WORTH A LOOK?: ***
OUT: 17/6
TRACKLIST: On My One; Gimme The Love; Love, Hope & Misery; The Love We’re Hoping For; Put Out The Fire; Never Wanna Dance; Bitter Salt; Ain’t No Rhyme; Livin’ Up Country; All That; Hold On You.
Releasing an album the week before Glastonbury is a trick that’s worked in recent years for Ed Sheeran and Florence and the Machine.
Just 1 of the reasons why we started this blog. So much to look forward to in 2016: John Grant, Fatboy Slim, Cyndi Lauper, Aluna George, Adele, Coldplay, Disclosure, New Order, Grimes, Roisin Murphy, Years and Years, Jake Bugg and St Etienne, we’re looking at you for starters. And that’s just the main stages. Our annual fix will also feature the delights from the rest including Will Young, The Feeling and Hobo Jones and the Junkyard Dogs. An opportunity to say goodbye also to Bowie and Prince.
WORTH A LOOK?: ***
OUT: 6/5
TRACKLIST: Funnel Of Love; Detour; Misty Blue; Walkin’ After Midnight; Heartaches By The Number; The End Of The World; Night Life; Begging To You; You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly; I Fall To Pieces; I Want To Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart; Hard Candy Christmas.
Kinky Boots was a nominee in our monstas for musical of 2015 and Cyndi Lauper, who rose to fame in the 80s as a pop star rivalling Madonna, was one of its authors.
43 countries, two semis and a final: 14/5. The bookies have the UK’s Joe and Jake 27th as we write this but we’ve heard all the entries and think You’re Not Alone has a shot at winning particularly with an EU referendum 23/6. Our dark horse is Croatia’s Nina Kraljić (main picture and below) who’s channelling Hounds Of Love-era Kate Bush:
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
WHERE: The O2
WHEN: 22/3, tour runs to 15/11
SETLIST: Hello; Hometown Glory; One and Only; Rumour Has It; Water Under The Bridge; I Miss You; Million Years Ago; Skyfall; Don’t You Remember; Send My Love; Make You Feel My Love; Sweetest Devotion; Chasing Pavements; Someone Like You; Set Fire To The Rain; All I Ask; When We Were Young; Rolling In The Deep.
She’s arguably the world’s biggest pop star at the moment and could’ve easily played stadiums rather than arenas on this tour.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHEN: 24/2
SETLIST: A Headful of Dreams; Yellow; Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall; Clocks; Charlie Brown; Hymn For The Weekend; Fix You; Viva La Vida; Adventure Of A Lifetime; A Skyfull Of Stars; ‘Til Kingdom Come.
From a TV audience of 600 million at the Super Bowl (pic above) this month to the 2,000-strong Indigo2 here just weeks later (pic below). ‘This is the gig that you’ll be telling your mates about for weeks afterwards,’ promises our compere for this Brits aftershow party Radio X’s Chris Moyles.
It’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2015? Over the next fortnight we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 11 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2015. Read on for the nominees for the monsta for gig of the year.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
OUT: 20/11
TRACKLIST: Hello; Send My Love (To Your New Lover); I Miss You; When We Were Young; Remedy; Water Under The Bridge; River Lea; Love In The Dark; Million Years Ago; All I Ask; Sweetest Devotion.
What’s that we hear? The sound of business as usual and no risks being taken.
33 words in 30 seconds: Adele accompanied by a grand piano clearly singing the sequel to her most beloved song, Someone Like You.
7. My Insatiable One
We’re so excited about Suede’s 7th album, film and launch show plans that we’ve compiled our top 7 of their greatest pop moments. They’ve always been a band whose B sides and extra tracks are worth seeking out and, arguably, our favourite of them is My Insatiable One (YouTube clip above) which appeared on the 12″ of 1st single The Drowners with the almost as fantastic To The Birds.
