The Battle will commence in February 2026 and tour around the UK at incredible venues such as Manchester’s Opera House and Edinburgh, Festival Theatre as Niven’s first stage play, directed by Matthew Dunster and co-presented by Melting Pot and Birmingham Rep.

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Niven has released a teaser to the show, exhibiting the hype surrounding the iconic feud between the two bands that has been long standing since their vast popularity in the 90s. The video shows notable British names such as Jake Wood who stars in British soap opera Eastenders, and comedy actor Matt Lucas, sharing which of the bands they rooted for at the time of the rivalry.   

 

 

 

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Oasis, consisting of brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher, Chris Sharrock on drums and McGuigan playing bass, formed in Manchester and released well-loved songs by the likes of ‘Wonderwall’ from their second studio album ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’ in 1995. 

Blur similarly released Britpop fun such as ‘Song 2’ from their self-titled album in 1997. Though, they were formed in London by vocalist Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. 

The two bands went head to head at several points in their career, releasing chart topping hits with Oasis’ debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’ and Blur’s debut ‘Parklife’. Both albums peaked at number one in the UK Album Charts within the same year.

The Battle, however, will centre around the famous chart battle in 1995 when Oasis and Blur went in competition for number one for their respective singles ‘Country House’ and ‘Roll With It’. 

The competition was one of the greatest, reported at the time by BBC News Reports and London Tonight.

With both Blur and Oasis releasing smash hits in Britpop and rock, they cultivated a similar fanbase who revelled in their feud. Their fans are long standing today with ‘Definitely Maybe’ re-emerging at number one in 2024, thirty years after its release. Similarly the bands’ conflict is regarded continuously as an exciting part of music history, with the two groups commenting on each other’s latest endeavours and fans posting clips of their favourite biting comments between the two groups. 

The Battle is anticipated by many, especially considering the Oasis reunion tour this July. Birmingham Rep and several other venues, describe the show as “a wickedly funny dive into one of the greatest rivalries in rock history,”. Tickets for its debut at Birmingham Rep can be found on their website with other dates and venues on Niven’s Instagram. 

A source has disclosed that he has been working on his debut solo album and that the Scottish actor has used lockdown and his acting hiatus to work on his return. As well as being a celebrated actor, Capaldi was once in a punk band. The actor’s band, The Dreamboys, were active during the 1980s and also included fellow Scottish actor Craig Ferguson. As well as his stint as the famous doctor from 2013 until 2017, Capaldi is also known for his portrayal of Malcolm Tucker. The actor starred in the British satiric TV show ‘The Thick of It’ from 2005 until the series ended in 2012. The actor has also won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Shirt Film, both accolades were for his short film released in 1993 entitled ‘Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life’. Capaldi is also set to star in the next DC film, ‘The Suicide Squad‘, the actor will play the villain called The Thinker.

The source has spoken with The Sun magazine’s column Bizarre concerning Capaldi’s return to music and provided an update on the status of the album’s release.  “Peter has been a huge music fan for years and was doing that before his acting career properly took off. That stopped him from singing and making music for a while but in recent years he has got back into it and put some music out just for the joy of it. But when the lockdown struck, it felt like the perfect opportunity to get his head down and work on a full project of his own. He has finished his bits for the album and it is just being mixed at the moment so it shouldn’t be too long before fans get to hear it. He is not expecting it to be as big as Lewis’ records but Peter has really enjoyed working on it and reckons that his followers will like it.”

The source mentioned the name ‘Lewis’, referring to the Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi. Both recently discovered that they were distant relatives and met in 2018 when the actor came to see the Brit award winner perform at the London club, Scala. Peter Capaldi even stared in Lewis’ music video for the smash hit ‘Someone you Loved’, released in 2018.

