Athlete
This concert is going to be a sell-out so get your tickets while they’re still available.
The indie rock band from Deptford, London earned a Mercury Music Prize nomination for their first album Vehicles and Animals and sold over 250,000 copies.
A second album Tourist, which reached the number one spot in the album charts, contained the emotive single, Wires which was a massive hit and secured them the Ivor Novello Award for best contemporary song. Inspired when lead singer, Joel Pott’s baby was born prematurely and rushed into intensive care, Wires was one of the major songs of 2005.
This tour is in support of their 4th studio album, Black Swan with Fiction Records and release of the first single Superhuman Touch which is also to be released in America.
Concerts are guaranteed to go down a storm. Pott’s voice has a gritty edge that compliments the sensitivity of many of the tracks. Singalong anthems and great lyrics will mix with catchy indie rock and electronic music with integrated organic sounds.
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Gary Numan
Calling all Numanoids – the “godfather of electronic music”, Gary Numan is back to perform in a mini tour in cities including Edinburgh, Norwich, Cardiff, Brighton and Manchester.
Gary Numan’s songs like Cars and Are Friends Electric are still as fresh today as they were in the late 70s and 80s but the king of electro-pop is still evolving as an artist and songwriter, writing new tracks that combine industrial and electronic with rock guitar.
Numan has always inspired strong loyalties in his followers who supported him through a hiatus in the 80s and 90s and called themselves Numanoids, reflecting Numan’s own slightly alien and otherworldly persona created by his flamboyant sense of style and make-up. Now, however Numan is back on planet earth with a host of bands and artists like Jarvis Cocker, Damon Albarn and Matt Sharp, David Bowie, Marilyn Manson and Noel Fielding queuing up to cite him as a major influence in contemporary music.
Composing songs from the age of 15, Numan rose to prominence with Tubeway Army. New wave oriented tracks included Down in the Park which didn’t reach the charts but became one of his most frequently covered songs, featuring in moves like Times Square. In 1979, the single, Are Friends Electric? climbed to number one after seven weeks in the charts and an album, Replicas followed suit. When Cars also peaked at number on in the UK and in the US, Numan set off on a schedule of sell-out tours.
Recent chart successes with Rip and Crazier mean that he is back in vogue and back on tour. But he is also an evolving performer who is not content to ride of the back of nostalgia. Recent projects like the highly successful Replica and Telekon tours have seen him performing classic albums in their entirety thus celebrating the works themselves rather than trotting out hit singles. In doing so he’s gone a long way to shedding the 80s pop star label and has established himself as Gary Numan, musician and performer.
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Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is one of the best kept secrets of rock and roll. Inadequately described as a “psychedelic rock outfit”, the group provides some of the most unusual, complex and interesting music of today.
Dedicated fans of course will need no introduction; Porcupine Tree has been around since 1987. Founded by Steven Wilson in Hemel Hempstead, the band got its roots from the ambient sounds of groups such as Tangarine Dream and Neu!
As a result, Porcupine Tree became album oriented, creating conceptual records like those of their musical heroes, with interwoven tracks and a concentration on musical atmosphere. Up the Downstair was described by Melody Maker in 1993 as a “psychedelic masterpiece…one of the albums of the year.” Famous for their layered symphonic sounds of masterpieces like Arriving Somewhere But Not Here from the 2005 album, Deadwing, the band is also known for the superb musicianship of Wilson, Wesley’s rhythm guitar and backing vocals and Richard Barbieri’s keyboards.
Porcupine Tree’s most successful single is Waiting which entered all UK indie charts, but Radioactive Toy from the album On the Sunday of Life remains a favourite with the cognoscenti and a crowd pleaser at live performances. The mixture of instrumental and songs blends hard rock with melodies and dreamy landscapes and has been compared to the progressive sounds of one of Porcupine Tree’s mentors, Pink Floyd. Performances include a light show, and screens with film projections with rapidly changing images, a result of the band’s work with Danish filmmaker Lass Hoile.
All in all, a performance by Porcupine, in all its melancholic and moody glory, exemplifies a description by Steven Wilson; “the saddest music is also the most beautiful.” We would thoroughly recommend that you get tickets for this performance from one of the coolest and most underrated bands of today.
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Paul Carrack
The versatile vocalist, keyboardist and songwriter and former front man of Mike & the Mechanics, Paul Carrack is appearing at a load of venues in a location near you.
With his impressive back catalogue of songs featuring such iconic singles as Ace’s How Long and Squeeze’s Tempted, the list of other bands Paul has played in makes striking reading. Over the years, he has worked with Roxy Music, Elton John and Roger Waters, replaced Jools Holland in Squeeze and played as a session musician for The Smiths and The Pretenders. Joining Mike & the Mechanics in 1985, Paul sang in their 1985 hit, Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground) and featured in the number one US hit The Living Years. He also established a solo career with his album, One Good Reason, charting at number 9 in the Billboard charts.
His performance at the 1990 live stage show of The Wall Live in Berlin in 1990 was one of the many high points of his career. Now alternating a successful solo profession with working as a session musician and songwriter, Paul tours extensively and has opened for bands like Supertramp with covers of his songs being performed by top artists such as The Eagles. His amazing voice and stage presence is legendary and he receives rave reviews on a regular basis. This is one concert we would recommend that you do not miss.
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ZZ Top
The veteran rockers from Texas, ZZ Top return for concerts in Europe, Wolverhampton and London. They’ve been around for 40 years but the old timers still do rock ‘n’ roll better than anyone else. With fourteen studio albums tucked under their beards and a never-ending string of hit singles, they were entered into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 for their outstanding achievements in the world of music.
