Paul Weller performs an acoustic set on Janice Long's BBC Radio 2 show at midnight on Tuesday, 31 August (kinda Monday night).  You can listen online for up to a week.

 

Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly has released their third album (self-titled), on Cooking Vinyl.

 

Radiohead drummer Phil Selway, who also worked with Neil Finn and members of Wilco in 7 Worlds Collide, will perform songs from his new album Familial on the Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie programme on BBC Radio 2 at 8pm on Monday, 31 August. You can listen online for up to a week.

 

The fantastic annual Open House event in London on 18-19 September this year includes the chance to visit Jimi Hendrix's flat at 23 Brook Street, where he lived around 1968/69.  You have to pre-book but entry is free.  Tours take place throughout Saturday and Sunday.  Check out the whole event here.

 

Neil Finn will be playing the Jazz Cafe on Sunday, 24 October, as part of the Q Award gigs. Jamiroquai kicks them off on 20 October at the Forum in Kentish Town, and Paolo Nutini will also feature, on 22 October at the Forum, with special guest Tim Robbins (after he plays the Union Chapel in September).  A Q Aloud.com pre-sale for these gigs starts 30 August at 9am with general sale beginning on 1 September at 9am.

 

Cerys Matthews will be a guest on John McCarthy's programme (as he sits in for Aled Jones) on BBC Radio 2 on Sunday, 29 August.  She will discuss her most recent album, Tir.  You can listen online for up to a week.

 

The Machat Company has released a DVD of Leonard Cohen Bird on a Wire, an intimate portrait of his 1972 tour.

 

Cheap Trick will play Shepherd's Bush Empire on 12 November.  Tickets are £20.

 

Jools Holland's guest on Monday, 30 August, at 11pm on BBC Radio 2 will be singer/songwriter Pete Molinari, no doubt promoting his album  A Train Bound for Glory.

 

Manic Street Preachers' 10th album, Postcards from a Young Man, has been highly praised, apparently thunderous but not pretentious.

 

The Bangles, Amy MacDonald and Beverley Knight will play Indigo2 on 5 October 2010. Tickets are £30.

 

Ray Lamontagne (and The Pariah Dogs) has released his well-received fourth album, which is called God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise.

 

An odd (and, according to some reviews, unsuccessful) collaboration in my homeboy Ben Folds with music-loving author Nick Hornby has culminated in an album releasae on Nonesuch called Lonely Avenue.

 

Scouting for Girls and Wilson Dixon will provide live music on the new BBC Radio 2 series Rhod Gilbert's Bulging Barrel of Laughs at 10pm on Saturday, 28 August 2010.  You can listen online for up to a week after it is broadcast.

 

John Hiatt and the Combo will play Shepherd's Bush Empire on 15 November. Tickets are £27.50.

 

BBC Radio 2 is celebrating The Bee Gees over the August 2010 bank holiday weekend, with several programmes devoted to them, including BBC Electric Proms: Saturday Night Fever being aired again on Saturday, 28 August, at 11pm.  It's a 2008 concert marking the 30th anniversary of the film's success, with Robin Gibb performing with other 'star guests'.  On Monday, 30 August, at 5pm,  a programme on the band featuring a Johnnie Walker interview with Barry and Robin Gibb, followed at 10pm by Bee Gees -A Record Producers Special, a detailed look at the creation of their albums.

 

Actor/director (and musician, of course) Tim Robbins will play the Union Chapel on 30 September as part of his first European tour.  Tickets are £15.

 

The wonderful Louis Eliot (ex-Rialto) and the Embers will be performing on Bob Harris' BBC Radio 2 programme that starts at midnight on Sunday, 29 August (ie Saturday night).  You can listen online for up to a week.  Harris will also play session tracks from Penguin Cafe.

 

Marina and the Diamonds will play The Forum on 9 November.  Tickets are £17.50.

 

BBC3 on Friday, 27 August, at 9pm will show Mumford & Sons at Reading, which is likely to include interviews with other artists playing at the Reading Festival.  Reading Festival Live, coverage of the first day's music, will be shown at 10.30pm, with performances from Biffy Clyro, Guns 'n' Roses, LCD Soundsystem and others.