The 2020 Grammy award nominee has spoken about how the family connection was somewhat of an open secret within his immediate family, stating that they are distant cousins. The singer has said: “My dad and my aunties told me we were related to Peter a while ago, I think he’s my dad’s second cousin. Whenever he came on the TV they’d always say “You’re related to Malcolm Tucker” or “you’re related to Doctor Who. None of us had met him though so when my agent mentioned he’d been in touch asking about coming to my show in London I said “yes, of course!” He came backstage afterwards to say hello and we had a great chat. We talked a bit about the family connection and he said he really liked the music, so that was really nice of him. He’s a really cool guy. It’s a big inspiration to have someone who’s so successful in the family.”

Peter Capaldi can currently be seen staring in the West End production of ‘Constellations‘, alongside legendary actress Zoe Wanamaker. The production opened on 23rd June 2021 and will run with its current cast until 24th July 2021. Ticket holders can see the iconic actors perform at the Vaudeville Theatre within these dates, after-which the main characters will portrayed by a new actor duo.

Allen described the play in the Guardian as “a meditation on marriage and relationships and family” as well as a “brilliant investigation into the ghosts that haunt us”, and she spoke about how much she enjoyed the live performance aspect of her career and how engaging spontaneously with audiences is what she is most looking forward to about the play. In a statement, Allen said that “I feel that stepping into this play is an exciting natural extension of [live performance] and affords me the best of all worlds. I get to explore mature subject matter, be a woman with a real point of view and show the West End audiences how much I love live performance and being in front of an audience. I can’t wait.”

Her co-stars include Julia Chan of “Silent House”, Jake Wood (who played Max Branning in EastEnders), and Hadley Fraser of “City of Angels”. The story centres around a dinner party where the four friends plan to stay up late to see if they can identify the noise Allen’s character, Jenny, hears every night at 2:22 am. The noise has led her to believe her new home is haunted, but her husband Sam (played by Fraser) remains unconvinced.

Writer Danny Robins describes the play as exploring “the clash between belief and scepticism through a couple’s relationship”, while Olivier-award nominated director Matthew Dunster describes it as a clash between horror and social commentary with a suspenseful atmosphere.

The play will open at the Noel Coward theatre in August.

The London-born musician is most known for his notable West End appearance, where he portrayed the late John Lennon in the production of the musical ‘Let It Be’. Despite his theatre performances, Canning is defined more by his singer-songwriter persona, firmly established in a soft rock&roll genre.

Canning began his discography in 2017 with the release of his first studio album, This Acoustic. This album featured covers of songs by artists such as Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, The Police and many more. Canning has continued to release acoustic covers that gain him popularity; his cover of Shania Twain’s You’re Still The One is the most acclaimed, with almost 5 million streams on Spotify.

The trained vocalist used this new popularity to score an opening act with the famous British rock-band 10cc, known for their number 1 hit song I’m Not In Love. Canning toured with the band for their 2019 U.K. Tour, playing famous venues such as The Royal Albert Hall in May of that year. To this day, Canning occasionally sings lead for 10cc when the band is need of a filler vocalist.

Graham Gouldman, of 10cc, features on Canning’s 2020 album as dueling singer and bassist for the song The Loud Room. Gouldman is not the only rock legend to appear on Bandwagon as Jo Webb of the band Electric Light Orchestra has contributed lead guitar on many of the tracks off the new album.

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Really wonderful couple of gigs with 10cc this last few days. Started off in Denmark and tonight we were in Belgium. #10cc #smukfest #fonnefeesten

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In promotion for the newly released album Bandwagon Canning appeared on radio interviews with BBC’s Oxford and Northampton stations in early October. In lieu of live-shows or performances due to safety concerns surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, Canning also hosted a live (virtual) performance of his single Under The Radar for Electric Umbrella TV.

Acoustic guitar plays a starring role on this newly released album and Canning continues to showcase his expert ability to produce clear and powerful vocals over top a vintage rock sound. Canning is known for his poetic lyricism and this is evident throughout his newest record.

While there are no current tour-dates or live-show announcements for 2020 or 2021, listeners of Canning’s famous acoustic cover-songs can now experience his original work through this newly released album Bandwagon. Streaming is available on all platforms as of today October 26th, 2020.