Next summer the Leicester born band will take to the legendary Finsbury Park, for what they are calling ‘the party of our lives.’

On Sunday afternoon Kasabian frontman Serge Pizzorno uploaded a cryptic video to the band’s social media, sending the fanbase into a torturous plunge of suspense.

Pizzorno, 44, videoed himself outside The Finsbury pub, in the video he sarcastically reminisces on the band’s old days, when they were busking in pubs to intimate crowds.

He said: “You know what, I love an old boozer, especially to play gigs in, the best of times (they were)… can’t imagine doing something like that again though”

Less than a day later, it was announced that tickets would be going on sale this friday, for up to 50,000 fans to get their hands on.

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Until last week it’d been pretty much radio silence from the band since they closed Tramlines Festival in Sheffield at the end of July. Except for an underwhelming introduction for Sky Sports’ Premier league season.

The silence ceased with teasers for their new single ‘Hippie Sunshine’ hitting social media. The band describe the song as:

“The restless energy of hyper individuals who struggle to slow down and face reality, searching instead for the illusion of escape. It captures the passing moment where everything feels light and limitless, yet beneath it lies a deep sense of disconnection, something both beautiful and tragic.”

The lineup for the Finsbury Park event which will take place on July 4 2026 was also released. Kasabian will be supported by:

Louis Dunford

Razorlight

The K’s

Miles Kane

Sofy

Kasabian’s ninth studio album “ACT III” is set for release in Spring 2026, by pre-ordering it before Wednesday September 24, you can gain exclusive access to presale for the Finsbury Park show.

The Dublin band will head to London on Saturday July 5 to play their biggest headline performance to date in front of 45,000 rabid fans. 

It has previously been announced that they will be joined by Aussie punk rockers Amyl And The Sniffers and fellow Irish groundbreakers Kneecap. Fans can now begin the countdown as the rest of the line-up has been announced, featuring acts from Ireland and USA.

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Blondshell, the project of singer/songwriter Sabrina Teitelbaum, will bring her “angriest, clearest, and most vulnerable” sound to North London. The LA-based musician is currently preparing to release her second album, ‘If You Asked For A Picture’ on May 2, just in time for the big summer show.

Drawing confidence from her queer identity in New York City, Blondshell fuses influences including Patti Smith and Elliot Smith. She’ll be sure to bring a unique energy to Finsbury Park in July.

 

 

 

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Whereas Blondshell brings the LA vibes, Been Stellar will be sure to channel the spirit of their hometown of New York City. Taking influence from bands such as Sonic Youth, Interpol and Radiohead, their sound has been described as “fearsome, buffeting and beautiful.”

The New York quintet released their debut full length album, ‘Scream From New York, NY’ to critical acclaim last year. They will now play in front of what will surely be their biggest crowd to date, as they look to build on their one-to-watch status.

Fontaines and Kneecap will be joined by fellow Irish brothers, Cardinals, for the summer show. Mixing a number of genres including shoegaze, pop, Irish folk, and rock, the Cork-based band will bring the punk vibes to the area with their wall-of-sound influences.

Following on from the release of their debut self-titled EP last year, and indie-sounding newest single ‘Get It’, Cardinals will be looking to build on their momentum and use the gig as a perfect platform to attract new fans.

This massive gig marks a significant milestone in the careers and lives of Fontaines D.C. Eight years on from playing in front of 30 people at the Finsbury pub in North London, the captivating band will now showcase their talents to 45,000 fans, a fact that highlights just how far the Dublin rockers have come in less than a decade.

Fontaines already have a strong connection with supporting act Kneecap and will be sure to rekindle that at the upcoming North London show. Back in December 2024 Grian Chatten, Fontaines frontman, joined Kneecap on stage as they performed at the “largest Irish-language gig in Belfast history”.

As well as the Finsbury Park gig, the band are also set to headline massive outdoor shows at Wythenshawe Park in Manchester, Cardiff Castle, and Exhibition Park in Newcastle in what is sure to be a huge summer for the band.

Speaking to NME in February to promote the single ‘It’s Amazing To Be Young’, Fontaines bassist Conor Deegan III teased some surprises for the upcoming shows, saying: “We would like to expand it [the show] but we’ll have to see what we can afford to do!

