We’ve never headlined a festival three times, and @aclfestival, we still can’t get enough.

Thank you Austin High and Huston-Tillotson concert choir for sharing your talent and joy with us. The future of Austin is in fine, fine hands. pic.twitter.com/6VKCQKQyoy

— Mumford & Sons (@MumfordAndSons) October 10, 2023

Adding to the excitement, the band welcomed surprise guest Noah Kahan to join them on stage. This remarkable performance was reported by The Austin-American Statesman, leaving fans in awe of the band’s talent and spontaneity.

Mumford & Sons is widely recognized as a folk rock band, known for their unique blend of bluegrass and folk instrumentation. Their music prominently uses acoustic guitar, banjo, piano, and double bass, all played with a rhythmic style that draws influences from alternative rock and folk genres.

In 2009, Mumford & Sons signed a deal with Island Records, marking a significant milestone in their career. The release of their single “Little Lion Man” that same year propelled them to new heights, quickly climbing the charts. This success was further solidified with the release of their debut studio album, Sigh No More. The album sold over a million copies in the United Kingdom.

Throughout their musical journey, Mumford & Sons have achieved numerous accolades and awards. Notably, Sigh No More earned the band the prestigious Brit Award for Best British Album in 2011, as well as a nomination for the esteemed Mercury Prize. Additionally, the band received six Grammy Award nominations, further cementing their status as a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. Their live performance at the 2011 Grammy ceremony alongside Bob Dylan and The Avett Brothers proved to be a pivotal moment, catapulting them into even greater popularity.

During the performance, the lead vocalist Marcus Mumford and Kahan exchanged vocals on a simplified ballad, with Mumford providing additional support on the electric guitar. Here are some of the lyrics they sang, “Maybe I’m halfway out the door, this wasn’t what I was expecting, maybe I’m spoiled, maybe I’m getting old, maybe I indulged too much before. This wasn’t what I was expecting.” before both artists harmonized together, “Will you stop your screamin’ just for a second, I really don’t care what you think, But I care how you feel. And I want to be there and in your arms, just sit here together for a time. Let’s watch the world go ’round, let’s watch the tykes with the light in their eyes.”

Mumford & Sons’ highly anticipated release of “Maybe” marks their first single since 2020, following the success of their fourth and latest studio album, Delta, which was released in 2018. Kahan proves to be a good debut match for Mumford and Sons with his musical repertoire encompassing 21st-century folk compositions. Lead vocalist Marcus Mumford had previously hinted at the band’s commencement of work on a new album in November of last year and had this to say, “I’ve got a bunch that are kind of ready to go. And then we’ll make a record, and tour it, and get to do what we love.”

After playing the first 10 songs of the setlist which also included some of their biggest hits like “Not Nineteen Forever”, “You Overdid It Doll” and “Acrylic” – frontman Liam Fray delivered some acoustic numbers. The first of these acoustic tracks was “Lie Back And Think Of England” while “Please Don’t” and “Smiths Disco” rounded out the lowkey detour. Footage of the new tune is yet to emerge, but some fans posted a few photos and videos of the show on their social media which you can view below.

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Following on from Y Not? tonight, Courteeners will then head over to the US for their first tour their in 13 years and they’ll preform headline shows in places like Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles , you can find tickets here.

In other news last November, the band released a concert film of their massive Heaton Park homecoming gig back in June 2019. Additionally, frontman Liam Fray also announced last year that he would be Opening a new restaurant in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. The Smithfield Social, which pays homage to the historic Smithfield Market, is located on Thomas Street and serves brunch, small plates, cocktails and more.

Courteeners Electric Ballroom setlist:

‘Cavorting’
‘Acrylic’
‘Modern Love’
‘You Overdid It Doll’
‘No One Will Ever Replace Us’
‘Summer’
‘That Kiss’
‘Small Bones’
‘Lose Control’
‘The 17th’
‘Lie Back And Think Of England’ (new song, acoustic)
‘Please Don’t’ (acoustic)
‘Smiths Disco’ (acoustic)
‘Hanging Off Your Cloud’
‘Are You In Love With A Notion?’
‘Not Nineteen Forever’
‘What Took You So Long?’

