Bestival: Amy and Young

Winehouse and Will to headline Isle of Wight event

09 April 2008 - Amy Winehouse has been confirmed to top the bill at Bestival and Will Young will perform an acoustic set.

Underworld are also headlining at the event, which takes place on the Isle of Wight in September, and My Bloody Valentine will front the Friday night.

Will Young will be doing a gig on the Bestival Bandstand.

And some of the other acts that will be appearing are Hot Chip, The Sugarhill Gang, The Coral, Stereo MCs, Ida Maria, Late Of The Pier, Does It Offend You Yeah?, Lethal Bizzle, Hadouken and Black Kids.

The event runs from 5 until the 7 September at Robin Hill Country Park.

The first Bestival was in September 2004 and was headlined by Basement Jaxx, Fatboy Slim, Zero 7, The Bees, Mylo and Lee 'Scratch' Perry.

The event has won Best Medium-Sized Festival at the UK Festival Awards for the third year running,

Kelly Stooke

TCT first night Madness

Royal Albert Hall shaken up

08 April 2008 - Roger Daltrey's week of shows at London's Royal Albert Hall got off to a riotous start this evening, with live favourites Madness.

Suggs and Co were in fine form as they literally rocked the hall to the core, with the audience up and dancing from the very first note of One Step Beyond.

The band were supported by The Holloways and The Metros, all jangly guitars, skinny jeans and catchy pop tunes. They unfortunately felt the effects of punters not being allowed to bring drinks into the hall as many chose to stay in the bar until the headliners took to the stage.
 
At which time the hall came alive with the crowds chants of 'Ole, ole, ole, ole...' infact the band had a standing ovation before they had even begun.

The audience were made up primarily of old school Madness fans, complete with eighties Madness concert t-shirts and fez hats. Many had brought their kids along too - my favourite were a family where Mum and Dad sang the words of It Must Be Love to each other, much to the total embarrassment of their two kids.

Highlights of the set included the opener One Step Beyond, and the last six or seven tracks which had the audience in total sing-along mode, including Madness, Night Boat to Cairo, Baggy Trousers and Our House.

"It's like playing infront of a really posh block of flats" - Suggs

Suggs wasn't too chatty, but the tunes satisfied the crowd completely. He did say that playing the Royal Albert Hall was like performing infront of some really posh flats: "There's someone up there pulling their curtains, turn it down Madness!"

The band were seriously enjoying themselves as the crowd got more energetic and frantic, infact the hall seemed to shake as they launched into House of Fun. This was followed by Wings of a Dove and then Baggy Trousers brought the house down, Suggs dedicated it to Jake Riviera, founder of Stiff Records.

As an encore the band took full advantage of the organ set high up in the Albert Hall's wall, playing the opening bars to an instrumental track that soon became Madness.

Roger Daltrey did say that he was especially looking forward to seeing Madness as part of the TCT gigs and he can't have been disappointed. Just ask any one of the sweaty, voiceless and exhausted fans who trooped out into the night. 

Madness set list:

One Step Beyond
Embarrassment
The Prince
NW5
My Girl
The Sun and the Rain
Instrumental
Shut Up
Out of Space
Bed and Breakfast Man
Grey Day
Lovestruck
Forever Young
House of Fun
Wings of a Dove
Baggy Trousers
Our House
It Must Be Love

Encore:

Instrumental
Madness
Night Boat To Cairo


Ruth Barnes

Doherty jailed

Babyshambles singer breaks probabtion

08 April 2008 - Pete Doherty has been sent to jail for 14 weeks for breaking his probation order, his management and label have confirmed.

Following a 30-minute probation hearing at West London Magistrates' Court, the Babyshambles frontman was sent to prison for three and a half months.

Speaking exclusively to 6 Music from his holiday in Thailand, Babyshambles drummer Adam Ficek told 6 Music: "I feel gutted for him. He's had lots of chances, he's going to find it really difficult in there. All I can say is that the band are going to stick with him as always."

The sentence means that Doherty would miss scheduled appearances at the Royal Albert Hall (26 April) and Glastonbury (27-29 April). The Royal Albert Hall show will be rescheduled, although an early release would free him up for Glastonbury.

His label Parlophone said: "Today, Peter Doherty was sentenced to a total of 14 weeks in jail for being in breach of his probation order.

"Unfortunately Peter has had to postpone his show at the Royal Albert Hall on April 26th.The show is due to be rescheduled and all tickets will be valid for the new date once it has been announced. Peter was very much looking forward to the show and would like to offer his sincerest apologies to all his fans and to all those concerned."

Judge Davinder Lachar cleared Doherty from the remainder of a drug control order last October, but he was given a suspended jail sentence for drug and motoring offences.

At that hearing, the singer was handed a four-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years. He received an 18-month supervision order and a 12-month drug rehabilitation order.

Andre Paine

Glasto Ticket Shock

Festival-goers get a new chance to buy tickets

08 April 2008 - In a shock announcement, Glastonbury Festival organiser Michael Eavis has revealed he’ll be re-opening ticket registration for this year's festival.

Festival-goers were asked to pre-register for tickets between February 1st and March 14th in order to receive a code which enabled them to apply for tickets when they went on sale at 9am Sunday (6 April).

While the festival sold out in just 24 hours last year, Michael Eavis claimed that approximately 100,000 of the 137,500 tickets for the event had been sold by yesterday morning.