“They are going to be great gigs and we have a couple of things in mind, but I wouldn’t like to spoil it to be honest.”

Although there are limited tickets available, there are still some on sale for £60 and they can be found here. Be sure to get them quick as the few tickets remaining will be sure to go, especially after this full line-up announcement.

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This huge outdoor show will follow the group’s 2024 headline tour which will take place in November and December and is set to be their biggest tour to date. They will be putting on two shows at London’s Alexandra Palace, three dates in Manchester and two shows in Dublin as they return to a home crowd on the 6th and 7th of December.  

They are also set to perform on the main stage at Reading and Leeds Festival 2024 later this month following the release of their upcoming album ‘Romance’, which is set to be released on the 23rd of August. Earlier in the year, the group headlined the Park stage at Glastonbury, an acclaimed performance. Singer Grian Chatten also joined Kneecap for their performance at Worthy Farm. 

The full list of Fontaines D.C.’s upcoming Headline UK and Ireland dates are below: 

NOVEMBER 2024
20 – The Halls, Wolverhampton
22 – Alexandra Palace, London
23 – Alexandra Palace, London
24 – Utilita Arena, Cardiff
26 – Pavilions, Plymouth
27 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
29 – Aviva Studios, Manchester
30 – Aviva Studios, Manchester 

DECEMBER 2024
01 – Aviva Studios, Manchester
03 – First Direct Arena, Leeds
04 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow
06 – 3Arena, Dublin
07 – 3Arena, Dublin 

JULY 2025
05 – Finsbury Park, London 

Fontaines D. C are releasing their fourth studio album, which will be titled ‘Romance’, on the 23rd of August via XL Recordings. They have so far previewed the upcoming project with two singles, ‘Starbuster’ which sees Chatten switching from his usual singing to almost rapping, and ‘Favourite’ which sees the band reminisce about their childhood. 

‘Romance’ will be the follow up to their highly acclaimed 2022 album ‘Skinty Fia’ which reached number 1 in the UK and Irish album charts as well as seeing the band win a number of awards including ‘International Group of the Year’ at the BRIT Awards in 2023. 

Talking about the title of the album bassist Conor Deegan says ““We’ve always had this sense of idealism and romance. Each album gets further away from observing that through the lens of Ireland, as directly as Dogrel. The second album (A Hero’s Death) is about that detachment, and the third (Skinty Fia) is about Irishness dislocated in the diaspora. Now we look to where and what else there is to be romantic about.” 

Singer, Grian Chatten said about the album: “We say things on this record we’ve wanted to say for a long time. I never feel like it’s over, but it’s nice to feel lighter.” 

The 1975 took over Lewis Capaldi’s headlining slot after Capaldi announced that he’d be taking a break from performing to prioritise his health. Capaldi has faced struggles with Tourette’s syndrome, leading him to cancel multiple performances as he learns to live with his condition.

During The 1975’s Reading set, frontman Matty Healy addressed the crowd, saying “Well, first of all can we have the loudest round of applause in our set for Mr Lewis Capaldi who couldn’t make it tonight.”

Matty Healy had previously touched on his friendship with Capaldi during the band’s headlining performance at Finsbury Park, saying, “I want to send my sincerest thoughts to Lewis Capaldi who is a dear friend of mine, who on the day when he had to cancel his tour, checked in on me. And it’s also a reflection on how hard being a solo artist is as I would not be doing this show if I didn’t have these amazing men and women behind me.”

The 1975 used the opportunity to play an anniversary show to mark 10 years since their self-titled debut album was released. The band played the album in full, playing throwback crowd-pleasers including “Sex,” “Chocolate” and “Robbers.”

The performance was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews, as fans basked in the nostalgia of hearing the debut album performed a decade on. One fan described the atmosphere as being “like one big family” as well as being “insane and incredible.”

the atmosphere of this show was INSANE. Like, i cannot explain it in words, but it felt like one big family, we could laugh together and cry together. it was fucking incredible. i will never regret going to this show. god bless the 1975 THE WORLD’S GREATEST BAND pic.twitter.com/qHxAH2aU9m

— Iris (@irissversion75) August 26, 2023

The said insane and incredible atmosphere:

god i love the 1975 pic.twitter.com/ZXdFmj8NfN

— Iris (@irissversion75) August 26, 2023

The band also went on the play newer tracks including “It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You),” “Happiness” and “I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)” to satisfy fans of their later albums.  