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The 58-year-old artist has spoken on his new haunting song, “When I was in my early 20s, in Colchester, I would start to see the number 126 everywhere. I lived at a house that was 126, I’d get a bus that was 126. It felt to me that the universe was trying to alert my attention to 126 for some reason, even though the rational part of me knew that that was b*******.”

Rowntree continues to discuss the track’s inspiration, “So, ‘London Bridge’ was one of those. Things just started happening when I was near London Bridge, or going past on the bus, or on the tube going underneath London Bridge. I would just notice events occurring, and it was slightly unsettling. I had to confront my London Bridge demons and that’s what the song is about.”

The artist continued to discuss his new solo career, “I’m really excited to release my first single as a solo artist. It’s from a body of work that I’ve been putting together over the last couple of years, and I’m humbled to be releasing it on the legendary Cooking Vinyl label.”

Fellow Blur bandmember Damon Albarn previously gave an interview which set the rumour mill into motion when he alluded to a possible union. The Britpop icons last toured together in 2015 when they embarked on a concert series in support of The Magic Whip, the band’s comeback album was released in 2015 and was their first release in twelve years. However, the group have reunited prior, in 2019 the “Parklife” band performed live in Albarn’s hometown of Leytonstone.

Within the discussion, Albarn was asked if this was the end of Blur, the singer replied, “Not At All”. The Gorillaz co-founder continued to discuss the band’s future, “I am just about to have a conversation with people about Blur and I would love to sing all those songs again. I miss the songs. I miss playing with Blur.”

Guitarist Graham Coxon has also spoken about a possible reunion, “That’s always been the thing with Blur – they’ll do it when they really need to and not for any other reason. It doesn’t really seem genuine to just get back together and just do gigs for a bit of spondage. We need to have some sort of focus for how we would work.”

“London Bridge” has been released across all major streaming services and serves as the first taste of Rowntree’s upcoming album.  Although the artist’s hotly anticipated album has yet to be given a release date, fans are eager to hear the rest of Rowntree’s solo material.

COMING SOON…#sonicblewclassics pic.twitter.com/nWfhQJaV2f

— The Cribs (@thecribs) May 23, 2022

If you had to make an educated guess, one could assume that the teaser is alluding to a limited-edition re-issue of their self-titled debut, and maybe even more. As the images pop up during the snippet, it’s pretty clear to any big fan of the band’s early work that we’re getting some extra content regarding the band’s first LP. Then as the album’s artwork fades out, and the Sonic Blew Classics logo comes in with the colour palette of the debut… are we due a couple of reissues from the band’s back catalogue? Maybe a collectors club releasing more limited releases from back in the day? Think along the same lines as Third Man Records’ member’s Vault Package. The perfect place to bag any Third Man-based records, posters, and pretty much any other memorabilia. None of this is confirmed might I add. But the name Sonic Blew ClassicS (with an S) really implied some longevity to this reissue.

Last August when the singles club was first announced, Jarman explained the reasoning behind the situation as such, “Back in the day, we were always a band that were known for our B-sides – a concept that is pretty much irrelevant nowadays…we know that the fans miss this, so setting up the Sonic Blew Singles Club seemed like the ideal solution – we get to clear the vaults, and people get a guaranteed new single plus B-side every month.” While we may no longer be talking specifically about unheard B-sides from their most recent project, I see no reason why the same principle cannot be applied to a new, revamped version of their debut, but now with all the fan favourite B-sides and rarities as a part of a standalone package. Seems like every record collector’s dream if you ask me.

