In 2019, Tramlines was acquired by festival promotion giant Superstruct Entertainment. Superstruct, after an acquisition spree that peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic, is now the world’s second largest festival promoter. According to IQ magazine, the company currently owns 85 festivals across Europe and Australia, including the UK’s Boardmasters, Bluedot, and Truck festivals. Under the control of Superstruct Entertainment, Tramlines festival has been consistently securing big names in the UK’s alt scene. Announced today, Tramlines’ line up for 2024 continues this trend.

Headliners include Scottish singer/songwriter Paolo Nutini, English singer Jamie T, and Dundee alt-rock band, Snow Patrol, who will be playing on Friday 26th, Saturday 27th, and Sunday the 28th of July respectively. This is not the first time that the two Scottish acts have performed at the same event as both played at Hyde Park’s BT London Live, an event that promoted the opening of the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Brighton indie rock band The Magic Gang, who have recently announced their decision to part ways, are on the festival’s bill. For those unable to attend the band’s farewell UK tour in May, Tramlines festival will be one of the last places that the group will be performing.

As well as acts at the end of their lifespan, acts who have recently found a new lease on life will be attending Hillsborough Park. Sophie Ellis-Bextor, who has recently shot back up into stardom with the resurgence of her 2001 hit ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’, will be playing in Hillsborough Park on Friday the 26th. As well as newfound fame, Tramlines will likely be hosting some newly released music. Off the back of their soon-to-be-released EP, Fantasies, London’s Bombay Bicycle Club will be performing at Tramlines. Since Fantasies is set to release on the 23rd of February, there is a chance that those at the festival will be some of the first to hear a live rendition of the upcoming EP.

With 25,000 people already signed up to the festival’s pre-sale list, tickets are sure to sell out fast. Presale tickets for Tramlines go live tomorrow at 12pm, so if you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so here. Weekend tickets will be available for £130, and day tickets will cost £45. Although it is likely that there will be some tickets available after the pre-sale, prices before and after the pre-sale period may be subject to change. Additionally, Tramlines does not offer on-site camping, meaning that accommodation for those from outside Sheffield will have to be organised separately.

To bid farewell to their fans, The Magic Gang has scheduled a series of celebratory shows in May, with performances set for Glasgow on May 21, Manchester on May 22, and a final show in London on May 23. Tickets for these shows will go on sale on Friday, January 26, at 9am GMT and are available for purchase here. O2 pre-sale for the London date at Electric Ballroom (this has now been relocated to Roundhouse) will also be available on Wednesday, January 24, at 9am GMT via the O2 app.

The announcement came in a heartfelt note from vocalist/guitarist Jack Kaye on Instagram reading, “This band started in 2013 in a bedroom in Kris’ parents house. I remember it was a sweltering hot day and me (Jack), Kris and Paeris were arguing over band names. Kris wanted to start a band with around ten members, playing an array of percussive instruments and acoustic guitars. With this in mind, we settled on The Magic Gang and Paeris wrote it on the front of a kick drum to make it official.

We recorded our first song ‘Bruises’ in our shared house in Brighton. Gus happened to be home at the time and was drafted in to play bass. There was something truly magical about that recording; a lightning-in-a-bottle moment you take for granted when you first start a band.

A decade on (and some time after our most recent gig), it’s clear to see how incredible the journey has been. We’ve travelled the world and have had the opportunity to share our music with anyone who cared to listen (and some who didn’t). We dedicated everything to the band and I’m so glad we did, because we got the world in return.

For now, we’ve decided to call time on The Magic Gang. This band has always been a sum of its parts – four songwriters working in collaboration and doing our best to honour each other’s ideas. The most natural thing now is for everyone in the band to spend some time exploring their own creative pursuits.

You’ll be hearing a lot more from all of us but for now, as The Magic Gang, we’d like to thank everyone who’s supported us over the years by playing a handful of extended shows. We’ll be playing a lot of songs we’ve not performed in years and covering everything from Bruises right up to now.

Thank you and good night x”

Having released their self-titled debut album in 2018 and their Northern Soul-influenced second record, ‘Death Of The Party’, in 2020, The Magic Gang experienced considerable success. Earning a formidable number 12 slot on the UK Albums Chart, their debut album made waves, earning the band a nomination for the ‘Best New Artist’ accolade at the esteemed 2018 NME Awards

As the band members embark on individual creative pursuits, The Magic Gang’s legacy will live on through their music, and fans can expect to hear more from each member in the future. For now, as the curtain falls on The Magic Gang’s chapter, they express their heartfelt thanks: “Thank you and good night x.”

