ERASURE AT MIAMI'S ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL
I'm very happy to report that Erasure's first live show for four years at the Ultra Festival in Miami went very well with the band delivering a crowd-pleasing hits set (Drama, Who Needs Love Like That, Blue Savannah, Chains of Love, A Little Respect, Oh L'Amour, Love To Hate You, Stop!, Sometimes) to an enthusiastic crowd. You can see pictures of the band rehearsing, performing and being interviewed, as well as the set list and running order for the day, on the Erasure website, plus I'm hoping to get some video footage from the rehearsals, and possibly the event itself, from the band's management to share with you shortly. The Miami New Times wrote 'It is physically impossible to feel anything but boundless appreciation for life as frontman Andy Bell twirls around the stage to programmer Vince Clarke's swelling disco-pop' while The Palm Beach Post added 'Hats off to you Erasure for the mark you have made on the electronic music scene that so many people love!'. See the pictures and read more of those reviews in the news section on the Erasure website.

MUTE ADD MORE ACTS TO THE SHORT CIRCUIT FESTIVAL IN LONDON
Depeche Mode's Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher will both play special DJ sets before Erasure (and their special guests!) take the stage to headline the Saturday night of Mute's Short Circuit Festival in London on May 14th. Other acts on the Saturday night include a special guest appearance from Alison Moyet, a live collaboration between Maps and Polly Scattergood and live sets from The Residents, Laibach and Liars, while the performers on the previous night will include Richie Hawtin, a DJ set from Moby and live sets from Nitzer Ebb, Non, Richard H Kirk and Recoil.

VINCE CLARKE'S LATEST 'ANALOGUE MONOLOGUE' ONLINE NOW
The sixth webisode in Vince Clarke's increasingly irreverent series of 'Analogue Monologues' is??online now for you. Dedicated to the Polyfusion it's another winner, whether you have a deep interest in the world of vintage synthesisers or not. Music, facts, humour and a picture of some hippies, what more could you want? I've also done a lot of work on the video player on the website which will - hopefully - mean that it will stream without quite as many problems as previously... check it out!

ANDY BELL'S DINGER PROJECT RELEASE SINGLE TO BENEFIT JAPAN
Dinger - Andy Bell's musical project before joining Erasure - have today released a single from their recent 'Sunsets Pink' EP to benefit victims of the recent earthquake in Japan. 'I love To Love' was written and recorded by Andy Bell and Pierre Cope, his first musical partner, back in 1984 and was first released as the B-side to their single 'Air of Mystery' in 1985. The track was re-released in March as part of the five-track 'Sunsets Pink' EP and was chosen to be released as a single track to benefit the Japan Society by fans. More details and audio samples are available on Andy's official website.

Thanks to:??www.erasureinfo.com

ADAM ANT has announced a solo UK tour that will see him play eleven shows across the UK during May and June. The shows will be preceded by an acoustic set and a Q&A session, plus a screening of the film of Adam & The Ants 1981 tour film 'The Prince Charming Revue'. See GIGS for all the dates.

THE HUMAN LEAGUE, THE B-52s, THE FIXX and BERLIN will all appear on the bill of a special 'Totally 80s' show at LA's Hollywood Bowl on September 2nd.

TOYAH has added a London show to her upcoming run of 'From Sheep Farming To Anthem' shows and will play the Leicester Square Theatre on June 17th. See GIGS for all her dates.

KATE BUSH has announced the tracklisting for her forthcoming 'Director's Cut' album which will be released on May 16th. The album will feature re-recorded versions of songs from Kate Bush's 1989 album 'The Sensual World' and 1993's 'The Red Shoes' as well as a short film which will star Robbie Coltrane and Noel Fielding. See NEWS on the website for the full tracklisting.

INXS will headline a new London festival - Southern Sounds - which will take place on Clapham Common on June 11th.

HAZEL O'CONNOR, BOY GEORGE, CAROL DECKER, MICA PARIS and RICK ASTLEY will all appear at London's Royal Albert Hall on May 5th, as part of a line-up paying tribute to Dusty Springfield

MODERN ENGLISH have announced their first UK and French dates for twenty years and will play three UK shows and a French show in June. See GIGS on the website for all the dates.

TOP OF THE POPS is set to return to UK TV screens this week with the BBC announcing plans to rerun the classic show every Thursday night at it's original time of 7.30pm. The programmes will be transmitted in the same week as the original episode and will start off in 1976 with each show being transmitted in its entirety.

CYNDI LAUPER has now announced four UK shows in the run-up to her appearance at the Cornbury Festival on July 1st. The shows - in Birmingham, Cambridge, Brighton and London - are onsale now, see GIGS on the website for all the dates.

Thanks to: www.remembertheeighties.com

DAVID BOWIE is to release a live album in April, featuring a concert recorded during his 50th birthday celebrations at New York's Madison Square Gardens in 1997. 'Birthday Celebration - Live in NYC 1997' will feature a number of special guests including ROBERT SMITH, FRANK BLACK, SONIC YOUTH and LOU REED. See NEWS for the full album tracklisting.

ERASURE and PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED have both been added to the bill of Surrey festival Guilfest, with both bands appearing on July 17th. Public Image Limited have also announced a short run of UK dates in May and June, see GIGS for all the dates.

GARY NUMAN and PRINCE are among the artists covered on 'Medium Rare', a special edition vinyl album recorded by the Foo Fighters for Record Store Day next month. The album of covers will be released via participating shops on April 16th. See NEWS for the album tracklisting.

MEN WITHOUT HATS have announced a trio of Canadian shows in Edmonton, Clagary and Castlegar in May. See GIGS for all the dates.

ANDY BELL of ERASURE has announced that he will be hosting his own clubnight, 'A Quiet Life', at The Queen of Hoxton in East London on May 13th and will be DJing and performing a short live set at the event which promises electro, pop and eighties music!

MIKE SCOTT of THE WATERBOYS will release 'In A Special Place' on April 25th, and album of his solo piano and vocal demos recorded at the start of sessions for the album that became The Waterboys' classic 'This Is The Sea' album. The fifteen-track album will feature early versions of some of the tracks that made it onto the album, alongside a number of previously unreleased songs. The Waterboys have also announced that they will play at the London Feis, in Finsbury Park, on June 18th this year.

OMD, EDWYN COLLINS and THE WATERBOYS will all appear at this year's Latitude festival in Southwold, Suffolk between July 14th and July 17th.

PEPSI AND SHIRLIE's debut album 'All Right Now' will be reissued on April 25th in an expanded edition that also includes a previously unreleased track 'Who's Gonna Catch You' plus a further five bonus tracks. See NEWS for the full album tracklisting.

BRYAN FERRY has announced dates across Europe in April, May, June, July and August this year, including a number of shows the UK. See GIGS for all the dates.

Thanks to: www.remembertheeighties.com