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The rapper took to his recently cleared Instagram and announced his new project to his 62 thousand Instagram followers with the caption “ My debut EP ‘2022’ is officially here & available to pre-order tap on the link in my bio, Once this drops I ain’t stoppin for no one I named this project ‘2022’ for a reason P.S. My mixtapes en route this EP’s a warm up #2022”

The talented rapper from Stamford hill announced the project with 5 tracks including 4 unreleased tracks titled “Blue plate”, “Jungle mood”, “Bad Influence”, ”I ain’t gonna lie” and his recently released track “Like this” which he dropped last Thursday on the 18th of November and currently sits on 283 thousand youtube views and 152 thousand Spotify streams.

Clavish is a rapper who keeps things very quiet on the socials only really telling his fans about himself through his music. Having only released 15 official tracks in the last 3 years consistency has never been in the rappers forte. In the last 6 months however, the rapper has upped his consistency releasing 4 tracks titled “Like this”, “Fashion week”, “One of a king” and “How it goes” and sitting on just over 3 million views combined highlighting the rappers buzz and popularity.

Clavish doesn’t often work alongside other rappers with no features on his debut ep and only 4 previous features including “Moneymakers” with Kirky and “Shopping uptown” with OFB rapper Dezzie. His 2 other features came on two top 10 albums, the latest was West London heavyweight Fredo on the track “Mind” which featured on his latest project Independence day which charted at 9th with no promotion or even an Instagram post from the rapper with it being his last album under his current label deal. Clavishs biggest feature came on Nines chart-topping album Crabs in the bucket where he featured on the track “All Stars 2” alongside Frosty, Q2T and Chappo and currently suits on 2.6 million streams.

Clavishs’ debut EP 2022 is set to drop on 10/12/2021 and is available to pre-order here.

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A post shared by Never Been Ordinary (@frenchthekid1)

French played his first live show 2 weeks ago at the Reading and Leeds festival performing in front of thousands of fans on the BBC 1xtra stage, he then went on to perform at this year’s Wireless festival appearing as a guest on Charlie Sloths sets.

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French the Kid is a young rapper from Essex, his name comes from his style of music with the talented rapper often performing over drill beats with his mix of English and French melodies. His french influence ultimately coming from him having spent a number of years in France during his teens.

French released his debut track “Bela Latina” in September of 2019 and began gaining a following and fanbase instantly, his debut track currently sits on1.5 million views. In 2021 the Essex rapper has released 5 tracks including a daily duppy on GRM daily that currently sits on 12 million views and his new track “Thrill” which has gained half a million views in just 5 days.

French the kid saw his ascent in the UK music scene coming during the Covid-19 pandemic so was never able to perform at live shows or festivals until this summer. His upcoming tour will be his first and will give the young MC his first opportunity to see the fans he has captured across the country.

Tickets for the French the Kids tour go on pre-sale tonight. The tour dates are listed as:

15/10/2021-Pryzm-Plymouth

21/10-Academy green room-Dublin

22-10-Atik-Hull

25/10-Deaf institute-Manchester

27/10-Arts Club Loft-Liverpool

29/10-Pryzm-Kingston 

29/10-Pryzm-Watford

02/11-Headrow House-Leeds

05/11-Cameo-Bournemouth

06/11-The Garage (Attic)-Glasgow

10/11-02 Academy Islington-London

12/11-Pryzm-Portsmouth 

12/11-Pryzm-Brighton

19/11-Pryzm-Birmingham 

20/11-Unit 7-Basildon

22/11-Switch-Southampton

26/11-Pryzm-Bristol

26/11-Pryzm-Cardiff

03/12-Pryzm-Nottingham

The 31-year-old rapper took to his Instagram to share with his 522 thousand followers that his debut project will be dropping this Friday.

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A post shared by MORRISSON X STEVOLS (@mrmorrisson)

The rapper from Newham has been rapping for well over 10 years so his upcoming EP comes as a surprise to many that it is his debut project.

Morrison has always struggled with his consistency but in the 8 months of 2021 has dropped 4 singles including a recent GRM Daily Duppy that currently sits on 1.4 million views after being out for just over 1 week.

