The announcement has now been followed by an official confirmation tweet by Creamfields which read: “Just Announced! @swedishousemfia confirmed for a SOLD OUT Creamfields North 2023, Sunday 27th August. #CreamfieldsNorth #Creamfields2023.” You can view the full post below.

Just Announced! @swedishousemfia confirmed for a SOLD OUT Creamfields North 2023, Sunday 27th August. #CreamfieldsNorth #Creamfields2023 pic.twitter.com/sl6AC5a5CK

— Creamfields (@Creamfields) October 11, 2022

The full line-up for 2023 Creamfields North is yet to be announced but the event is scheduled to take place in Daresbury, Cheshire between 24-27 August next year. Tickets are already completely sold out, making it the fastest-selling Creamfields on record. Swedish House Mafia’s return to Creamfields comes after their last performance at the festival in 2019.

The producer trio have remained busy since then and earlier this year they released their debut album Paradise Again featuring guest appearances from A$AP Rocky, Sting and many more. They are currently on the European leg of their world tour in support of the LP. During their San Fransisco show last month, Swedish House Mafia also previewed a new Alicia Keys-assisted single titled ‘Finally’ which is yet to be released. The track is actually a cover of the Kings of Tomorrow song of the same name, which featured the singer Julie McKnight.

Creamfields originally started in Cheshire in 1998 and is one of the most popular and well renowned open-air electronic music festivals in the world. The festival had a very successful sell out this year, which marked their 25-year celebrations and continues to deliver world class line ups and next level production, with a continuous growing loyal following and is set to be Swedish House Mafia’s biggest apperance yet. Tickets for the festival went on sale on September 29 and are available for purchase here and as previously stated while the full line-up is yet to be announced you can keep up to date over the Creamfields website.

Elsewhere in the charts, The Snuts also hit number three with their second studio album Burn The Empire with Craig David returning to the charts with his eighth studio album, 22 at number seven. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have also scored their fourth top 10 album this week with their fifth record, Cool It Down. It was Slipknot who came out on top with their singles also performing vary well on streaming platforms, one of the most popular songs on the album include “Chapeltown Rag” reaching almost 19 million streams on Spotify as well as “The Dying Song (Time To Sing)” with just under 14 million with its music video reaching 15 million on YouTube, which you can view below.

Speaking about the band’s new album to NME Slipknot’s Corey Taylor said the band’s latest album most closely resembles their third record, ‘Vol. 3: (Subliminal Verses)’. Released back in 2004, that was the album where the band focused on melody, taking their songwriting in new, unexpected directions. “Musically, we’ve never shied away from a challenge,” Taylor said. “It got to the point where you’re like, ‘Where do we go?’ [We said] let’s look back for inspiration instead of trying to look forward, and let’s try to embrace some of the shit that made us wanna do this in the first place.” He then went on to say that the band worried “less about the cohesion of the album and more about the strength of the songs. Each song has its own identity, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be the identity of the album.”

This latest album is available in multiple formats, but for those who purchased it on vinyl or cassette, you may have noticed an error, the wrong title was actually printed on the cover. This was pointed out by fans on the internet who noted that the album cover actually reads The End for Now…, while the correct name can be seen on the sticker on the protective plastic wrap, however if you bought the CDs it would appear to have the correct title on them.

Classic Football Shirts also said “We’re delighted to be helping Sea Girls give something back to their fans and local communities through football. There’s now a strong list of artists and bands sponsoring their favourite football teams, but this idea to sponsor local grassroots clubs along the tour route for the band shows how much they care about their fans and it gives everyone a chance to get involved. The first kit with AFC Muswell Hill has come out brilliantly and we’re already excited to see how all these teams get on in these shirts this season.” You can view how an alternative version of the kit will look below.

Male, female and LGBTQ+ communities will represent local league teams and pre-oders are also now available here for a special upcycled, Sea Girls-sponsored shirt for general purchase, with proceeds going to the Football Beyond Boarders (FBB)charity. You can view Sea Girls’ upcoming 2022 UK headline tour dates alongside special guest Lauran Hibberd below, due to high demand, extra dates have been added as well as a n additional special DJ set from TV and Radio presenter Abbie McCarthy, you can buy tickets here. In other sport related news for the band their latest single “Falling Apart” is also set to appear on popular football video game FIFA 23.
out now

Sea Girls 2023 UK Tour:

17/11/22 Rock City – Nottingham
18/11 O2 Academy – Birmingham
19/11 O2 Academy – Glasgow
20/11 The Empire – Middlesbrough
22/11 University Great Hall – Cardiff
23/11 O2 Guildhall – Southampton
24/11 The Foundry – Torquay
26/11 O2 Victoria Warehouse – Manchester
27/11 – Liverpool, O2 Academy – Liverpool
28/11 University Of Hull – Hull
01/12 Alexandra Palace – London

Prices are continuing to soar for everything in this current climate, from food to shipping to tour buses this has meant bands have either had to rethink their touring obligations or just cancel entire legs of their tours altogether. It has affected other major bands such as Anthrax as well as many other acts. The band shared news of the cancellation via a statement on their social media which read “Due to previously unforeseen circumstances, including the recent cancelation of a festival, we are forced to cancel our fall Europe tour. Hope to see you all next summer. We’re sorry, and we’re here to answer any questions you guys have.” You can view the post in full below.

https://t.co/nds1dasExF#MinistryBand #WeAreMinistry #Ministry pic.twitter.com/KJlbi53ANj

— Ministry (@WeAreMinistry) October 3, 2022

News about the tour cancellation first came from organizers of the Damnation Festival in a Facebook post on the event’s official page, organizers said they had just received word that things were not going to go as planned. A post on the Facebook page for Damnation Festival stated:

“We’ve just been told, literally minutes ago by e-mail, that Ministry have cancelled their entire European tour due to a festival they were due to play on that run being cancelled without any warning. This is obviously a huge blow to Damnation, albeit not one that will have any impact on it taking place in Manchester in November. We haven’t really had a chance to digest the news, or even start to consider a replacement as yet, but we didn’t want our fans to find out via third parties, or worse, have Ministry fans buying tickets tonight when we know they won’t be playing.”

Hopefully this isn’t a continuing trend for much longer as fuel prices surely cant keep rising and Covid slowly becomes a distant memory otherwise it will be a long wait till we see some international bands arrive on our shores as even some bigger acts have struggled so it may be next to impossible for some of the smaller bands.

Tickets for Arctic Monkeys 2023 UK/Ireland tour are set to go on general sale next Friday (September 30) at 9am BST and you can purchase yours here. Though fans can get early access pre-sale tickets at the same time on Thursday (29) by pre-ordering their seventh studio album The Car from here.

Arctic Monkeys announce their 2023 UK & Ireland Tour with special guests @TheHives & @TheMysterines. Tickets go on sale 30 Sept at 9am. Fan pre-sale begins on 29 Sept at 9am. Pre-order ‘The Car’ from the bands webstore to get access. For more info visit https://t.co/6BDFhmmRyS pic.twitter.com/1PdSCBWmsa

— Arctic Monkeys (@ArcticMonkeys) September 23, 2022

These current dates would mean that Arctic Monkeys are still free to headline Glastonbury Festival 2023 on either the Friday (June 23) or Saturday (24). The band first formed back in 2002 have been rumoured to be making a return to Worthy Farm next summer. An unnamed source told the Sun “Alex Turner and the band are coming back to Glastonbury, and this time their set is going to be even bigger and better. The lads have signed on the dotted line and will return to the Pyramid Stage next June.” They are also set to hit the road in late May in support of their latest album, out on October 21, 2022 via Domino. Kicking off at Bristol’s Ashton Gate Stadium on May 29, the run will also include outdoor concerts in Manchester, Middlesbrough, Norwich, Swansea, Southampton, Dublin and Glasgow.

Recently (September 22) Arctic Monkeys also performed an intimate gig in Brooklyn, New York. During the special show, the group gave their recent comeback single “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball” its live debut, you can view the music video for the track below. They also treated the crowd to a pair of unreleased cuts “Body Paint” and “Mr Schwartz” from their upcoming album as well as “I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am”, another new song that was first played last month.

Arctic Monkeys’ 2023 UK/Ireland Tour:

29/05/23 Ashton Gate Stadium – Bristol
31/05 Building Society Arena – Coventry
02/06 Emirates Old Trafford – Manchester
05/06 Riverside Stadium – Middlesbrough
07 /06 Carrow Road Stadium – Norwich
09/06 Hillsborough Park – Sheffield
10/06 Hillsborough Park – Sheffield
12/06 Swansea.com Stadium – Swansea
14/06 The Ageas Bowl – Southampton
16/06 Emirates Stadium – London
17/06 Emirates Stadium – London
20/06 Marlay Park – Dublin
25/06 Bellahouston Park – Glasgow

As stated in NME Martin Talbot the Chief Executive at the Official Charts Company, said: “Congratulations to BLACKPINK. Being any kind of chart first is a record which can never be taken away, so for their new album ‘Born Pink’ to become the first UK Official Number One by a K-pop girl group is a fantastic achievement – and puts them in the record books forever!”

