THE HUMAN LEAGUE, ABC and HEAVEN 17 will tour the UK together under the banner 'The Steel City Tour'. The tour will play ten shows around the country stating in Glasgow in late November and finishing in Sheffield, the hometown of all three bands, on December 13th. See GIGS for all the dates or NEWS to download the official flyer in pdf format.
GARY NUMAN has been added to the bill of The Mighty Boosh Festival which will take place in Kent on July 5th.
KIM WILDE, HOWARD JONES and KAJAGOOGOO have all withdrawn from the forthcoming '80s Idols' event which was due to take place in Bratislava on May 23rd. The bands all tried to make the show work but unfortunately failed due to the promoter failing to fulfill his contractual obligations to the acts.
MADONNA has announced the first dates of a world tour to celebrate the release of her number one album 'Hard Candy'. The 'Sticky & Sweet Tour' will start in Cardiff on August 23rd and move through the UK, Europe, the USA and Canada. See GIGS for all the dates. The tour is also scheduled to visit Mexico and South America with dates expected to be announced shortly.
CLARE GROGAN is writing a series of three 'Tallulah Gosh: Schoolgirl Popstar' books for children about a girl whose adventures revolve around being in a band. The books, which will start appearing in October with the publication of 'Tallulah and the Teenstars', will be aimed at 8-11 year olds and draw from Clare Grogan's own experiences in ALTERED IMAGES.
DEPECHE MODE are reported to be back in the recording studio to start work on their new album which has a provisional release date on March 2009.
CAROL DECKER will release her second solo single 'Don't Stop Believing' as a commercial download on July 7th. The track will be available as a radio mix and a house mix.
MADNESS have announced three special album launch shows at London's Hackney Empirein June during which they will perform their new album 'The Liberty of Norton Folgate' in full, followed by a selection of Madness classics. See NEWS for more details.
ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN are to perform their 'Ocean Rain' album in its entirety at New York's Radio City Music Hall on October 1st. As with the forthcoming UK 'Ocean Rain' concert the band will be joined by an orchestra for the performance. The band are currently finishing work on their new album which will be entitled 'The Fountain' which is awaiting a release date but will be preceded by a single 'I Think I Need It Too' in August.
CLARK DATCHLER, the original JOHNNY HATES JAZZ vocalist now working as a solo artist with a new album ready for release, has announced two London dates at The Pigalle Club in June. See GIGS for details.
THE BLUE NILE will play a rare London show on July 13th at the city's Somerset House as part of the venue's annual Summer concert series.
MARC ALMOND has recorded a two track CD entitled 'Gabriel And The Lunatic Lover' with Michael Cashmore. The songs are versions of Russian poems, written by the 18th century poet Eric Count Stenbock, set to music. The CD is available from the official Marc Almond website.
BLONDIE will mark the 30th anniversary of the 'Parallel Lines' album with a reissue of the influential album as well as the previously announced tour dates. The anniversary edition of the release will feature the original album with the addition of four bonus tracks as well as a DVD featuring three music videos and a previously unreleased TV performance from 'Top Of The Pops'. See NEWS for more tracklisting information.
MORRISSEY has been added to the bill of Spain's Benicassim Festival in July, joing a bill that already includes performances from SIOUXSIE and TRICKY.
HOWARD JONES will play a one-off concert in Dublin, his first show in the city for around fifteen years, on June 28th at The Helix. The show will be part acoustic and part electric.
TINA TURNER has announced the first dates for her forthcoming comeback tour, her first live dates for seven years. See GIGS for all the dates.
KID CREOLE AND THE COCONUTS, BELINDA CARLISLE and CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT will all play live sets at the HERE AND NOW CHRISTMAS PARTY concert and clubnight which will take place from 8pm to 2am at London's Indigo 2 on December 18th. Here And Now also released a 3-CD compilation album of 80s hits this week entitled 'Here And Now - The Very Best Of The 80s' featuring 56 of the decade's most loved hits and including tracks from KAJAGOOGOO, KIM WILDE, NIK KERSHAW, BANANARAMA, HOWARD JONES and ADAM AND THE ANTS.