Matty Healy’s happiness during Happiness at Reading Festival 2023#the1975 #the1975live pic.twitter.com/GJmhWdWd8l — The 1975 TH (@the1975_thteam) August 27, 2023

The complete performance is available to stream on BBC iPlayer, with the BBC feeding into the nostalgia themselves, writing “let’s go 2013 tumblr girlies.”

let’s go 2013 tumblr girlies @the1975 played their debut album IN FULL for their @officialrandl headline performance❗️

watch back on @bbciplayer or listen on @bbcsounds. pic.twitter.com/ULPloBx20c

— BBC Radio 1 (@BBCR1) August 26, 2023

The 1975 are also releasing special edition formats of their debut album, The 1975, in honour of its 10 year anniversary. Set to be released on 1st September 2023, The 1975 (10th Anniversary) is available for pre-order now.  

THE 1975 The 1975 (10 Year Anniversary) will be released September 1st 2023. Available to pre-order now. https://t.co/wFHW9VTAj0 pic.twitter.com/iVfTsfSl7c — The 1975 (@the1975) August 25, 2023

Click here for our guide on how to watch Reading & Leeds 2023 coverage.

Read about Sam Fender’s Leeds performance here.

Read about The Killers debuting a new song at Reading here.

Stormzy headlined This Is What We Mean day at the Finsbury Park festival, finding himself performing during a torential downpour that gave the set a “bibilical” atmosphere, according to fans.

the heavens opening as Stormzy performed ‘blinded by your grace’ was nothing short of biblical!! a life affirming moment #ThisIsWhatWeMeanDay @allpointseastuk pic.twitter.com/irchRp3Y9x

— Ben Johns (@ben_johns) August 19, 2023

When announcing his plans for This Is What We Mean day, Stormzy said, “I was thinking what’s next cos we’ve done 3 O2s shut that down. I said to the team we gotta do something bigger something better something different. We were having back to back meetings bouncing ideas. Then it hit me I started jotting down ideas thinking – live band need a live band. August 2023 a summer time thing outside for the people always for my people. So August 2023 Victoria Park more info coming soon…. This Is What We Mean Day. Hard.”

During his set, Stormzy performed fan favourites including “Crown,” “Vossi Bop” and “Firebabe,” however the standout moment for the crowd seemed to almost unanimously be his rain-soaked performance of his Gang Signs & Prayer album track, “Blinded By Your Grace Pt. 2.”

One fan wrote it was “one way to feel alive.” 

Honestly, this video does it no justice: But it absolutely pooooouring with rain the second @stormzy played Blinded By Your Grace – with 50,000 people singing along – was absolutely magical One way to feel alive. pic.twitter.com/BrSMxWe7Ud — Sean Spooner (@spoonersean) August 18, 2023

Stormzy addressed the crowd during his performance, expressing his love and gratitude for his fans, saying “Thank you so much for supporting me, thank you so much for considering me, thank you so much for just being in my life. I love you, I love you, I love you.”

He took to Twitter himself, summing up his All Points East experience by simply writing, “Wow.”  

Wow… #ThisIsWhatWeMeanDay — Stormzy (@stormzy) August 19, 2023

Stormzy was joined onstage by Debbie, who performed a number of tracks alongside Stormzy from his newest album (whose title inspired the theme name of the festival), This Is What I Mean. There was also an outpouring of love for Debbie’s guest appearance, with one fan writing, “Don’t think I’ll ever see a show to top that.”

Stormzy. This is what we mean day. Absolutely incredible performance. The rain felt like it was orchestrated especially for the show. Sampha, Lucky Daye and Debbie were . Don’t think I’ll ever see a show to top that.

— Rachael Buck (@Rachaelgough91) August 19, 2023

Rain pouring down while @stormzy and Debbie sang ‘Give it to the water’ honestly just closed my eyes and gave every worry to God, what an indescribable spiritual moment

— Babz (@babztweets) August 19, 2023

Stormzy released his newest single earlier this month, titled “Angel In The Marble.” Watch the music video below.

Read more about All Points East here.

