his Beady Eye bandmates: Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock will perform a new arrangement of the hit, written by his brother Noel. According to The Sun, the chance to perform Wonderwall was originally offered to Noel, but the 'High Flying Birds' man apparently declined the chance after giving it considerable thought. A source told the newspaper:
"A couple of months back the Olympic production team got in touch with Noel about playing his part in the closing ceremony. Along with his manager, they thought long and hard about it. It was a big temptation with 650 million people expected to tune in on TV."
"But he knocked it back in the end - he has been on a great tour and he doesn't really need to do it. The organisers asked Liam if he was keen and he said yes. The Who are on the same bill so he was well up for it!"
The complete line-up for the closing ceremony, which will celebrate 50 years of British music, is being kept a closely guarded secret, but other acts lined up to appear include Kaiser Chiefs and a special performance by the Spice Girls.
Superb 'Wonderwall' image sourced from ~BigFood
Thurston Moore is set to follow up his current European tour and play two nights at London experimental hub Cafe OTO on September 22nd and 23rd 2012.
Rapidly emerging as one of the première hubs for experimental music in this country, Cafe OTO has notched up numerous highlights thus far. Now the venue has scored another exclusive, with Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore set to play two nights later this year.
The shows come after a sold out event at the venue back in March:
Thurston Moore is expected to take part in an evening of improvisational music, with the guitarist set to be accompanied by Mats Gustafsson. Mats Gustafsson is of course on fine form right now, recently working with Neneh Cherry & The Thing. A lynchpin of the Scandinavian jazz scene, his appearance will no doubt lead the music in some furiously unexpected directions.
Ever a busy chap, Moore has also just released a second track from the Chelsea Light Moving Light band project, entitled Groovy & Linda, which can be found over at the Matador Records blog.
Following their short run of June UK shows, iconic southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd have today announced a short November tour in the UK, calling in at Gateshead, Norwich and London's Shepherd's Bush Empire.
Technical difficulties delayed the start of The Cure's headlining performance at Spain’s Bilbao BBK Live festival on Thursday night. So rather than leave the large crowd stewing while repairs were done, Smith filled the time himself, emerging with an acoustic guitar and playing solo versions of three well-selected Cure songs, and stating "Don’t applaud too loudly or you’ll give me ideas.".
Today, american alt-rockers The Killers have announced a one-off UK headline show at Leeds' O2 Academy on Friday August 17th, which will act as a warm-up for the band's headline sets at V Festival on the following two days.
Having only last week dropped the single Runaways, the show will most likely see the band debuting further songs from their new album Battle Born, due for release on September 17th.
A series of producers worked on the album, including Madonna collaborator Stuart Price, Steve Lillywhite, Damian Taylor and Brendan O'Brien. Songs confirmed to appear on the album include Heart Of A Girl, Flesh And Bone, Carry Me Home as well as new single Runaways.
Speaking about the album's title, the band's frontman Brandon Flowers said:
"Whenever I needed help, lyrically, I thought of that phrase and it helped me… There's some triumphant moments."
As the band's first album for over four years, Battle Born is the follow-up to the band's 2008 effort Day & Age and is the fourth album of their career to date.
Hard Rock Calling has come under fire after pulling the plug on Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney. The London area had suffered during last week's terrible weather, forcing the postponement of several outdoor events as the ground underneath grew increasingly unstable.
Organisers vowed that Hard Rock Calling would go ahead, with the weekend promising an array of live music. Sadly, it seems that the restrictions placed on Hyde Park have spoiled one of the festival's stand out moments.
Playing a three hour set on Saturday night, Bruce Springsteen invited Paul McCartney out onstage for the encore. Ripping through I Saw Here Standing There the pair then belted out Twist and Shout to the delight of the crowd.
Moving to thank the audience, the pair discovered that their microphones had been switched off. E Street mainstay Steven Van Zandt later took to Twitter to express his outrage:
"Is there just too much fun in the world? We would have been off by 11 if we'd done one more. On a Saturday night! Who were we disturbing?"
"One of the great gigs ever in my opinion. But seriously, when did England become a police state?"
Organisers Live Nation quickly commented:
"It was unfortunate that the three hour plus performance by Bruce Springsteen was stopped right at the very end but the curfew is laid down by the authorities in the interest of the public's health and safety. Road closures around Hyde Park are put in place at specific times to make sure everyone can exit the area in safety."
Pink Floyd star Roger Waters has beaten Bruce Springsteen to the top of the concert ticket sales list so far this year. The rocker's The Wall Live show has grossed almost $160 million (£100 million) in sales globally to make Waters the biggest live act so far in 2012.