 

SkyArts1 will repeat Robyn Hitchcock: I Often Dream of Trains on Friday, 27 August 2010, at 11.15am.

 

UB40 will play Shepherd's Bush Empire on 30 October.  Tickets are £35.

 

BBC4 on Friday, 27 August 2010, will repeat the guitarist episode of I'm in a Rock 'n' Roll Band! at 10.30pm, featuring input from Johnny Marr, Jeff Beck, Slash, Matt Bellamy and others.

 

The Undertones will play Scala on 7 October.  Tickets are £20.

 

Herman's Hermits will feature in the British Invasion episode being shown on SkyArts1 on Friday, 27 August 2010, at 8pm.

 

Chris Difford collaborator Francis Dunnery and his 'Brand New It Bites' will play Bush Hall on 31 October. Tickets are £20.

 

The documentary Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop will be shown on BBC4 at 11.30pm on Friday, 27 August 2010.

 

Eliza Doolittle will play the intimate Bush Hall on 25 October.  Tickets are £12.

 

I Am Kloot will play the Shepherd's Bush Empire on 28 January 2011.  Tickets cost £17.50.

 

Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4, which will be repeated on Friday, 13 August, at 9am, features Lord David Cobbold, the founder of the Knebworth rock festivals.

 

Loudon Wainwright III will play the Royal Festival Hall on 20 May 2011.  Tickets cost up to £35.

 

Imogen Heap will play the Albert Hall on 5 November.  Tickets cost up to £35.

 

Sky Arts 1 on Friday, 13 August, will show at 8pm the British Invasion featuring Small Faces at 8pm, followed at 9pm by Montreaux Years 2003, which will include a performance by Van Morrison and Bonnie Raitt (repeated at 2am the next morning).  They'll also show a From the Basement Saturday at 12.15am and 5.10am featuring performances by Jarvis Cocker, Beck and Jamie Liddel, and show Morrissey Live at Eurockeennes at 3am on Saturday (ie kinda Friday night).  The Small Faces will be playing Indigo2 on 10 October.  Tickets are £34.50.

 

Christy Moore and Declan Sinnott will play the Royal Festival Hall on 5 and 6 November.  Tickets cost up to £35.

 

Paul Heaton (of The Housemartins and Beautiful South) will play the Borderline on 28 and 29 September.  Tickets are £17.50.   He will also be the support for Madness when they play Earl's Court on 17 December.  Tickets cost £37.50.

 

Curt Smith of Tears for Fears releases a new solo album Perfectly...Still on 12 August with limited edition singles available at concerts and his website.

 

On Friday, 13 August, at 11.15pm on BBC Radio 3, on World on 3, former Public Image Ltd bassist Jah Wobble will perform with his Nippon Dub Ensemble.  He will also be a guest on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends at 6.15pm on Saturday, 14 August, along with Andreya Triana and bluegrass-country singer Emit Bloch.

 

Richard Thompson will play Cadogan Hall on 6 December. Tickets cost from £10 to £35.  He has released a new highly acclaimed album, Dream Attic, recorded live in front of an audience.

 

Barry Manilow will play the O2 on 4-6 May 2011.  Tickets cost between £25 and £100.

 

Thomas Dolby has released his first commercial music in 20 years, an EP called Amerikana, available in June to his fan community.  I look forward finally to getting the chance to download my copy if it's still available, now that I have a few days off work....

 

Orchestral Maneouvres in the Dark have reformed and will release a new album on 20 September called History of Modern, which they'll promote with a tour, hitting London's Hammersmith Apollo on 7 November.   Mirrors will be supporting them.

 

Badly Drawn Boy will play the Bloomsbury Theatre on 27 October.  Tickets are £20.

 

Get Cape Wear Cape Fly plays the Borderline on Wednesday, 11 August.  Tickets are a steal at £10, and there's support from The Xcerts.  The former should have a new album out in September.

 

Mojo's September 2010 issue includes and extract from Greil Marcus' book on Van Morrison and specifically Astral Weeks.

