SICK BOY: Well, at one time, you’ve got it, and then you lose it, and it’s gone forever…
I don’t mean to be dismissive, but that quote pretty much sums up Muse’s latest offering from me. I understand that they’re one of the biggest bands in the country, if not the world, and that nothing I say here is going to have the slightest effect on their huge popularity, towering album sales, or the droves of fans who will be attending their next run of sell-out gigs. Their reputation is built mainly on the back of their big album, ‘Showbiz’ and a great live act, but I get the feeling that they’ve either lost heart, or something’s turned bitter in the emotional and creative cocktail that they used to get this far. The new album pulls in a load of odd and disparate influences, from the warbling strains of the Dr. Who theme tune heard in ‘Uprising’, or the strangely mangled Queen-like bursting operatic harmonies in ‘United States of Eurasia’ (A 1984 reference?In my anti-establishment band?).
The whole album feels forced, thrown together with a mish-mash of conflicting styles and rather samey material that doesn’t really take the band forward. I don’t know whether they’re trying to emulate bands like Radiohead and Portishead in trying for something avant-garde and different by sticking in these weird elements, but it doesn’t work for me. I now prepare to take flak for the rest of the week. As a small compensation, here’s a link to the Guardian’s rather white-washy piece with a We7 streaming widget where you can listen to the whole album.
The footage for Micheal Jackson’s unfortunately ill-fated comeback tour “This Is It” that were to be performed in London has been made into a documentary. Some of the footage has been released as part of the official trailer (shown below) to the feature length documentary. The movie will be available to the masses in cinemas on October 28th and is supposedly limited to two weeks only at the box-office. (Though i’m betting they bend when the tickets sale fly!) Tickets go on sale the day before and details are available from the official movie site. The Trailer does the job i think to both fans that need confirmation that Micheal still was at the top of is game, and to the critics that have decided that the 50 date London spectacular that we were waiting so long for was never going to happen. Micheal looks healthy and surprisingly involved in some of the choreography of the show. Make your own mind up.
Maximo Park have announced that they are canceling their September US tour.
The news was released through the form of a scanned note written by the band. (supposedly in the US). The bands publicist has coined the cancellations as simply ‘illness’, whilst the band have promised “We wholeheartedly apologise to everyone who was looking forward to seeing us perform, we will do everything we can to reschedule the shows. We’ve always enjoyed visiting North America in the past and are bitterly disappointed to be missing out this time. When we return, it’ll be with as much energy and passion as ever. The band are however apperaing in the UK again mid October
The cancelled tour dates are listed below. Refunds for your tickets are available from point of purchase on the condition they are returned within two weeks.
6th September, Seattle, Bumbershoot Festival.
7th September, Vancouver, Richards on Richards.
8th September, Portland, Berbati’s Pan.
10th September, San Francisco, Grand Ballroom.
11th September, Los Angeles, Avalon.
12th September, San Diago, House Of Blues.
14th Septeber, Denver, Bluebird Theater.
16th September, Minneapolis, Fine Line Music Cafe.
wants to join the crusade of snitching on and ratting out tickets scams for this summers usual big scale events. Already the world is full of people who has received emails, phone calls or just turned up and been refused at the door.
Last year saw an unprecedented amount of festival-goers scamed into buying ‘ghost’ tickets which were never delivered without anywhere to claim a refund. Telltale ghost ticket hallmarks can be anonymous domain registrations and a huge neglect of any contact details online. This years offended gigs seem to be Reading and Leeds, T In The Park and the V-Festival.
Exitetickets.com are just one among many site that need to be shunned this year, and its not only festival tickets that are being sold un-officially. Beware of phony tickets for expensive one-off shows including, Take That, Madonna, Beyonce and others. The top three most effective ways of acting on your ticket problems can be to:
Contact your bank or credit card company. If you paid on credit card you should still be able to get a refund if you act within a few weeks. Some debit cards also offer limited fraud protection.