Kodacrome is Elissa Pociask (synth, vocals), Ryan Casey (drums, electronics), and Phil DaRosa (guitar/bass). Elissa designs energetic, interwoven pop melodies with haphazard structures, layered vocals, and mean lyrics. Ryan builds rich, textured soundscapes which can fall anywhere in between delicate and grimy. Easy on the head and heavy on the pretty.
Iconic guitarist Johnny Marr is to join Bryan Ferry onstage at this weekend’s GuilFest, it has been announced.
The former Smiths man will be along side Ferry for his entire headline appearance on Sunday, July 15th, with Ferry planning to perform a set comprising of solo material and some favourites from the Roxy Music back catalogue.
Ferry and Marr first met back in 1987 when Marr appeared on the Bete Noir album, and has also recently been in the studio with Ferry working on a new album. Ferry has said of the live hook-up;
"Johnny has previously performed with us on TV and at some smaller events but I am thrilled that he will be playing a full show with us for the very first time at GuilFest."
For a taster, check this Youtube clip of Love Is The Drug, presumably from one of the aforementioned 'smaller events':
GuilFest will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year, and will be treated to performances on the Main Stage from the likes of Jools Holland and Jimmy Cliff.
Hip-hop trailblazers Run-D.M.C. are set to reunite for a performance at this year's Fun Fun Fun Fest, which runs from November 2nd to the 4th in Austin, Texas. The two surviving members, Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, will headline the main stage.
Festival producer James Moody said in a statement;
"We couldn’t be more excited, Run-D.M.C. is one of our favorite bands, and one of the most influential groups of all time . . . We never thought that we would get to see [them] play live, much less play in Austin at our festival."
"This is as big as it gets. We are so proud to be working with them."
The Fun Fun Fun appearance will mark the first time Run-D.M.C. has performed since 2002, when they retired the name following the tragic death of DJ and producer Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell. To honor Jay's life, Fun Fun Fun Fest is working with Run-D.M.C. to donate a portion of the proceeds to the JMJ Foundation for Music, which helps provide children and young adults with access to the arts, regardless of socio-economic status.
Now in its 7th year, the 2012 Fun Fun Fun Fest finds Run-D.M.C. performing alongside a shortlist that includes Atlas Sound, Rakim, Against Me!, The Head and the Heart, Danny Brown, Bob Mould and many more. The full lineup will be announced on July 12th.
Festival goers will also see a solo set from McDaniels previewing his upcoming album.
English indie titans Pulp have this morning announced a home-coming show at Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena on December 8th, two years after they initially announced their reformation.
Jarvis Cocker and co. have slowly been immersing themselves back into the music game since their decision to reunite and spent last year performing at festivals across the world. Now, they’re ready to perform in their hometown arena for the first time since the reunion – a show described as ‘a journey back to where it all began’.
The announcement of the show came this morning via the band’s website, and will take place on December 8th later this year. Tickets go onsale this Friday (July 13th) at 9am. The Pulp People website also posted this message with the announcement:
"The day that (almost) never happened. A journey back to where it all began. May the circle be unbroken. Tissues optional."
It’s not the first time the band have used their website to give off cryptic messages – their page previously said at the start of the year:
"You think you get off that lightly? You think this is over? There are so many questions left unanswered: Can this feeling travel across the Atlantic? Can we make the desert bloom? Can we conquer our phobias? And most fundamentally: Why me? Why you? Why here? Why now? 2012: The year we get some answers?"
In 2007 Foreigner celebrated their 30th anniversary and played more shows in more countries than ever before. The band have sold over 70 million records world wide. Only Foreigner have sold more albums for the Atlantic Records label.
Alexisonfire have confirmed that they will be undertaking one final tour this summer.
The band parted ways earlier this year after guitarists Dallas Green and Wade MacNeil both announced their intention to leave the group. Green left to concentrate on his folk-project City And Colour, while MacNeil has replaced Frank Carter as the frontman of Gallows.
Alexisonfire released their self-titled debut album in 2002 and went on to release three more studio LPs - Watch Out!, Crisis and their final LP, 2009's Old Crows/Young Cardinals.
MacNeil revealed the band's plans to tour once more, tweeting on Friday:
"Seems like the cats out of the bag. Alexisonfire will do one final tour. In no way will this impact Gallows. Our new record is out in a few months and it will rip your face off."
As of yet, there have been no confirmations about which countries it will include, but full details of the tour are expected to be announced in due course.
This week Blur debuted their first new material since 2010, live via their Twitter channel (@blurofficial) when they performed two new songs (Under The Westway and The Puritan) on a worldwide live video stream on Monday 2nd July.
Following a hugely successful summer UK tour, pioneering American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega returns for a very special anniversary show on October 16th at London's Barbican, celebrating 25 years since the release of the universally renowned Solitude Standing album.