Now however, there's new chance to register and buy tickets for this year's event.

“We’ve had a lot of enquiries from people asking if they can register, especially now they realise it’s still possible to buy tickets,” Michael Eavis said in a statement today. “This will give them the chance to see the best line-up of any festival this summer.”

Registration will now re-open at 4pm today (Tuesday 8 April).

For more information and details on how to register go to www.glastonburyregistration.co.uk from 4pm.

As before, those registering will need to submit basic personal details and a passport quality photo. Once their application has been accepted they will be sent a confirmation email with a link enabling them to buy tickets immediately.

Ticket prices for a weekend ticket are £155, plus £5 booking fee per ticket and £4 post and packaging per order.

Glastonbury is taking place over the weekend of 27-29 June at Worthy Farm, Pilton Somerset.

Acts confirmed to play include headliners Kings of Leon, Jay-Z and The Verve plus Hot Chip, Neil Diamond, Spiritualized, The Levellers, Kate Nash and Dizzee Rascal.



Matt Everitt

Specials shows doubt

Exclusive: Ska band reunion not definite yet

07 April 2008 - Following news that the original line up of The Specials were planning live shows later this year, Neville Staple from the band has said the hugely anticipated reunion is dependent on how the rehearsals sound.

The Specials MC and vocalist told the  Music Week how things are progressing:

“A couple of months ago we [all] started talking,” he explained. “We had to talk first to see if we could get on, but we got past the talking stage. Then we said, ‘ Okay, let’s see what we’re like in a room together rehearsing with instruments’.

“So the musicians done that first, then Terry [Hall – singer] went down. So we’ve had two rehearsals. One where they're on their own, and then the last one where me and Terry went in.

“We’re just seeing how it goes. If it gels, it gels. If it doesn’t, you don’t wanna go out there as some old geriatrics – not me. What we've got to do is make sure the music at least is right.

"If it works, we’ll do it"
- Neville Staple

“We’re feeling it out now. It sounded alright actually but it’s gonna take more than one rehearsal.

“So if it works, we’ll do it. If not, well. I’m sorry lads and girls. But we’re trying.”

As for the possibility of the band returning to the studio to work on new material, Staple explained it is the last thing on their mind.

He said: “That’s too quick. Nah, we ain’t touching that. I’m not gonna big this up. If we do a few more rehearsals and it doesn’t seem like it’s gelling, we ain’t gonna do it because it’d be pointless.

“Y’know you don’t want them going, 'Oh God! Seen them the other day, the old fogies!’ So we’ve gotta get it right."

To hear this interview in full, listen again to the Music Week or check out the latest podcast.

Matt Everitt / Kelly Stooke

Glasto tickets on sale

Hopefuls rush to purchase tickets

06 Apr 08 - Tickets for this year’s Glastonbury Festival have gone on sale.

Demand for the much loved event is a huge as ever - with hopefuls who pre-registered for tickets racing to purchase from 9am this Sunday morning.

Although there have been no major reported problems, when the sale opened the official Glastonbury website would not let normal traffic through stating ‘the server is too busy’.

However, a Glastonbury spokesman says organisers are happy with how the systems are working so far.

This year's event features performances from Jay-Z, Kings of Leon and The Verve.

It's also been announced Dizzee Rascal will play a headline slot on the Park Stage, and the Levellers will headline the Left Field Stage following sets from Alabama 3, The Slackers, and King Blues.

Ticket price is £155 for a weekend ticket, plus £5 booking fee per ticket and £4 post and packaging per order.

Glastonbury takes place between  27-29 June at Worthy Farm, in Pilton.



Louise Hulland

Procol court victory

Front man of band wins rights to hit song

04 April 2008 - Procol Harum founder Gary Brooker has just won his court battle to reclaim full copyright control of the band's most famous hit - A Whiter Shade of Pale.

The rights to the 1967 were discussed at the Court Of Appeal in London.

Back in 2006, London's High Court awarded former keyboard player Matthew Fisher 40 percent of the copyright of the track but it has now been overturned.

Matthew Fisher had argued he had written the song's organ melody but the court ruled there was an "excessive delay" in the claim being made - nearly 40 years after the song was recorded.

The Court of Appeal agreed that Mr Fisher had contributed the organ theme but ruled that he should receive no money from past or future royalties.

"I would hope that now we can all get on with our lives"
Gary Brooker - Front man

Mr Brooker, who still fronts Procol Harum, said in a statement: "For nearly three years, this claim has been a great strain upon myself and my family.

"I believe the original trial was unfair and the results wrong.

"Justly, the decisions of the Court of Appeal have gone some way to putting this right and I would hope that now we can all get on with our lives."

In October, the Court of Appeal heard from John Baldwin QC, representing Mr Brooker, who said that Mr Fisher had failed to take the case to court earlier because he knew it would be the end of his career in the group.

He said: "He wanted to stay in the band and live the life of a pop star.

"Being a litigant was not something he could do alongside that, and he realised what he would have to give up."

He said that Mr Fisher had not alerted Mr Brooker or their record company when he decided to take action, "with the result that they could not prepare themselves to meet the claim".

Neither Mr Brooker or Mr Fisher were in court to hear this ruling.

A Whiter Shade Of Pale reached Number One in the charts on its release, and was reported to be John Lennon's favourite song of 1967.

The track has sold an estimated 10 million copies worldwide.

Kelly Stooke