The trio of Billy Gibbons, lead vocals, guitar, Dusty Hill, vocals, bass, keyboards and (aptly named) Frank Beard, drums and percussion are still the original members. Not only capable of putting on a truly gritty show, they’re brilliant musicians in their own right; Cub Koda described Gibbons as “one of America’s finest blues guitarists working in the hard rock idiom…while Hill and Beard provide the ultimate rhythm section support.”
Beloved by bikers everywhere, ZZ Top has always milked the hells angel image wearing biker leathers and boots and sporting their trademark shades and long beards. In 1984, they declined an offer of £1 million dollars each from the Gillette Company who wanted them to shave them off for a commercial, saying, “We’re too ugly without ‘em.”
The bands inception was in 1969 in Texas where they toured for several years before opening for The Rolling Stones in Hawaii. By 1974, they had a huge following appearing at shows like the Labor Day stadium concert in Austin. Later artistic reinventions came about with the use of a synthesizer sound that resulted in their signature formula of modern electronics, fuzzy guitar and danceable beats. In 2000, expanded and re-mastered versions of the original studio albums were released with additional live tracks. In 2009 they celebrated the release of their first live concert DVD, Live From Texas with the world premiere at the Hard Rock Cafe, Houston. Now they are about to celebrate their four decades as recording artists. This is one for hell-raisers everywhere.
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Editors
Tickets are on release for concerts to see the post-punk/indie band, Editors perform across the UK at venues in cities including Nottingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle, Belfast and London.
Hailed as “The second biggest British band of the decade after the Arctic Monkeys,” by The Mail on Sunday, the Editors have carved a niche for themselves in the musical scene and look set to stay there for the foreseeable future.
With songs that are defined by dark, indie guitar rock, influenced by bands like The Strokes and Joy Division, their two studio albums have sold over a million copies worldwide. The runaway success of the platinum debut album The Back Room, with its overriding atmosphere of menace, was followed up by the equally successful An End Has a Start that went straight to number one in the UK charts, and focuses on themes of death but also on the positive power of redemption.
But don’t be misled; all is not doom and gloom at an Editors concert. The menace is still there but catchy guitar riffs are supplemented by a new textured sound like the choir added in the massively successful single; Smokers Outside Hospital Doors. In other songs, multiple sounds create a layered effect. Anthemic melodies intertwine with lean and raw riffs as the multi-talented Tom Smith, with his deep and immediately identifiable vocals, alternates between piano, vocals and guitar. The more bouncy and infectious songs like Bones will have the audience erupting while a dark, underlying tension only adds to the overall atmosphere of excitement. You’ve got to be there to see it happen.
A band commentating on our times, the Editors are compelling and essential listening and must be seen live to appreciate their enormous depth and subtlety.
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Leeds Festival 2010 release dates
A limited amount of tickets have now been released for the festival in 2010 which will be held from Friday 27th August to Sunday 29th August, with ticket prices held at prices from £175 for a weekend with camping or from £70 for a day. Prices are expected to rise for the official release in March 2010 (keep watching releasedates.org.uk for details). Alternatively you can wait until the tickets are officially released online in March 2010.
Taking place in the natural arena of historic Bramham Park near Wetherby, the festival encompasses three days of the August Bank Holiday, when some of the world’s most iconic rock bands perform on four main stages, plus dance and alternative tents with DJs, comedy and cabaret.
Leeds Festival came about in 1999 when the world famous Reading Festival became so popular that it was decided to hold it in two different locations with the same acts performing at each. First held at Temple Newsham, the festival was moved to Bramham Park a year later. Since then both the Leeds and Reading Festivals have continued to blaze the trail for rock events all over the world.
Since its inception, Leeds Festival headliners have included major bands like Oasis, Blur, Iron Maiden Foo Fighters, Eminem, the Killers and the ferocious heavy metal band Metallica who performed an explosive set with pyrotechnics and flamethrowers. Bands like Arctic Monkeys and Feeder became a national phenomenon after live appearances in the famous Carling Tent. This year saw the return of the Monkeys and the exclusive and keenly anticipated appearance of Radiohead adding kudos to the event with the consolidation of the Kings of Leon as one of the most influential bands in alternative rock music today.
With tickets typically selling out only an hour after their release, watch this space for details of the line-up and official ticket release in March, 2010.
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The Big Chill release dates
Forget the soggy sleeping bags, wellies and chemical toilets; The Big Chill Festival 2010 is more about contemporary ambient music, gourmet food and good on-site facilities in a picturesque and relaxing environment. Dates for The Big Chill 2010 have been confirmed as August 5th to 8th but tickets are not being released until spring 2010 so watch this space and we’ll update you as soon as they’re available.
The king of cool of all festivals, The Big Chill has justly gained a reputation for its pioneering promotion of emerging talent and global music featuring up-tempo and chill-out performers and DJs from all over the world.
Set in the wooded grounds of Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire with its four lakes and arboretum, the festival was founded in 1994 and takes place in August every year. With several stages and tents, The Big Chill has something to offer everyone from partygoers to families. Headliners in 2009 include Basement Jaxx, Orbital and David Byrne, plus a host of DJ sets and innovative acts.
And there’s not only music on offer, there’s a full programme of workshops, top comedy acts like Sean Hughes, Dylan Moran, Josie Long and alternative poet John Hegley are just a sample of the names featured this year. Literature and film are also well represented with a range of holistic therapies on offer and an art trail, exhibitions and installations with entertainment and spaces for children.
Sales for The Big Chill are increasing year after year so remember to order your tickets for 2010 in spring 2010.
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