Genesis tribute band The Musical Box set to play at De Montfort Hall in Leicester

By Courtney Stevens

The Musical Box performing at one of their shows (Image: publicity picture)

Genesis tribute band The Musical Box are set to play at De Montfort Hall in Leicester on Wednesday, February 8, as part of their global tour The Lamb lies down on Broadway.

The band will be playing all over the UK in February, starting off in York on February 2 and finishing off in Portsmouth on February 18.

The Musical Box are a Canadian tribute band for English Rock band Genesis, re-enacting their performances from the 1970s.

The current line-up includes singer Denis Gagne, guitarist Francois Gagnon, bassist Sebastien Lamothe, keyboardist Ian Benhamou, and drummer Marc Laflamme.

This tour will be re-creating the original band’s 1974 – 1975 show And the light lies down on Broadway, and will be complete with costumes, instruments and lighting.

The band promises a set that will take fans right back to Genesis’ 1970s peak with everything down to the setlists being identical to those played by the original band.

Since The Musical Box’s creation in 1993, they have performed shows across Canada, the US, Europe, and South America.

The band are also the only Genesis band to have received active support and permission from the original group, with members of the band being part of the audience or even appearing on stage with them.

Tickets are available now from https://www.ents24.com/uk/tour-dates/the-musical-box

Rock band Spear of Destiny set to play Nuneaton gig with release of new album

By Courtney Stevens

Spear of Destiny set to play Queens Hall during UK tour (Image: Publicity picture)

By Courtney Stevens

Spear of Destiny are set to play at Queens Hall in Nuneaton on Sunday, December 4, as part of their UK tour.

The tour is to mark the release of their new album Ghost Population which was released on November 18.

The 23-date live tour kicks off in Leeds today (NOV22), includes Nottingham Rescue Rooms on December 13 and finishes in Manchester on December 17.

Ghost Population will be the band’s 15th studio album and it covers a range of themes from personal to political plus it covers the evolution of the band from past to present.

The tour will give audiences a chance to hear songs from the new album live for the first time.

Since reforming in the late 1990s, ringleader Kirk Brandon has supervised a major reissue campaign of the band’s back catalogue, playing sell out shows at venues such as London’s 100 club and Manchester’s Ritz, joining festival line ups and relentlessly writing new music.

Next year will mark 40 years since the formation of the band in 1983 and since then their punk-influenced power rock has gained a following in the UK.

Spear of Destiny have had a changing line up through the years, but this tour will feature their longest serving line up to date, including Adrian Portas (New Model Army/Sex Gang Children), Craig Adams (Sisters of Mercy/The Cult/The Mission) and Phil Martini (Jim Jones and the Righteous Mind), as well as Clive Osborne on saxophone and Steve Allen-Jones on keys.

Tickets are available here: https://kirkbrandon.com/shows

UK tour dates for Spear of Destiny 2022

TV Priest to play Leicester show

By Shaikha Rahimi

The post-punk band will play in Leicester’s Firebug at 8pm tonight.

London-based rock band TV Priest will play Leicester’s Firebug Bar tonight. The post-punk band are touring in support of their second studio album My Other People.

TV Priest are best known for being signed by Sub Pop Records, a Seattle-based record label that achieved fame for signing central players in the grunge movement such as Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Soundgarden.

Frontman Drinkwater said the band enjoys travelling to refine the sense of community while playing shows for their fans. “We’re lucky to be out doing all of this and meeting our people. It’s the reason you get in a band, really,” he said.

“We have been all over Europe so far – and have been to Amsterdam for the first time, which is amazing. We just came back from the US and Canada in August, so we’ve been busy. It’s been a busy last couple of months.”

The band premiered One Easy Thing on February 15 as the lead single for their second studio album.

“The suit of armour [in the music video of One Easy Thing] is metaphorical in lots of ways in terms of how I interpret music and how music is so rooted in emotion.

“I always strive for an element of honesty in our performances. I like to bring a range of emotions. When you go to a show, you go through so many different feelings – one minute being more combative and angry, the next minute tender, and then maybe funny. I try to be as open and honest as possible in the way I am on stage by letting the emotion of the song be the conduit,” said Drinkwater.

This UK and Europe tour is the band’s second tour after they have toured their debut album Uppers.

“The first time we toured we were very keen to shake out and shake off a lot of the frustration we’ve had from being separated for two years. So, the nature of that tour was quite intense, punky, visceral, and loud. It’s not to say that we moved away from all that, but this album has got a few more tones by the nature of it. We’re very keen on showing that and playing with a bit of light and dark.