Catch The Magic Gang’s farewell shows live:

• 21/05/24 – St. Lukes – Glasgow
• 22/05 – New Century Hall – Manchester
• 23/05 – Roundhouse – London

Frontman Jack Kaye spoke to NME at this month’s Boardmasters Festival, explaining what fans should expect from the forthcoming gigs. “We’re more keen than ever to connect with people, we’ve always been about including the audience, but now more than ever the idea of getting a sing-a-long going and stuff like that feels way more important.”

The band also want to connect with gig-goers through meet and greets providing fans feel comfortable enough to step forward after the recent rise in UK COVID rates. “Whoever’s comfortable and feels safe coming forward to say hello, we’ll be there; that’s just the way we are,” Kaye said. “I don’t think we can shy away from that because when you’re there and it’s happening it feels unnatural to hide away and not say hello to the people that have come to see you. We’re being responsible. We’re testing every morning so we’re doing what we can to be safe.”

Magic Gang drummer Paeris Giles also told NME.“I think there’s a bit more appreciation for where we’re actually playing because they’re such big venues, It’s like, wow, we’re playing three nights at Kentish Town Forum and then the big show at Manchester Arena. We feel very grateful to be able to do that. The idea of playing venues to that many people feels like a dream.”

After the run of Blossoms dates, The Magic Gang will head out on their own UK and Ireland tour in October to support their second album, ‘Death Of The Party’, which was released in August last year. Speaking on the difficulty of not being able to tour the album until now, Kaye said the whole process was tough but that he found joy in other things.

“I find being a musician when you’re not touring is a little tough anyway because you have to maintain a bit of discipline and structure in your day-to-day. Whether you’re writing music consistently or whatever it is, you have to implement your own structure,” he said. “So being in that period for a year and a half was pretty stressful and you do a lot of navel-gazing and thinking about yourself. You’ve got to find purpose in other things really. I definitely started to find joy in other day-to-day things.”

Having already played a few pre-tour gigs at Tramlines Festival and Boardmasters Festival, as well as a run of National Lottery funded shows, Kaye said the band’s new material is going down better than he thought it would with the fans. “When we were rehearsing for these early shows I was a little bit nervous about playing the newer stuff, I was like, ‘Maybe we should put a few more old ones in there.’ But as soon as we started playing the shows the response was really warm for the new ones. Weirdly they’ve been going off more than the first album, which is really cool.”

To follow on from the album, The Magic Gang have revealed that they’re about to start work on another new project. “We’re writing,” Kaye revealed. “I think the next thing’s gonna be an EP.

“We’ve written loads but what we’re trying to figure out – because pretty much all of us write – is what the sound is going to be moving forward and what we wanna do. So it’s not that we need more time to write, we need more time to figure out what we like about what we’ve already written. So rather than just coming out and doing another album straight away we wanna find our feet a little bit within the band.”

The forthcoming EP will be the band’s fourth and the follow-up to 2017’s EP Three, which they put out to whet the appetites of fans ahead of their self-titled debut LP. “That was sort of our strategy in order to build a following for the first album – and it worked,” explained Giles.

Asked when they hope to start recording the new EP, Kaye replied: “We’re gonna start in September.”

The UK tour dates with Blossoms can be seen below. The Magic Gang are supporting on August 30-31, September 9-15 and 18. You can buy your tickets here.

‘Kin hell, @allpointseastuk was special yesterday. Can’t wait to be back with our loves @yalarecords this Friday, handful of tickets reserved for you lot https://t.co/1YlPiOzYS0 pic.twitter.com/B44dhQh5rm

— The Magic Gang (@_TheMagicGang) August 31, 2021

Blossoms support Tour Dates:

30/08/2021 Bonus Arena – Hull
31/08 O2 Academy – Glasgow
02/09 Engine Shed – Lincoln
03/09 Victoria Hall – Stoke-On-Trent
04/09 O2 Academy – Birmingham
07/09 Junction – Cambridge
09/09 O2 Academy – Leeds
11/09 O2 Academy – Newcastle
13/09 O2 Forum Kentish Town – London
14/09 O2 Forum Kentish Town – London
15/09 O2 Forum Kentish Town – London
17/09 O2 Academy – Leicester
18/09 AO Arena – Manchester
The Magic Gang Tour Dates:

06/10 Academy 2 – Dublin
07/10 Old Fire Station – Carlisle
08/10 Arts Club – Liverpool
10/10 Tramshed – Cardiff
11/10 O2 Academy – Oxford
12/10 The 1865 – Southampton
13/10 Chalk – Brighton
14/10 Rock City – Nottingham
15/10 Gloucester Guildhall – Gloucester
17/10 O2 Institute2 – Birmingham
18/10 Riverside – Newcastle Upon Tyne
19/10 Beat Generator – Dundee
20/10 The Lemon Tree – Aberdeen
21/10 SWG3 – Glasgow
22/10 Waterfront – Norwich
24/10 Leadmill – Sheffield
25/10 O2 Ritz Manchester – Manchester
26/10 London EartH – London