Watch a video of Ice Spice and PinkPantheress performing “Boys a liar Pt.2” at Wireless Festival below:

| PinkPantheress and Ice Spice performing “Boys a liar” at Wireless Fest pic.twitter.com/5gPOlE6KSJ

— PinkPantheress Updates ☆ (@updatespinkp) July 7, 2023

“Boy’s a liar” was first released on January 2, 2023 as a single but then added to PinkPantheress’ EP Take Me Home. Soon after, “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” was released on February 3, 2023 which debuted at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song reached number 4 on the chart which was the first top 10 entry for both artist Ice Spice and PinkPantheress. Watch the official video for “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” on YouTube below: Recently, PinkPantheress released another collab with Opium-signed American rapper Destroy Lonely. The singer took to Twitter to announce the song“Turn Your Phone Off”. She wrote, “This song has been on my mind since I leaked it in 2021 – I was just waiting until the perfect opportunity to drop it. I’m privileged to share this track with lone, love his artistry, love a random collab.” The song “Turn Your Phone Off” was released on July 14 and is available to listen to on Spotify. See PinkPantheress’ announcement for “Turn Your Phone Off” below:

this song has been on my mind since I leaked it in 2021 – I was just waiting until the perfect opportunity to drop it. im privileged to share this track with lone, love his artistry, love a random collab lol

Turn your phone off – (feat Destroy Lonely) out now

mv next week

— pinkpantheress (@pinkpantheress2) July 13, 2023

Listen to PinkPantheress and Destroy Lonely’s new track “Turn Your Phone Off” below:

PinkPantheress has also teased her debut studio album. On May 24, the singer posted a song teaser where she and her friend are in a car park dancing to an unreleased song. It samples the track “Ku Lo Sa” by Oxlade and at the bottom of the video, PinkPantheress captioned “Album season is upon us.”

PINKPANTHERESS ALBUM INCOMING pic.twitter.com/GcvEoLJUU7

— mev (@toheavenwithit) May 24, 2023

The day after the album was teased, it was announced that PinkPantheress will feature on the upcoming Barbie movie soundtrack. The Barbie album soundtrack will also feature Ice Spice, as well as artists including Dua Lipa, Charli XCX, Lizzo, Nicki Minaj, Ava Max, Tame Impala and many more. The movie will be out in theatres on July 21, 2023. See the Barbie Album announcement on Twitter below:

EXCLUSIVE: @DUALIPA, @icespicee_, @charli_xcx, @lizzo, @NICKIMINAJ, @AvaMax, @pinkpantheress2, Ryan Gosling(!), @tameimpala, and more will appear on the @barbiethealbum soundtrack.

Details: https://t.co/qSJeh0cUaH pic.twitter.com/9tMj7GEEDy

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) May 25, 2023

Lewis Capaldi recently announced that he will be taking a break from work commitments following his performance at Glastonbury in order to “adjust to the impact” of living with Tourette’s syndrome. Capaldi wrote, “I used to be able to enjoy every second of shows like this and I’d hoped three weeks away would sort me out. But the truth is I’m still learning to adjust to the impact of my Tourette’s and on Saturday it became obvious that I need to spend so much more time getting my mental and physical health in order, so I can keep doing everything I love for a long time.”

This announcement followed his decision to take a break to prepare himself for his Glastonbury performance, but has ultimately ended in a longer hiatus than initially planned.

One such commitment that Capaldi will be missing is the headlining slot of Reading and Leeds Festival, where he was set to headline Reading on Saturday 26th August and Leeds on Sunday 27th August. The festival organisers addressed his cancellation, writing, “We’re gutted that Lewis Capaldi won’t be performing at R&L this year, but health comes first and we wish him a speedy recovery.”

The 1975 have now been announced as the replacement headlining act, and are reportedly close friends with Capaldi. At The 1975’s gig at Finsbury Park on 2nd July, Matty Healy addressed Capaldi, saying “I want to send my sincerest thoughts to Lewis Capaldi who is a dear friend of mine, who on the day when he had to cancel his tour, checked in on me. And it’s also a reflection on how hard being a solo artist is as I would not be doing this show if I didn’t have these amazing men and women behind me.”

