Belfast, May 20 – Limelight 2

Birmingham, May 23 – XOYO

Brighton, May 24 – Chalk

Bristol, May 25 – SWX

Glasgow, May 27 – Tv Studio, SWG3

Manchester, May 29 – O2 Ritz

London, May 30 – Shepherds Bush Empire

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A post shared by Alexandra Kay (@alexandrakaymusic)

Alexandra Kay is an American country artist from southern Illinois, who has been making music for the past decade in various genres, but has recently begun gaining more and more attention on the country scene.

After releasing a few singles which were met with critical acclaim, her debut album ‘All I’ve Ever Known‘ received attention on social media platforms, especially TikTok. On her TikTok account, Kay openly discussed the personal experiences that led her to writing the record and gained fans by doing so. The album was released in late October of 2023 and peaked at number fifty on UK charts, spending two weeks on charts in mid-November. In 2024, the artist was also featured on the soundtrack of the movie Twisters with the song ‘Leave the Light on’.

The album was followed by a small UK tour that took place in February of 2024, which stopped in London at the Islington Assembly Hall, in Manchester’s Academy 3 and in Glasgow’s Oran Mor. After selling out all the UK dates, more stops were added around Europe, especially in Germany. In 2024, Kay also performed at London’s BST Hyde Park as a supporting act for Morgan Wallen’s headline show. She has previously opened for American country artist Tim McGraw on his 2022 amphitheatre tour in the United States.

Around the world, Kay has been praised for her songwriting skills which are truthful and raw and make her music relatable for a vast audience. She also opened up about being a singer without a label and independently promoting her own music and gaining a fanbase through social media, and according to her website, her music counts over 350 million streams.  

Tickets for Alexandra Kay’s upcoming tour are available on her website.

Speaking on the impact of the album, Alana Haim said, “The crazy thing about ‘Days Are Gone’ is that the first thing that we ever came out with was the ‘Forever’ EP and we put that out on the internet without knowing how to promote things.”

She continued, “We didn’t know how to get music out there. The only thing that we knew was that we were super proud of what we had finally created after being a band for six years at that point. We had finally gotten a recording that we loved, and we were like, ‘Cool, we have this. What do you do with it?’ So we put it on the internet with absolutely no idea what was going to happen. And it completely changed our lives.”

Bassist Este Haim also shared, “A lot of the songs we’ve written when we were in our twenties mean something different to us now that we are in our thirties. I don’t know if we are any wiser, though.”

Following its release in 2013, Days Are Gone reached No.1 on the UK charts, No.2 on the Billboard Top Alternative Rock Album chart and No.6 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Haim have also created a special edition vinyl reissue of the album, availabe to pre-order here, set to be released on 29th September.

Haim took to Twitter to celebrate the Days Are Gone 10th anniversary, writing, “This year marks the 10 year anniversary of our first record, and our baby, “ Days Are Gone”. This record was a labor of love, with songs we’d been writing since high school in our living room.”

This year marks the 10 year anniversary of our first record, and our baby, “ Days Are Gone”. This record was a labor of love, with songs we’d been writing since high school in our living room. To celebrate, we made a special edition re-issue of our vinyl and cd that comes out… pic.twitter.com/iuoglUrVMU

— HAIM (@HAIMtheband) July 12, 2023

Tickets for the Shepherd’s Bush Empire show will be available on pre-sale on 29th August at 12pm for fans who pre-order any format of the 10th anniversary reissue of Days Are Gone from Haim’s official website. Tickets are available on general sale from 12pm 30th August and can be purchased here.

Stream Haim’s debut album, Days Are Gone, here.

The boys have released the title of a new single on Social Media, with the hashtag #nightpeople, which has led fans to believe that it will be the title of the new album.

On Facebook, the band released this statement:

Dear Friends,

It’s been a long time coming…

18 months ago was the last time we played for you and we have been locked away making an album that we think is our best yet

We wanted to organise a tour that would visit places we haven’t been in years and some we’ve never played before.