 

An anthology of Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott's solo work called Yellow Pearl after his best known solo tune (and oddly the way I first came to hear about him long ago) has just been released.

 

Ray Davies will be executive producing a film based on The Kinks' 1976 concept album Schoolboys in Disgrace, with comic Bobcat Goldthwait heading up and directing the project, with a planned release in 2013.

 

BBC4 on Friday, 13 August, at 9.40pm (and 12.40am on Saturday) will show Ray Davies at Glastonbury 2010, followed at 10.40pm by Brothers in Arms, a documentary celebrating rock bands fronted by brothers, such as The Kinks, Spandau Ballet, the Everly Brothers, Bros and Bros, before Pop Britannia at 11.40pm showing music from the 1960s including The Kinks, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, with Pete Townshend as one of the contributors.

 

Radio 2 in Concert at 8pm on Thursday, 12 August, will feature Roxy Music's 2001 Glasgow set taht launched their reunion world tour.

 

Edwyn Collins will play at the 100 Club on Wednesday, 11 August. Doors are at 7.30pm and tickets cost £18.50.  The great performer, still recovering from his awful strokes and MRSA, will preview material from his forthcoming album Losing Sleep, which has contributions from the likes of Johnny Marr, The Cribs, Franz Ferdinand and the excellent Roddy Frame.  It's possible that Frame will be joining Collins as his guitarist at the gig, but I am merely guessing.  Edwyn will also play the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 23 September. Tickets cost up to £22.

 

Rock guitar legend Duane Eddy presents a two-part BBC Radio 2 programme that begins at 10pm on Tuesday, 10 August, called Les Paul: The Final Words of a Pioneer and Guitar Legend, which will have input by BB King, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Albert Lee, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Nile Rogers, Andy Summers (of The Police), Ace Frehley of Kiss, and Joe Bonamassa.

 

The lovely Swell Season (Glenn Hansard of The Frames and  Markéta Irglová, who starred together in the wonderful film Once in which they sang the gorgeous Falling Slowly), will play the Royal Festival Hall on 26 October. Tickets cost up to £35.

 

BBC Radio 2, during the week of 9 to 13 August, will have as the people choosing the Tracks of My Years during Zoe Ball's show at 9.30am, will be Bananarama's Keren Woodward and Sara Dallin.

 

Marina and the Diamonds will play the Roundhouse on 8 November.  Tickets are £17.50.  Paloma Faith will play London the same night, at the Hammersmith Apollo.  Tickets are £18.50.

 

Heaven 17 perform Penthouse and Pavement at The Forum on 28 November.  Tickets are £23.50.

 

Midlake plays the Roundhouse on 2 November.  Tickets are £19.50.

 

Mary Chapin Carpenter will play the Barbican Centre on 30 October. Support is in the form of my homegirl Tift Merritt. Tickets cost up to £28.

 

Laura Viers will play the Jazz Cafe on 16 and 17 August. Tickets are £15.

 

Gideon Coe's programme on BBC 6 Music at 9pm on Tuesday, 10 August, will include archive live tracks by Buzzcocks. On Wednesday, he'll include a 1975 set by John Cale, which will be followed at midnight by Hope I Die Before I Get Old featuring John Lennon.  On Thursday, Coe's set will include live music from King Crimson in 1970.

 

Squeeze and The Lightning Seeds will play Shepherd's Bush Empire on 11-12 December, and The Forum on 10 December.

 

Producer and TV on the Radio guitarist David Sitek has released an album under the name Maximum Balloon (both the band and the album), which has been well-received and features guest singers including David Byrne.

 

Athlete have added a London date and will now be playing the HMV Forum on Saturday, 20 November.

 

Wilco, with Radiohead's drummer Phil Selway as support, will be playing the Royal Festival Hall on 14 September. They're linked through the Seven Worlds Collide project, where Selway impressed live audiences with his songs and (delicate) singing.   Selway's new album Familial is highly rated and released on Bella Union. Tickets for this gig cost up to £37.50.

 

Howard Jones is playing an Ordinary Heroes Acoustic Tour, performing his classic hits and songs from his new album Ordinary Heroes, and he will be playing indigo2 on 6 November.