The 1975 have decided to use their headlining slot to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their self-titled debut album, released in 2013. Frontman Matty Healy announced this decision onstage at TRNSMT festival, telling the crowd, “So, on Saturday at Reading and Sunday at Leeds in celebration of 10 years of our debut album, The 1975 will be playing that album in full in support of our good friend Lewis Capaldi. If you’ve got tickets, good for you. If you haven’t, go and get them. We’ll see you there.”

The band also took to social media to confirm that this will be a 10th anniversary performance of their debut album.

Reading & Leeds Festival
25th – 27th August 2023

‘The 1975’ 10th Anniversary Performance
Tickets on sale now https://t.co/VV4VRerwe4 #The1975 pic.twitter.com/lMyQoeToIW

— The 1975 (@the1975) July 10, 2023

Tickets to Reading and Leeds Festival 2023 are available to purchase here.

Read about Matty Healy leaving his Dirty Hit directorship here.

Read about The 1975’s War Child collaboration here.

Stream The 1975 here.

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.

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Ezra has gradually snuck up on everybody as one of Britain’s most reliable and successful international exports of the last decade. With three UK number 1 albums now under his belt, he’s never skipped a beat, with every full length album he’s released grabbing the top spot. His song “Shotgun” from previous album Staying At Tamara’s hardly needs any introduction either, being George’s first No.1 single in the UK, it also went to No.1 in Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland, cementing the singer-songwriter’s star power across the world.

His latest album Gold Rush Kid has not given up on this ambition either. Rather than going for something a little different or leaning into more introspective inspiration for his third album, the pop tycoon kept the recipe familiar, attending to the classic reasoning of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” and writing another boppy pop record built for summer bbq’s and kids playgrounds. What kind of playground has a PA system? I don’t know, but if there is one, it’s playing George Ezra’s “Green Green Grass“.

Wherever you stand on George’s tunes, one has to admit that he has a knack for effusive melodies that stick in your ears for weeks. Its no wonder then that this time honoured method has paid off with the kind of shows he gets to put on these days. Last night he sold 45 thousand tickets for his largest headline show to date at Finsbury Park, with big acts in their own rights supporting him like London’s International Gospel Choir, Mychelle, The Big Moon, Holly Humberstone, Mimi Webb, and Blossoms, it made for an event that was basically a music festival. It was such a massive show, that the arena dates he’s just added to his UK tour will look slim in comparison, of course they are not, but it will be interesting to see how much bigger this whole thing can get. Gig on the moon anyone?

You can catch George’s remaining UK live dates here:

That’s a wrap on 2022, magical weekend #GopuffxWireless pic.twitter.com/wvYHH4PctL

— Wireless Festival (@WirelessFest) July 11, 2022

While I’m definitely not an event organiser, I imagine that – while you may try your best to account for everything – sometimes… things are out of your control. The weather for example, and thus how punters end up reacting to it. The UK are currently dead centre of a pretty significant heatwave, 30+C degree temperatures and give or take 50,000 people in the same place will always bring problems. On Sunday afternoon, the police were called to control crowds after many were reported to jump the park’s fences in order to avoid being trampled. It’s unknown as to whether those that jumped the fence had tickets… but it just makes sense. The Met issued a statement consoling fans by saying ‘As a result of this, security staff put in place a brief hold on people being admitted to the event to ensure the safe flow of people into the site. This caused a large crowd to form in the area around the site.’.

This wasn’t the only bad news, many artists like Burna Boy, Lil Durk, JI and Ruger all announced on very short notice that they wouldn’t be arriving. This, in conjunction with the 40-minute late start of headliner Nicki Minaj left a bit of a bad taste in many fans’ mouths after what was a particularly successful festival in the first 2 days.

Now, that’s all the bad news out of the way. The rest of the girlpower-centric festival was primarily considered to be a massive success. Day 1 headliner Cardi B highlighted the power couple dynamic by bringing out Offset for a brief Migos interlude: “Bad and Boujee”, “Coult”, and “Ric Flair Drip” all made an appearance – then it just seems right for Megan Thee Stallion to also arrive for the bombshell of a track that is ‘WAP’. Visibly Pregnant Summer Walker owned her time in the spotlight and even brought out Bree Runway for “Hot Hot”, and SZA proved she had what it takes to headline a festival with a seamless slot.

All in all, festivals will always come with their negatives. This one is very much proof that the circuit is back into full swing after a few years of doubt.