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Death of the Live Stream: To celebrate the release of our album, we’re going to be taking phone calls from you- yes, you the viewer, for seven hours straight! We’ll be live streaming the entire thing and we’ll be joined by some very special guests who will help us take your calls and sell some records. There’ll be karaoke, there’ll be laughs, there’ll be albums sold. Join us on YouTube and Facebook live Wednesday 2nd September. Poster by @elbekoelbe

A post shared by The Magic Gang (@themagicgang) on Aug 25, 2020 at 8:01am PDT

The retro visuals on this announcement reflect the band’s nostalgic sound and appearance. Its members are invariably found dressed in loose fitting shirts or stripy 90’s style T-shirts. The music too, harkens back to another era. In 2015 they released a double-single No Fun/ Alright that earned them a spot supporting Wolf Alice and attracted the attention of music publications such as the EDGE.

The double-single was reminiscent of bands like The Mystery Jets and The Pigeon Detectives during the 2007-8 period. Since then, their self-titled first album was released in 2018 and met with positive reviews. The musicality was certainly impressive, but despite the album containing 16 tracks, it is fair to say there was not much variation between them.

Death of the Party on the other hand is far more diverse. Go Moving is discordant and experimental, with Kris Smith shouting down the mic: when the lights come up and the music stops. (The World) Outside my Door is a thoughtful vocal led ballad. The layered guitar and piano make way for a choir-like chorus singing First thing in the morning I’m gonna make a change.

The music video for this tune shows Jack Kaye lying in bed glumly as well as an interesting shot of him singing into the water of a bathroom sink. Viewers commented that the song and visuals imply a subject who is attempting to get over an ‘addiction’ and knows that he needs to make a change. It is true that the narrative of the album does conjure feelings of one late night too many and the emptiness that is left when the lights come up and the music stops. 

This stands in direct contrast to the bands first album, which evoked memories of teenage days spent by the sea and first loves. On I’ll Show You, Kris Smith sings over rhythmic piano: …I’ll show you my world// ‘Cause you’re more than just any other girl. This romantic sentiment is followed by the words Early hours, leave the place// On the beach we’re soaked in rain// Talk about the things we hate.

The Magic Gang’s music is so appealing because it gives us an insight into their world. But it seems as though their world has changed and not everything is as rosy as it was before. Death of the Party shows the band shedding some of their optimism, and it actually turns out far more interesting as a result.

OUR SECOND ALBUM “DEATH OF THE PARTY” IS OUT 15th MAY. PRE-ORDER IS ON SALE FRIDAY!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/HwcjniWqvO

— The Magic Gang (@_TheMagicGang) March 5, 2020

The album will be released on 15th May 2020 and takes inspiration from Lou Reed, Alex Turner, and Jonathan Richman. The band said in a press release that topics include the “experiences of their early twenty-something contemporaries” and “anxieties about money, relationships and the future, but also the fun moments that they use to escape from such issues”.

The Magic Gang had the privilege of working with Grammy-winning producer Ben H.Allen for the album. To promote ‘Death Of The Party’, the band will play a few small record store shows around the UK in May. Fans can gain entry by pre-ordering a bundle from the record store they plan on going to.

 

 

 

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The ticket bundles for the record store shows are now live – link in stories! You’ll get a record, you’ll get to see us play a show, you’ll get to say hello to us and we’ll even scribble on your record if you want. Can’t wait to see your beautiful faces x

 

A post shared by The Magic Gang (@themagicgang) on Mar 9, 2020 at 9:25am PDT

The full track-list can be found below.

1. Intro
2. Think
3. Make A Sound
4. Just A Minute
5. What Have You Got To Lose
6. Death Of The Party
7. Take Back The Track
8. I Am Sunshine
9. Gonna Bounce Back
10. Fail Better
11. (The World) Outside My Door

The Magic Gang will also be touring the UK from March until July in promotion of the album, starting today, 10th March, in Nottingham and stopping at many different venues and some festivals, including The Great Escape in Brighton. They will close in Sheffield at Tramlines Festival.

‘Think’ was the lead single from the album and already has 280,000 streams on Spotify, and 83,000 views on the disco-themed YouTube video. The song also won Tune of the Week on BBC Radio 1. ‘What Have You Got To Lose’ is yet to receive a music video, but it is likely that we’ll see one in the near future. This is the first music they have released since their self-titled 2018 album – a quick turn-around by music industry standards.

The Magic Gang are originally from Brighton and are an indie-rock band consisting of members Jack Kaye (vocals, guitar), Kristian Smith (vocals, guitar), Angus Taylor (bass) and Paris Giles (drums). Their debut single ‘Alright’ came out in 2015, and they have since released three EPs and a number of singles.