With songs such as Tom’s Diner and the Grammy nominated/ MTV award winning Luka, Solitude Standing became Suzanne’s best known and most critically acclaimed album. Following this she became regarded as the vanguard of a new generation of female singer-songwriters.
This one off London show will see the album performed in its entirety plus a selection of Suzanne’s other classic material.
Suzanne’s career received an extra boost in the early 90's when UK-based dance duo DNA released a remix of a cappella song Tom's Diner, which charted worldwide. Her music has inspired a generation of female singer-songwriters such as KT Tunstall, Tracy Chapman, and Alanis Morissette.
In 2010 and 2011, Suzanne released an exclusive collection, consisting of three ‘best of’ albums - Close-Up, with the most recent Volume 3: States of Being, released in the summer of 2011. The series of albums explores her whole catalogue of work - the basis for which is the main inspiration for this tour. Her next offering of the series - Volume 4: Songs of Family follows in September 2012.
Bloc Weekend, which kicked off last night at London's Pleasure Gardens, has been shut down due to crowd safety concerns.
The 15,000 capacity festival which was set to feature sets from Orbital, Snoop Dogg, Gary Numan, Battles and a host of other electronic acts, was dogged with crowd control problems from the word go, which reportedly stemmed from a confusing ticketing process.
Last night Twitter (#bloc/#bloc2012) was rammed with confused, angry and upset festival-goers, who were left in the dark by the organisers, their own social media feeds continuing as if nothing was awry. Some reports even suggest that the stampede caused injuries, and possibly something more serious.
The festival organisers have since released the following statement via their Facebook page/Official Site:
"By now everyone will have heard that Bloc 2012 was closed due to crowd safety concerns. We are all absolutely devastated that this happened, but the safety of everyone on site was paramount. Given the situation on the ground, we feel that it was the right decision to end the show early."
"Bloc will not open on Saturday 7th July so please don’t come to the site. Stand by for full information on refunds."
This weekend could be an ideal time to head over to Ripley, Derbyshire. Running since 2007 at Swanwick Junction on the Midland Railway the event offers noisy guitar bands, steam train rides and real ale, a combination that to be frank, is hard to top.
Coachella Festival will remain in its current location and continue in 2014, after a row over tax was settled last night (July 5).
The organisers of the California festival, which hosted sets from the likes of Radiohead, Dr. Dre, The Black Keys, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Arctic Monkeys and a whole host of others this year, had threatened to move the event from its current home of the Empire Polo Club and miss out 2014 after councillor Sam Torres had said he would propose a new tax on events with capacities of over 2,500.
According to Goldenvoice president Paul Tollett, whose company run the festival, the tax would raise ticket prices by $36 (£23) each and would mean the company would have to move the festival.
However, last night, it was announced that Torres has now backed down. He said the following in a press release:
"I don't take a threat from Paul Tollett lightly. I cannot in good conscience allow this to happen no matter how dire the city’s circumstance. My sincere hope is that we can now move past this episode and I personally look forward to working to enhance relationships."
Four-piece, These Monsters, are familiar faces in the Leeds music scene. Having previously inhabited the Post Rock realm, complete with saxophones and full experimental vibe, the band have now hinted at a new direction.
In celebration of the upcoming release of their debut album on Heavenly Records, psych-folk princesses Stealing Sheep invited their friends down to The Kazimier's brand new Garden space to perform this collaborative version of their new single Shut Eye.
This latest Obscenic Sessions video captures Becky, Emily and Lucy in celebratory mood: the trio have just announced that their first full length LP Into The Diamond Sun will be released via Heavenly on 3rd September.
The band wished "A big thanks to all the musicians who made it down, and to the Kazimier crew for hosting us!"
If you want to catch Stealing Sheep at the venue then you can soon: they are headlining everisland's Kazimier Garden Gathering on 14th July for what will be a stunning event. They will also be out on the road at a variety of festivals this summer, including Green Man Festival, Standon Calling and Secret Garden Party.
Bloodstock Open Air (B-O-A) is the UK’s biggest independent metal festival. Held at the picturesque location of Walton on Trent in Derbyshire, B-O-A has won the hearts and minds of fans of heavy rock and metal by consistently showcasing the strongest metal line up on UK soil.
Boasting over 100 international rock and metal acts across four stages, Bloodstock has announced some very special bands for this year's festival, easily topping the likes of Download and Sonisphere (which was sadly cancelled this year). The festival is a refreshing alternative to the overbearing commerciality of the big UK rock festivals. The family-run festival has an air of comforting friendliness to it that its larger competitors at Knebworth and Donington can never offer.