He has dropped some big singles within the last year including his collaboration with Manchester rapper Jordan called ‘Brothers’ which he released 11  months ago and currently has 11 million views on his own channel as well as this at the end of 2020 he dropped the track ‘Bad guys’ alongside south London drill rapper Loski.

Morrison used his recent daily duppy to share his feelings towards his younger brother Stevo who died at the end of 2020 and has been an important figure in his life before and after his passion appearing alongside him in his earliest documented freestyle on SBTV which was released 12 years ago and sees the east Londoner rapping alongside his brother in an east London record store.

Morrisons debut EP ‘Guilty’ will drop this coming Friday and is available for pre-order here.

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The project which was announced last Friday has been updated with the tracklist and released date, that being the 20th of August.

The 11 song project includes 4 features and 7 solo tracks, 3 of which have already been released. The already released tracks are ‘Friendly’ featuring Haile, ‘Broke Boyz’ featuring Dream Doll and the solo track ‘Mud’.

The 4 features on the project are Haile on ‘Friendly’, the already released track is already sitting on half a million Youtube views and features ⅓ of the west London collective Wstrn. Hailes ability to create a hook on any genre and alongside any artists is showcased on this track as well as showcasing Shaybos ability to not only rap but sing as well.

Dream Doll is the next feature and similarly to ‘Friendly’, the track ‘Broke Boyz’ featuring Dream Doll has already been released. The track sees Shaybo link up with one of the biggest female rappers from the states and showcases both her and Dream Dolls gritty rapping style as well as highlighting their femininity.

The third feature is from prior collaborator Jorja Smith, the friendship between these two UK female stars has been seen to grow by fans with their support for each other work as well as their collaboration on Jorja Smiths last project on the track ‘Bussdown’ which looks to being repaid with Jorja’s feature on the track titled ‘My sister’.

The final feature is American rapper Wale, similarly to Shaybo, Wale is from a Nigerian background and in recent times has involved his culture heavily in his music. Wale will appear on the 8th track titled ‘No worries’.

‘Queen of South’ will be Shaybos debut project and will hopefully give fans an opportunity to learn more about her journey as Shaybo in the last 10 years and why she deserves to be called the Queen of South.

Shaybos debut project ‘Queen of the South’ is available to preorder here.

The 24-year-old rapper took to her Instagram to share the news with her 110,000 followers. With no release date, the British Nigerian ended the caption with “Queen of south tape out soon”

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The south Londoner also shared with fans in her caption that the project is “11 years in the making”, the artist has been rapping since she was 13 with her infamous freestyle being released in 2011 and currently sitting on just over 490,000 views.

Shaybo had a strong 2020 and in 2021 has featured on Jorja smiths album ‘Be right back’ featuring on the project single ‘Bussdown’, released her track alongside Haile titled ‘Friendly’ and earned herself two GRM rated award nominations.

Shaybo was nominated for ‘Breakthrough Artist of the year’ alongside the likes of Central Cee and Ardee, and ‘Female artists of the year’ alongside the likes of collaborator Jorja Smith and fellow south Londoner Ms Banks.

The Nigerian born rapper took to her Instagram to thank GRM for the nomination as well as letting her fans know to vote for her.

 

 

 

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The ‘Queen of south’ title has been heavily used by Shaybo, the Lewisham rapper used this title when speaking to her fans through a series of Instagram posts in June. The two posts posted within 9 days of each over addressed the 4 year Grenfell anniversary, the tragedy in the Westminster area where Shaybo worked as a support worker during that time. The second address was for Shaybos fans in school and University as she wished them luck on their results.

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Shaybos ‘Queen of the South’ Tape is set to release soon.

Bez took to his Instagram to announce the release to fans, the post also supplied a snippet of the psychedelic video and track featuring the dancer and percussionist’s debut vocal performance.