Report the matter to the Police, once you have a crime reference number complain to consumer direct on: 08454 04 05 06
If its too late for any of the above but you still have your fake confirmation email, forward it to webmaster@cashtopay.com and you may be compensated your money back. Then sign up with them!
Coincidently, exciteticket.com has magically closed down all of a sudden and nobody returns your calls. (but you are 2nd in the que and your call is important to us, bloody promise!) The company was however registered to a buisness park in, Pencoed, Mid Glam, and its director is a man named Mahmood Zahid, 31, and lives in a flat above a KFC in Hounslow.
The arctic monkeys will play in london’s Brixton academy later this month on August 26th and tickets go on sale today (19th).
If your already on the bands mailing list you will have a ticket allocated to you an have 24 hours to register for your ticket. This needs to be done by mid-night tonight. Each successful applicant will be notified the following day (20th) and will be limited to two tickets each.
The one off show will be the first time that the Sheffield four-some will have played in the UK since December 2007. Roomers are circulating that the band will feature songs off their new album ‘Humbug’, which will be available to the general public two days prior to that, next week on August the 24th.
Fans of the late Micheal Jackson have just 24 hours left to claim if they want their money back for the tickets they purchased for Michael’s 50 show comeback dates that were to be held in London.
Fans have two realistic options with there now useless tickets. Either keep the ticket, which contain a series of lenticular images and holograms that are set to sour in value in the next couple of decades, in the form of a memento of their fallen pop idle. Or to to contact via the web one of two ticket providers, Ticket Master, and GetMeIn.com in a mad dash attempt at getting through congested servers to try an squeeze out a refund.
Organisers and promoters AEG live issued 8 different versions of the tickets ranging from £50-£75 for a ticket before Jackson died in June. It is still unclear weather or not if the public will ever learn exactly how many of the 800,000 tickets that were issued to ticket holders have been refunded.
Wolfmother are close to releasing their second album. The band were out in force last night (August 12th) at London’s Lexington Venue where they played a set that contained new material that will feature on “Cosmic Egg”, the eagerly awaited album number two for the UK’s favorite Australians.
The band seemed to be on a bit of a slope when two thirds of its founding members slipped off to create doom buggy (AUS), a side project that will now become a full fledged act. But the recent London event marked the first time fans could see the bands new line-up in the UK, and things for the band seem to look more positive. Along with original member Andrew Stockdale we saw guitarist Aiden Nemeth, bassist Ian Peres and drummer Dave Atkins.
No extra dates have been officially issued for in or around the UK, but you can catch the band touring all over the US from August 22nd continuing upto September 6th this year. 2010 sees the band touring Australia for February and March on AC/DC’s Black Ice Tour.
Having just released what is always a difficult second album, “Jewellery Quarter”, The Twang have announced a tour of the UK later this year.
Five piece The Twang shot to the top after the success of their first album “Love it When i feel Like” in 2007, which had solid singles like “Wide Awake” and “Either Way”. The Twang managed delicious reviews from NME who pegged them as the best band in the country for the same year. “Jewellery Quarter” has already received great reviews and has been compared by some people to the Happy Mondays, and some fans put them somewhere in between the streets and the stone roses.
Live Nation has entered into a strategic alliance with South Africa’s BIG Concerts. BIG concerts will now serve as the exclusive promotion partner for Live Nation in South Africa.
BIG Concerts sells more than 400,000 tickets per year, according to a news release from Live Nation. The 20-year-old company, which was founded by industry veteran Attie van Wyk, promotes concerts in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
“This alliance provides us with a world class partner to expand our global concert platform into South Africa as the region emerges as an increasingly important touring destination for artists,” Live Nation president/CEO Michael Rapino said in a statement. “This partnership is an example of the progress we are making in identifying growth markets to strategically monetize our tours on a global scale.”
top after the success of their first album 
