Alphabeat have announced they will release their new album ‘The Spell’ on March 1st on Polydor. It will be preceded by new single, what they describe as “melancholic-house monster”, ‘Hole In My Heart’, on February 22nd.
Alphabeat are special for a number of reasons. For one, they’re from the Danish version of Motown – their hometown of Silkeborg is famous for its huge number of car dealerships. For another, there’s loads of them, six in fact. Anders SG sings, as does Stine, Anders B plays guitar and some keyboards and is quite the whizz in the studio, Rasmus is the band’s resident keyboard player, Anders R plays bass and is another keyboard player while Troels is the drummer – without him, there is nothing. They went to school together and aged fifteen (they’re now all in their early 20s) they formed a band. They first moved to London in the summer of 2007 around the release of their debut top ten album This Is Alphabeat and the huge pop smashes and playlist staples Fascination, Boyfriend and 10,000 Nights. They lived in a big house together. In Hackney. Now, rather sensibly, they live in three different houses
Alphabeat have recently been confirmed as the main support act on Lady GaGa’s Monster Ball tour in the UK in February. In a recent interview with VH1 she picked them as one of her favourite new acts, saying “I really love Alphabeat, they’re great and they’re going to come out on tour with me.”
Check the dates after the break. Read more
The Maccabees are set to headline the Shockwaves NME Awards Tour 2010, with Bombay Bicycle Club, The Big Pink and The Drums completing the stellar line-up. The tour kicks off in Newcastle on 4 February 2010 and culminates on the 20th February at London’s Brixton Academy. The South London five-piece recently played a triumphant home-coming headline show at this very venue, from which The Guardian ran a five star review, acknowledging that “The Maccabees’ star has risen spectacularly in 2009”.
In October The Maccabees headlined the Lake of Stars festival in Malawi, Africa and are currently on tour with Editors in Europe. Both bands return briefly to London to play a Little Noise session at the Union Chapel in Islington in aid of Mencap on Monday 16th November. Read more
Acclaimed Glaswegian rock band Twin Atlantic are set to continue their quest for greatness into 2010 with their biggest headline tour to date in the UK before they go off to the USofA in support of their debut mini album ‘Vivarium’ which was release this year on the newly founded Redbull Records.
JAN 26: SOUTHAMPTON, Joiners – 0238 8022 5612 / www.joinerslive.co.uk
JAN 27: CARDIFF, Clwb Ifor Bach – www.ticketweb.co.uk
JAN 28: LONDON, Borderline – 08448 472 465/ www.ticketweb.co.uk
JAN 29: NOTTINGHAM, Rock City – 0871 3100 000 / www.alt-tickets.co.uk
JAN 30: BIRMINGHAM, Academy 3 – 0844 477 2000 / www.ticketweb.co.uk
FEB 01: SHEFFIELD, Academy 2 – 0844 477 2000 / www.ticketweb.co.uk
FEB 02: LEEDS, Cockpit – 0113 245 4650 / www.lunatickets.co.uk
FEB 03: MANCHESTER, Night & Day – 0161 832 111 / www.gigsandtours.com
FEB 04: NEWCASTLE, Digital – 08444 771 000 / www.yourfutureisdigital.com
FEB 06: GLASGOW, ABC – 08444 999 990 / www.gigsinscotland.com
The indefatigable 5 headed pop colossus that is Hot Chip have announced a return to the live arena with a UK tour in February that will span the length and breadth of the UK culminating in two back to back shows at Brixton Academy on February 26th & 27th (live dates listing below).
Furthermore, in a message posted on their website the quintet of Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Felix Martin and Owen Clarke also revealed that they were putting the ‘finishing touches’ to their fourth studio album. The new, as yet untitled album is the follow up to 2007s gold-selling ‘Made In The Dark’ and although very few details of the album’s sound / direction are clear, being a Hot Chip album it’s inevitably going to be full of devious musical experimentation, killer pop hooks, heartfelt & soulful introspection and naturally, more than a few surprises. Read more
Lady Gaga – the biggest selling new artist of the year bar none – has announced a major UK arena tour for February-March 2010. The Monster Ball will be her first UK shows of 2010, and the first chance for fans to hear live renditions of new songs from her revamped album, The Fame Monster, due for release on 23 November.
The Monster Ball comprises the following shows:
Thursday 18 February Manchester MEN Arena
Wednesday 24 February Liverpool Arena
Friday 26 February London O2
Monday 1 March Glasgow SECC
Wednesday 3 March Cardiff CIA
Thursday 4 March Newcastle Arena
Friday 5 March Birmingham LG
Sunday 7 March Sheffield Arena
Monday 8 March Nottingham Arena
Tickets go on sale Friday 30 October at 9am and are available from www.aeglive.co.uk or via the 24hr hotline 08444 775775.