 

In Alan Johnson: Failed Rock Star on BBC Radio 4 on Monday, 9 August, at 9.30am, the former Home Secretary  talks to former Beautiful South singer Jacqui Abbott.  I must confess that I liked Brianna Corrigan so much that I never took to her successor, and I still enjoy Corrigan's solo album particularly the sweet track Love Me Now, which unforutnately didn't meet with much success.

 

David Rotheray, formerly of The Beautiful South, has released a well-received solo album called The Life of Birds, with contributions from Kathryn Williams, Eliza Carthy, and Nat Johnson.

 

The Doobie Brothers will play the Hammersmith Apollo on 29 October.

 

The Psychadelic Furs will perform Talk Talk Talk at The Forum on 28 October.  Tickets are £20.

 

Vampire Weekend plays the Alexandra Palace on Thursday, 2 November.

 

Barenaked Ladies, now without one of its lead singers and co-writers, as Stephen Page has gone solo, will play the Hammersmith Apollo on 15 September.  Tickets are £28.

 

Kristin Hersh has a new album Crooked, portrayed as a bit of a book including essays and artwork, which is apparently worth getting.

 

Goldfrapp will play the Hammersmith Apollo on 11 November.  Tickets are £25.

 

Go-Betweens co-founder Robert Forster will be a guest on the Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie show at 8pm on Wednesday, 11 August, on BBC Radio 2, talking about his new book The Ten Rules of Rock and Roll.

 

Foals will play Brixton Academy on 12 November.  Tickets are £16.50.

 

Sky Arts 1 continues to show loads of music programmes....Wednesday, 11 August, includes Rufus Wainwright Plays Avo Session at 7am; Montreaux Years 1992 at 9am, which may feature Joan Armatrading, Randy Crawford and Tori Amos;  Montreaux Years 1993, which may feature Fats Domino, Etta James, BB King and Al Jarreau, at 9pm and at 2am the next morning; and From the Basement at 12.15pm featuring Laura Marling, Jose Gonzalez and Sonic Youth, and at 12.05am and 5.05am  the next morning featuring P J Harvey and Super Furry Animals.  On Thursday, 12 August, they're showing a Led Zeppelin concert from 1969 at 4.35pm, and the From the Basement episode at midnight on Friday (repeated at 5am) will feature performances by Damien Rice and E from Eels. These are often repeated so keep your eyes on the listings if you're interested.

 

David Gray has released a new album less than a year after his last, called Foundling.

 

Tom McRae plays Shepherd's Bush Empire on 14 October. Tickets are £17.

 

Fyfe Dangerfield (of The Guillemots and with a grand solo album out) will play Shepherd's Bush Empire on 21 September. Tickets are £15.

 

ITV1 will show the last instalment of iTunes Festival Hightlights on Wednesday, 11 August 2010, at 11.45pm, including Goldfrapp, Biffy Clyro and Plan B.

 

Yoko Ono has authorised the remastering of eight of John Lennon's solo LPs to be released to commemorate what would be his 70th birthday on 9 October.  They will include Double Fantasy Stripped Down, which removes some of the instrumentation to focus more on the vocals.

 

Ian Hunter and the Rant Band will play an acoustic show at the Union Chapel on 10 October.  Tickets are £21.50.

 

Apologies for abandoning the site for quite a while.  The day job has consumed me and all my free time, but I shall endeavour to redress the work-life balance!

 

Sad news that British jazz pioneer Sir John Dankworth died on 6 February.  He was with his wife, singer Dame Cleo Laine, for 59 years.  Amidst his long and varied career that included bandleading and performing on clarinet and sax with Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, he scored 1960s films including Darling and The Servant and wrote theme songs for TV shows like The Avengers.

 

Chris Difford has curated and intriguing evening at the Barbican Centre called Songs in the Key of London, which will focus on artists and songs that immortalise the capital (a la Waterloo Sunset and Chelsea Morning).  The confirmed line-up so far looks great: Chris Difford himself, fellow Squeeze founders Glenn Tilbrook and Jools Holland, the Sam Cooke reincarnation of James Hunter, ska legend Rico Rodriguez, Madness boys Suggs and Chas Smyth, Kathryn Williams, Mike Lindsay & Becky Jacobs (of Tunng), Natty and Blaine Harrison (of Mystery Jets).  Tickets are £20-£30.