2012 sees Bloodstock attracting its biggest headliner to date in groove metal arena titans, Machine Head. Widely regarded as one of the finest live bands around, their Saturday night headline slot will surely be a historic occasion. Meanwhile, the night after, rock legend Alice Cooper will headline the very same Ronnie James Dio Stage, bringing his traditional theatrics and a whole barrel of indispensable anthems. Friday night sees Polish blackened thrashers Behemoth complete the trio of headline acts. Having been forced to pull out of Bloodstock two years ago due to frontman Nergal’s leukaemia, Behemoth will be roaring back into action at Bloodstock this year.
Other acts featured on the bill include Testament, Dimmu Borgir, Watain, Mayhem, Crowbar, Corrosion Of Conformity, Paradise Lost, Hatebreed, Sepeltura, Anvil and newer names like The Black Dahlia Murder and Evile.
Friday night will also see a special performance by Dio's Disciples in tribute to the great man himself.
Bloodstock 2012 will be taking place at Catton Hall, Walton-on-Trent in Derbyshire from the 9th-12th August. For more information, just visit www.bloodstock.uk.com.
the view from the bottom (megaforce records)
between the time and tides (pias)
Sonic Youth veteran Lee Ranaldo just recently released his solo LP Between The Times And Tides, and in a fairly unexpected turn of events (from the point of view of SY fans at least), it turns out that even avant-garde experimental noise-gods can do 'songs' when the wind blows in the right direction. And do them rather well.
body faucet (vagrant)
Reptar expand on the amiable melodies and rambunctious energy of last year's debut EP, Oblangle Fizz Y'all, with their first full-length, Body Faucet where they have joined forces with producer Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Washed Out).
Reading and Leeds boss Melvin Benn has called for ticket touts to be banned at festivals.
In an article for The Independent, Benn – who also organises Latitude festival, says the government should restrict secondary ticketing for festivals in the same way it has for the Olympics – where tickets can be re-sold at face value with permission from Olympic authorities.
"I don't, unlike ticket touts, want to see ordinary people priced out of going to see concerts, plays or matches in a time of austerity,"
"I also believe it's very unfair that the profits made on secondary ticket sales go not to the organisations that take on the risk of mounting cultural events like Latitude, which brings together hundreds of bands, theatre companies, writers and artists, nor to the charities we work with. Instead, they go straight into the pockets of touts, who in turn then pay no tax on their profits."
Ticket touting is illegal for football matches, but the market for secondary ticket sales for live music events is unregulated and tickets can be re-sold for however much touts can get for them.
Benn, along with some music industry representatives, have called for a 10 per cent profit cap on the resale of tickets to avoid sellers charging fees way beyond the face value of a ticket.
Tuesday's weekly selection of new tunes and sessions comprising this week's 'Staff Picks' from the Gigseen TV office ... New music featured from The Wedding Present, The King Blues, Grizzly Bear, and Laetitia Sadier.
This week Gigseen are bringing you another fantastic concert to enjoy at your own leisure. Our Gig of The Week featured concerts are completely FREE all week - all you have to do is register at Gigseen TV, sit back and relax as we bring you The Doors.
Priority tickets for Status Quo's ten-date winter 'Quofestive' tour are now available to fans in an exclusive online only pre-sale until Friday 6th July.
The Doors were founded by Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison in Los Angeles in 1965. They released their eponymous debut album, which contained their hit single Light My Fire, in 1967 and went on to be one of the most controversial and influential rock acts of the sixties.
Fresh off the startling and undeniable impact of its lead single Film The Police, B. Dolan makes an unexpected return to drop off the House Of Bees Vol. 2 LP. Adding to what's already been an incredible summer for indie rap, Dolan and UK mixmaster Buddy Peace present 60 minutes of finely crafted material to shatter all expectations conjured by the word 'mixtape'.
A single lightning bolt injured 51 festival-goers in Leipzig, Germany.
The With Full Force festival in Germany was struck by lightning, with witnesses confirming that fans were thrown into the air in the electric explosion. Three people were admitted to a nearby hospital’s intensive care unit with serious injuries.
The festival featured a line-up including the likes of Machine Head, Soulfy, Children of Bodom, Flogging Molly and Trivium among others. The bill was also supposed to have included Lamb Of God, but they were forced to cancel after the arrest of frontman Randy Blythe in Prague on a manslaughter charge.
Violent conditions built up throughout the evening on Saturday, resulting in the huge thunderstorm which struck around 2am. The web of lightning overhead was described as “like a strobe light”. It was also reported that the bolt “left behind a wasteland of destroyed tents, panicked guests and a venue flooded with mud and deep puddles.”
Queen were joined by Adam Lambert for a charity performance in Kiev over the weekend.
The band performed in support of the Anti-Aids Foundation charity concert at Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kiev, Ukraine.
The show was the largest social and cultural event of Euro 2012 and attracted hundreds of thousands of people on the main square of Ukraine and was seen by millions of viewers on TV screens throughout Ukraine and Poland.
The full set-list was:
Encore:
The concert starts at 15:10 minutes in.