“We play loud music most of the time, but this time I want to show it’s not just who we are as artists. We’re capable of showing emotions other than anger,” said Drinkwater.

And, he added: “[On this tour] I’ve allowed myself to be more of a singer in lots of ways and to have moments where I draw melody. It’s really strange because sometimes when you listen to a song you sort of disassociate a bit, and for me, that’s really special. Even for the rest of the band, we try to play around with the technicalities of a song to expand the kind of sound we’re producing. The boys invest a lot of time learning about different sounds to create something that feels more considered than just back-to-back noise.”

“We play loud music most of the time, but this time I want to show it’s not just who we are as artists. We’re capable of showing emotions other than anger.”

The band kicked off their tour in Diksmuide, Belgium on October 23 and will continue touring the UK and other European cities before finishing in Cologne, Germany on November 25.

Doors will open at 7pm and the show will start at 8pm at Firebug Bar. Tickets are priced at a face value of £9.

Tickets are available for purchase at https://www.seetickets.com/event/tv-priest/firebug/2312962.

The band will play 13 European shows and 12 UK shows to include Leicester.

Australian folk duo Charm of Finches announce first UK tour to include Leicester

By Courtney Stevens

On tour: Mabel and Ivy Windred-Wornes (Pic credit: Laura May Grogan)

Australian sister folk duo, Charm of Finches, have announced their first ever UK tour for Spring 2022.

The tour is to promote their third album Wonderful Oblivion which is available in the UK from May 6 via Anti- Fragile Music.

The tour kicks off in Oxford on Saturday, April 23, stops at The Musician in Leicester on Tuesday, May 3, and travels around the UK before finishing in Whitstable on Sunday, May 8.

Mabel and Ivy Windred-Wornes, grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and started busking and singing at festivals from a young age.

They made their first EP in 2014 at ages 11 and 14, later releasing their debut album, Staring at the starry ceiling in 2016.

They have described their music as being about ‘love, grief and whispering trees, with tight sister harmonies, and many stringed instruments.’

Mabel and Ivy said: “This album covers a lot of different themes and is about looking into the future.

“Our last album was about grief and processing the death of one of our close friends, whereas this album is about coming out of that and is more hopeful.

“This album explores the innocence of childhood, dreams and new beginnings.”

The duo are already well known in their home country, having won the 2021 Music Victoria’s Best Folk Act and Youth Artist of the Year 2021 at the Australian Folk Music Awards.

They were also nominated for the 2021 Australian Music Prize.

The pair are looking forward to their first UK tour and to performing to live audiences again after the coronavirus lockdowns.

They said: “We’ve never been to the UK before, so it will be a wild adventure, we don’t know what to expect.

“We’re very excited.

“We wrote and recorded these songs within the space of six months during lockdown, so it’s great to be able to finally play these songs to an audience.”

The sisters knew from a young age that they wanted to do music and work together and have spoken about the inspiration behind their sound.

They said: “Music has always been a part of our lives and we have been singing folk songs together from about age six.

“We both picked up string instruments at age nine and started writing our own songs, and it kind of all snowballed from there.

“One of our early inspirations was First Aid Kit, they started out young and we thought well if they could do it, so can we.

“We also love Sufjan Stevens – who is probably our biggest musical hero.”

You can listen to their music here: Charm of Finches – YouTube

Tickets are available now from:  https://charmoffinchesband.com/shows

Dates of Charm of Finches UK tour

DMU and UoL bands clash in musical Varsity contest

By Lara Alsaid

Tuneful students battled it out in a music competition last night(TUE,MAR15) at 2Funky Music Cafe as part of the annual Varsity contest between De Montfort University(DMU) and University of Leicester(UOL).

The Shipping Forecast was the first band to play for DMU.

Varsity is a yearly tradition where during a week, DMU and UOL compete in different sports and activities.

The DMU Music Society competed against UOL by choosing three bands from its membership to perform in the competition. 

First year DMU student Alicia Santamaria, who is a member of DMU Music Society, said: ”It felt exciting, this was the first time I experienced this. I have heard the bands that perform for DMU, and they are really good. I even voted for one of them to represent us tonight.”

The bands performed both covers and original songs with different genres, the most popular one being rock.

It was a perfect night to bring two universities together through a common interest for music. 

All performing bands from DMU and UoL together on stage at the end of the night.

After impressive performances from both universities, DMU ended up bringing back the trophy for the Varsity music competition.

To view performances, visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/DMUMusicSociety