The rest of this week’s UK top five includes Suede‘s Autofiction at Number Two, the band’s highest chart position since 1999. The London-based rock group also claimed the best-selling album in UK independent record stores this week,. Then Rina Sawayama‘s Hold The Girl at Number Three, Marcus Mumford‘s (self-titled) (Number Four), and Pink Floyd‘s Animals reissue (Number Five).

The album was accompanied by the release of a vibrant video for the lead single “Shut Down,” which paid homage to some of BLACKPINK’s prior collective and solo releases. There where visual references to their singles “Kill This Love,” “Ice Cream,” “How You Like That,” Rosé’s “Gone,” Lisa’s “Money,” and Jennie’s “Solo”. BLACKPINK also shared two tracks from Born Pink prior to its release – first, “Ready To Love,” which premiered as part of the band’s virtual concert with PUBG. In August, they then returned with their vivacious single “Pink Venom,” which upon release broke Spotify and YouTube records for a K-pop girl group and racked up the views for the biggest music video premiere of 2022 so far. You can view the music video below.

Additionally according to The Korea Times quoting YG Entertainment citing data from Hanteo Chart, (a local market tracker) the album broke the record for the biggest first week sales by a K-pop girl group in history by selling more than 1.54 million copies in the first week of its release. BLACKPINK are also set to embark on a world tor kicking off with a pair of dates in Seoul before heading to North America and Europe which will include two shows at The O2 in London.

He wrote on his Instagram page “It seems completely hypocritical of me to advocate discussion on mental health and write songs about it if I don’t take the time to look after my own mental health, I’ve neglected myself for over a year now and haven’t dealt with things that have deeply affected me. It’s impossible to do this work on myself while on the road, and it’s exhausting feigning happiness and wellness for the sake of business.”

He then continued to say that he was “eternally overwhelmed by the love and support of our fans and hate to let you down, but the state of my wellbeing is starting to affect everything I do, including my performances [and] I refuse to go out there and not give it my all EVERY time, as you all deserve nothing less.” You can view the post below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sam Fender (@sam_fender)

Fender has always advocated for mental health awareness in his music. He also spoke to NME in 2018 about the mental health struggles tackled in his single, “Dead Boys”. He stated “I remember specifically for me as a kid growing up or as a young teenager if I ever cried or got upset in front of anybody, I would be so humiliated,” he said. “I’d be so angry with myself for being upset and then it would just become this catch 22 situation.”

The musician then added “It’s that attitude that stops men from talking and stops men from being like able to turn to each other. Me and my mates are very, very close. We all talk about our problems – especially as we’ve got older. But I  don’t think a lot of people have that. Men just need to be open and not emasculate one another.”

As well as the US shows, the Geordie musician said that UK record store dates will be cancelled for the time being, but that “hopefully we can work something out for those ticket holders, you’ll hear from us soon.”

Fender said he will “come back stronger” and mentioned his excitement for the Australian leg of his tour in late November, as well as the St James’ Park shows he’s set to play in 2023. The details and tickets for those dates can be found, here. He also recently announced details of his Live From Finsbury Park album, which will be released on December 9.

A photo of Shane and his dad was shown on the big screen as the young drummer kicked off the performance of the 1997 single. Grohl cheered him on as Shane finished the song with an immense solo. Stewart Copeland has said that he “started crying” when he saw Shane drum “My Hero”. He told CBS “It is very emotional to be here and perhaps the most emotional moment of this whole thing, because we’re all staying in one big hotel together and laughing it up, talking about Taylor and enjoying the brief time he was with us, all too brief. But the most emotional moment for me was at sound check a couple of days ago here and to see young Shane Hawkins on the drums. I started crying. He’s got it. He’s got such power, enthusiasm. He’s got his father’s stance, musical language. That was really emotional to see young Shane up there.” You can view Shane’s performance of “My Hero” below.

At its opening on Saturday September 3, the event frontman Dave Grohl promised it would be “a gigantic fucking night for a gigantic fucking person” spanning almost six hours with a set list of 50 songs. This was Foo Fighters first performance since Hawkins’ untimely death back in March. Liam Gallagher kicked off the night performing two classic Oasis songs with members of Foo Fighters, while Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith shared a touching video story. Later, Grohl’s daughter, Violet, took to the stage to perform some Jeff Buckley covers, accompanied by her father, Queens Of The Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures’ Alain Johannes and Jane’s Addiction‘s Chris Chaney.

Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich and AC/DC‘s Brian Johnson joined forces on a pair of AC/DC covers, while Mark Ronson and Violet Grohl covered “Valerie”. Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor then joined Foo Fighters for a five-song set, while The Eagles‘ Joe Walsh led a reunited James Gang in their first live performance in 16 years. Calling them the “one band that I always associated Taylor Hawkins with” Grohl joined the surviving members of Rush, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, on stage to perform some of the band’s biggest hits. The final set of the night featured Paul McCartney, Travis Barker, Nandi Bushell, Rufus Taylor (son of Roger Taylor), Josh Freese and Devo joining the Foo Fighters on stage for “Times Like These”, “All My Life”, “The Pretender”, “Monkey Wrench”, “Learn To Fly”, “These Days”, “Best Of You”, “Aurora”, “My Hero” and “Everlong” . Hawkins died aged 50 back in March of this year and was most known as the drummer with Foo Fighters, a second tribute show will take place at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum on September 27.

It comes after vinyl record sales in 2021 were at the highest they’ve been in 30 years, despite widely publicised issues with backlogs and delays. According to figures from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), at least five million vinyl records were sold last year which is an 8 per cent increase on 2020. It marked the 14th year in a row that the format has increased sales, with vinyl records making up 23 per cent of all albums sold.

At the time the BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor as quoted in Nova stated “It’s a great time to be a music fan, with wider choice on offer than ever before supported by great value. Thanks to record label investment into new music and talent, fans can purchase and collect the music they most love on vinyl, CD and even cassette, whilst also enjoying access to over 70 million songs to stream instantly whenever and how often they want, in turn enabling a new generation of artists to create music and sustain successful careers in a global market.”

The surge in interest of vinyl is a very intriguing  subject, below is a video discussing this new vinyl revival.

The biggest-selling vinyl album of 2021 was ABBA‘s comeback record Voyage, while Adele‘s huge 30 and Sam Fender‘s Seventeen Going Under also sold big on vinyl. This has been greatly helped by campaigns such as LoveRecordStores, Record Store Day and National Album Day which really rallied sales for independent record shops and specialist chains.

Earlier this year, it was also reported that vinyl sales in the UK look set to overtake CDs. Vinyl albums brought in £135.6million in 2021 (up 23.2 per cent year-on-year) compared to £150.1million in CD sales (down 3.9 per cent year-on-year). On this current growth trajectory, vinyl will be ahead of CDs by the end of this year. It also emerged earlier this month that people born in the Gen Z bracket purchase more vinyl records, than their milennial elders which may greatly explain the increase.

Fender announced the news of the forthcoming LP by sharing a new video, “Getting Started (Live From Finsbury Park)”. You can watch the whole video below. The musician wrote on his social media “This show was a real highlight for me and the boys, so we’re buzzing to share it with you,”.

No track listing has been announced yet, but the 17-song set included a live debut for “Alright” and a take on “Saturday” that the crowd greatly enjoyed. The gig at Finsbury park took place on July 15,  in north London and marked the North Shields singer-songwriter’s biggest headline performance to date. He played in front of a sold-out crowd of 45,000 fans at the park. Fender was joined by fantastic support acts including Fontaines D.C., Declan McKenna and Beabadoobee.

Last week Fender also announce a massive homecoming gig at Newcastle’s St James’ Park, which will mark his first-ever stadium performance as a headliner. He’ll headline St James’ Park in front of at least 55,000 fans on June 9, 2023. Fender will be joined by opening acts Inhaler and Holly Humberstone, and he’s promised “a few surprises” that are yet to be confirmed. Fender added: “I always said that if we ever got big enough to be able to play a stadium, this had to be the first one. It had to be in our hometown.” However pre-sale tickets for the June 9 date have already sold out so Fender has has added a second date at St. James’ that will take place on the following day, June 10. Tickets go on general sale at 10am BST this Friday (September 9) – you’ll be able to buy yours  here.

In the meantime, his album ‘Seventeen Going Under’ is in the running for this year’s Mercury Prize. The winner will be revealed during a ceremony at London’s Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith this Thursday (September 8). It’s been a huge 2022 so far as Fender has already picking up a slew of BRIT, NME, and Ivor Novello Awards and he will be hoping to win this prize too. He will be also off on tour in the US from the 12th of September visiting Washington, Boston, New York and Vegas before then heading to Australia.

The Live From Finsbury Park album and pre-order/pre-save the forthcoming live album here. You can also view the album artwork for the live release below.