Over the past 10 years there has been so many special moments, and we can’t wait to play up close and personal with you again – These will be some of the smallest shows we’ve played in the UK in forever.

We’ve missed you, let’s do this!

We’re back and we’re back for good.

Josh, Max, Dan, Matt & Chris

The album will be released on January 13 2017, according to the official band website. The artwork for the album looks like this:

Their previous album Cavalier Youth which was released in 2014, reached No.1 in the UK, making it their most successful album to date. The album features the song ‘Lived a Lie’ which became their highest charting single in the UK, reaching number 11.

According to NME, the Surrey band has been working with Kings of Leon producer Jacquire King for their fifth album, out early next year, who also produces James Bay.

The last time the boys toured, they headlined in London’s O2 and Wembley arenas. This time around, the tour starting in Bristol on October 4 will see them playing in smaller venues all over the UK, including the likes of Inverness, Oxford and Shepherds Bush Empire.

It has also been announced that the boys will be joined by London based band Vant, a four piece led by frontman Mattie Vant. The band have been featured on BBC Radio 1 as Annie Mac’s ‘Hottest Record in the World’ with songs Karma Seeker and Parking Lot.

You Me at Six haven’t toured the UK since February 2015, taking almost a year and a half out to come up with a new album.

The track list for Night People looks like this:

1. Night People
2. Plus One
3. Heavy Soul
4. Take on the World
5. Brand New
6. Swear
7. Make Your Move
8. Can’t Hold Back
9. Spell It Out
10. Give

The band has given a sample of Night People for fans on YouTube here:

The October tour dates are as follows:

4/10 – Bristol – O2 Academy
5/10 – Folkestone – Leas Cliff Hall
6/10 – Swansea – Brangwyn Hall
9/10 – Belfast – The Limelight
10/10 – Dublin – The Academy
13/10 – Nottingham – Rock City
14/10 – Oxford – O2 Academy
15/10 – Cambridge – Corn Exchange
17/10 – Inverness – Ironworks
18/10 – Leeds – O2 Academy
19/10 – Liverpool – Guild Of Students
20/10 – Sheffield – O2 Academy
21/10 – Middlesborough – Empire
23/10 – Southampton – O2 Guidhall
24/10 – London – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire

Tickets can be found at http://www.youmeatsix.com/ along with album pre-order bundles.

The Shepherds Bush Empire is an iconic London venue that first opened in 1903 and has hosted bands ranging from Deerhunter, Beach House, Brandon Flowers, Jack Garratt and Leon Bridges to Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Fifth Harmony, PiL and Yo La Tengo in 2015 therefore safety is a priority when it comes to structural damage as these gigs can host up to thousands of people.

Frontman Liam Fray tweeted “We’ve just been told it’s ‘serious structural damage’. They checked a problem and it was a lot worse than they first thought,”

pic.twitter.com/Mod9xVB0zc

— Liam Fray (@What_Liam_Said) December 4, 2015

He added: “I know you’re all disappointed. But if something happened to one of those balconies with all you guys inside it does not bear even thinking about.”Unfortunately there has been no updated information regarding the venues status, news is expected later on in the day on December 7th. A tweet from the venue itself reads: “Afraid we won’t have news about our structural works until Monday, sorry we can’t reply to all individual tweets until we have more info,”.

Afraid we won't have news about our structural works until Monday, sorry we can't reply to all individual tweets until we have more info.

— O2 Shep Bush Empire (@o2sbe) December 6, 2015

The Courteeners gig is not the only gig that has been postponed, a number of gigs scheduled to take place at Shepherds Bush Empire have been either postponed or alternative venues have been used instead. Rock band Hawkwind have moved their December 20 gig to The Coronet in Elephant and Castle.

The band explained the move on Facebook: “As some of you may have heard, it seems Shepherd’s Bush Empire has been declared structurally unsafe and we have been told that they have had to cancel the rest of their shows this year. We are just so thankful that their H&S checks uncovered the danger and prevented a potential disaster….”