The Fame Monster is a two-disc re-package of Lady Gaga’s 4 million-selling debut The Fame. It will feature the entire breakthrough album – including the hit singles Just Dance, Poker Face, Paparazzi and LoveGame – alongside eight entirely new songs, including the new single Bad Romance, which is available to download now.
From the ashes of the phenomenally successful Beautiful South, itself formed from the Housemartins, comes the New Beautiful South, and they tour the UK this November.
After the original band broke up 2 years ago, famously citing “musical similarities”, a number of the band decided to reunite and resurrect the songs and the sounds of this Great British Pop institution by dipping into the Beautiful South songbook as well as writing new material. Find out the November dates from their official website.
Carrying on where they left off Dave Hemingway & Alison Wheeler (Vocals), Dave Stead (Drums), Damon Butcher (Keys), Tony Robinson and Gaz Birtles (Brass) are now joined by Phil Barton (guitar), Karl Brown (Percussion) and Steve Nutter (Bass).
The driving force behind the original band Paul Heaton continues to pursue his solo career.
Strikingly individual, twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid have over the years enjoyed huge success across the globe as the emotional honesty, political fire, wit and sing-along raucousness of their songs and their extensive touring has enlightened and entertained fans new and old.
The Proclaimers have carved out a niche for themselves in the netherworld where pop, folk, new wave and punk collide. In the process they have enjoyed Gold and Platinum singles and albums in UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The boys are currently in the middle of the UK leg of their tour, MusicRiot will be at their Cardiff gig and a review will be available soon after.
Get all the dates of their tour from: http://www.theproclaimersofficial.co.uk
South London 5-piece The Maccabees ended 2007 on a wave of praise for their “consistently excellent, willfully eccentric debut” (The Observer). “Colour It In” was hailed by NME as “The best alt.pop record of 2007. No contest” and crowned Album of The Year by Artrocker magazine.
Now the celebrated gang of musical romantics are back. They have finished work on their new album and, as a taster, are giving away a track hot from the studio. “No Kind Words” is available to download from www.themaccabees.co.uk. The download is being given away as a present for patient fans eagerly anticipating the follow-up to their debut.
The celebrated five-piece play their first live dates of 2009 with two club shows in London in February and an Xfm Presents at the Barfly on 5th March prior to their headline tour. They will play London’s Electric Ballroom, their first London headline since the triumphant sold-out Roundhouse show at the end of the “Colour It In” tour in 2007. Read more
Gary Go is confirmed to support Take That on their record breaking UK tour playing to over a million people including the venue at the end of road that he grew up – Wembley Stadium.
It has to be the most enviable support slot a new artist or band could ever dream of… To play live in front of over a million people in the space of a month, at venues like Wembley Stadium and Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. This is about to become a reality for 24-year-old Wembley raised singer-songwriter Gary Go who has been confirmed to do just that when he joins Take That on their entire record breaking UK summer stadium tour.
It’s even crazier for Gary Go seeing that he grew up in Wembley on the road that leads to the Stadium and spent many a day with the window open hearing the huge roars from various concerts or football matches. Now he’ll be watched and heard by 72,000 people a night for four nights at the very same place. Read more
We are excited to let you know the details of the late 2008 tour of MusicRiot fave Flamboyant Bella.
The group, who have featured on two MusicRiot Presents.. podcasts, kick off their tour on hometurf of Hitchin before moving around the country.
| Nov 2008 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | 20:00 | Homecoming at Remix 14+ | Hitchin |
| 26 | 19:30 | Academy 2 14+ | Liverpool |
| 27 | 19:30 | King Tuts 14+ | Glasgow |
| 28 | 19:30 | Dexters | Dundee |
| 29 | 19:30 | Cabaret Voltaire 14+ | Edinburgh |
| 30 | 19:30 | Academy 2 14+ | Newcastle |
| Dec 2008 | |||
| 2 | 19:30 | Fibbers | York |
| 3 | 19:30 | Bar Academy 14+ | Birmingham |
| 4 | 19:30 | Club Academy 14+ | Manchester |
| 5 | 19:30 | Sugarmill 14+ | Stoke |
| 6 | 19:30 | Rescue Rooms 14+ | Nottingham |
| 8 | 19:30 | Arts Centre 14+ | Norwich |
| 9 | 19:30 | Arts Centre 14+ | Colchester |
| 10 | 19:30 | Junction 14+ | Cambridge |
| 11 | 19:30 | Joiners 14+ | Southampton |
| 13 | 19:30 | Academy 14+ | Oxford |
| 14 | 19:30 | Thekla 14+ | Bristol |
