MICHAEL JACKSON has announced that he will play a concert residency at London's O2 Arena in July. Billed as the 'This Is It' concerts Jackson has stated that the shows are to be his last in London, causing speculation that he is to retire from live performance. Ten dates have been announced so far with speculation that another fifteen shows might be added following news that over a million people have pre-registered to buy tickets. The shows will start on July 8th, see GIGS for details.

THE LOTUS EATERS, who are currently working on a new album, will play a rare live show at Liverpool's Philharmonic Hall on July 25th as part of the Summer Pops concerts.

PET SHOP BOYS, NINE INCH NAILS, JANE'S ADDICTION have all been added to the line-up of Scotland's T In The Park festival and Ireland's Oxegen Festival which both take place over the weekend of July 10th-12th. Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction meanwhile have announced the first of their shared US dates which will start in May. See GIGS for all the dates.

DEPECHE MODE have announced the venues for the US leg of their tour in support of their new album 'Sounds Of The Universe'. See GIGS for all the details.

EURYTHMICS' DAVE STEWART is writing songs for a planned musical version of the film 'Ghost' - which originally starred Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore - set for a West End debut in 2010.

CYNDI LAUPER is lining up European dates for the summer with shows already announced in Germany, France and Switzerland with more shows to be added soon. See GIGS for all the dates.

U2 have announced the first dates in a world tour to support their new album 'No Line On The Horizon'. The 'Kiss The Future' tour will start in Barcelona on June 30th and see further shows across Europe including UK gigs in London, Glasgow, Sheffield and Cardiff. See GIGS for all the dates. The band are meanwhile reported to be planning the release of a second album this year, a sister release to their current 'No Line On The Horizon' album, entitled 'Songs Of Ascent' which will be preceded by a single entitled 'Every Breaking Wave'...

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN, WIRE and BILLY BRAGG will all play this year's Camden Crawl festival which will take place on April 24th and 25th at various venues around London's Camden Town.

BLANCMANGE are still working on a new album and are previewing the new material on their MySpace site in the form of a video for a new track entitled 'Drive Me'. See NEWS for the video link.

SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES will reissue three of their key albums - 'Tinderbox', 'Hyaena', Nocturne' and 'A Kiss In The Dreamhouse' - on April 6th in expanded and remastered editions featuring previously unlreased tracks, remixes and demo versions. See NEWS for the full tracklisting of all four albums.

THE HUMAN LEAGUE have announced solo concerts in Sydney and Melbourne in April in addition to their shows as part of the V Festival bill. See GIGS for the dates.

MIDNIGHT OIL will reform for a pair of benefit concerts in Australia on March 14th, playing on bills in Melbourne and Sydney that also include SPLIT ENZ, ICEHOUSE and HUNTERS AND COLLECTORS. The shows, to benefit flood and bushfire charities will also feature Coldplay and Kings Of Leon.
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