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A post shared by Bez (@bezmondays)

The new release is the first track in which includes a traditional vocal appearance from Bez and also features vocals from Firouzeh. Previously known for his maraca playing and famed interactive stage antics, it is exciting news for fans old and new to hear Bez take centre stage. The press release for the new track has provided the following description, “hypnotic homage to the glory days of acid house“.

The track seems to serve as a dedication to the Second Summer of Love, the cultural phenomenon which took the United Kingdom by storm within the late 1980s, most predominately the summer of 1988. The cultural wave saw the rise in popularity of acid house, electronic dance music and the rave scene, fuelled by certain drug influences such as MDMA, the psychedelic and hedonistic scene was particularly taken upon by the nation’s youth. With these factors mixed together, this new musical philosophy embodied itself within the ideologies of freedom, pleasure and indulgence.

It is this sense of freedom in which ‘Flying Bus’ sets out to embody and along with a nostalgic wish for the past, Bez, DJ Doorly and Firouzeh are determined to take the listener back to their youth, full of fun and parties. Bez’s vocal line tells the story of the iconic Glastonbury stage Flying Bus, which is said to be the most rambunctious and often the last to close with parties going on until the early morning and the inspiration behind the song’s title

The accompanying music video also keeps within these cultural themes, the video sees Bez play a colourful bus conductor with DJ Doorly as the magical Bus’s driver. Again, staying within the theme of the 1980’s cultural and music scene, a passenger seemingly dragged down by the burdens of corporate life is taken to the legendary nightclub and music venue, The Hacienda. The Hacienda became a vital part of the dance and rave scene within the 1980s, situated in Manchester, the club became an important role within the career of Happy Mondays and many other bands involved within the genre. The new release’s music video sees Bez and DJ Doorly work with fellow Manchester artists and animators, Friend Party Studios.

The description affixed to the new release’s promo and its music video gives the video’s storyboard and the emotions it aims to conveys: “An office worker’s day gets off to a bad start after being stung by a psychedelic bee, but things get even more trippy when the Flying Bus pulls up. Bus conductor Bez and bus driver Doorly take our hapless hero on an adventure like no other, as he discovers a world of trippy visuals and pure party excess, ending up on the dancefloor of the iconic Manchester club The Haçienda. There’s only one thing to do: free your mind and take a one-way ticket on the Flying Bus!”

The Bolton born cultural personality has provided the following statement concerning his recent collaboration, reinforcing the song’s musical and lyrical themes. “It was a brilliant work trip to Ibiza to collaborate with Doorly at his studio that created this tune, My Flying Bus stage at Glastonbury is really special to me and a great hangout for the hardcore party people. I’ve been missing it so much and this track conjures up that Flying Bus magic. The song is about that freedom you feel when you’re gathered with like-minded people. This is the first vocal track I’ve ever brought out and I’m nervous and excited at the same time. I hope people will get ‘on the bus’ and enjoy it, get lost in a moment in time, that’s the whole vibe!”

DJ Doorly has also spoken about the experience working with Bez and what fans can expect next from the duo. “Writing a track together with the legend Bez was a hell of a lot of fun, not sure if you’ve met him but he’s a bit of a character, We really bonded over our shared love for the transatlantic Acid House movement from the late 80s/early 90s. Our aim was to bring a slice of that magic coming out of Chicago and Manchester around that time, with a celebration of Bez’s bonkers Flying Bus party at Glastonbury. It all came together and it’s a real pleasure to have Bez on my Reptile Dysfunction label, you can expect more from us both this year.”

As well as the promise for even more material, Bez and DJ Doorly have been confirmed to embark on a tour jammed full of dates this Summer. Fans can now also catch Bez on YouTube, since the lockdown this year the performer has started a new career path as a fitness advisor. His courses and workshops can be found as online fitness videos on the channel Spoke TV, entitled ‘Get Buzzin’ With Bez‘.

Click here to purchase and stream the track.