 

The Beat play the Forum on 22 May. Tickets are £22.50.

 

Seasick Steve will appear on GMTV on ITV1 on Friday, 12 February, between 6am and 9.25am to perform a track from his new album.

 

The Editors play Brixton Academy 24-25 March.  Tickets are £22.50.

 

Sade has returned with a new album called Soldier of Love.

 

Sky Arts 1  is showing The Specials in Concert, a recording of their Wolverhampton gig during their 30th anniversary tour.  Tune in at 9pm on Saturday, 6 February, or to one of the several repeats, including 1pm on Sunday, 7 February.  They're also showing performances by Led Zeppelin (Sunday, 8 February, at 3.30pm), Morrissey Live (Wednesday, 10 February, 11pm and Thursday at 11.30am), Damien Rice in From the Basement (9pm, Monday, 8 February), Rod Stewart (Thursday, 11 February, at 8pm), Iggy Pop (Thursday, 11 February, at 8.30pm), Pixies (Thursday, 11 February, at 11pm), Rufus Wainwright (5.05pm on Friday, 12 February), Radiohead (11pm on Friday, 12 February) and the Cream reunion concert (Monday, 8 February, at 11pm and on Tuesday, 9 February, at 12.25pm).  These are shown on a circuit so keep an eye on the listings.

 

David Byrne and Fatboy Slim have, bizarrely, released an Imelda Marcos disco opera album called Here Lies Love, which has not yet won over too many critics.

 

Jethro Tull plays the Union Chapel on 17 March; Patti Smith plays there on 21 March, and Peter Green and friends  will play on 22 March.

 

Marshall Crenshaw's Jaggedland has finally made it to these-here shores; it's his 10th studio album but the first in six years.

 

Bob Harris' programme on BBC Radio 2 at 11pm on Saturday, 6 February, includes acoustic sets by the excellent Joan Armatrading and former 10,000 Maniacs vocalist Natalie Merchant.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Crowded House are touring the UK in May and June, reaching London's Hammersmith Apollo on 8 and 9 May, with rumours of a possible third date being added.

 

Paloma Faith and Carolina Chocolate Drops will be Huey Morgan's guests on BBC Radio 2 at 3pm on Saturday, 6 February.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

The wonderful Louis Eliot, of Rialto and Kinky Machine, has released a well-received new album as Louis Eliot & the Embers called Kittow's Moor, though at present you might only be able to get it from his website, louiseliot.com .

 

I'm not recommending the programme but if you are a country fan, you might want to tune into ITV1's Amanda Holden's Fantasy Lives on Tuesday, 9  February, at 9pm, as Kenny Rogers will apparently be giving her advice before she performs at a country music event in Texas.

 

John Cale and the Heritage Orchestra will play the Royal Festival Hall on 5 March.  Tickets are £22.50 to £45.

 

The Stranglers play the Hammersmith Apollo on 19 March, promoting their Decades Apart compilation album, which is out on 22 February on EMI.

 

BBC2 on Saturday, 13 February, at 1am (ie kinda Friday night) will show highlights from last year's Electric Proms at the Roundhouse focused on Robbie Williams.

 

Tunng have a new album out called ...And Then We Saw Land.

 

Peter Gabriel plays the O2 on 27-28 March, promoting his new highly praised covers album Scratch My Back (out 10 February), performing with an orchestra and no drums or guitars.  Tickets are £40-£50.

 

Sky Arts 1 is regularly showing many episodes of its Talks with Dave Fanning, including Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham, the Pet Shop Boys, New Order, P J Harvey, David Gray (Monday, 8 February, at 8pm) , Gary Numan, the New York Dolls and others.  They seem to be at 9am and 8pm for now.

 

Georgie Fame plays Twickenham Stadium on 18 April.  Tickets are £27.50.

 

BBC Radio 2 repeat on Saturday, 6 February, at 8pm, Coldplay: Radio 2 Live from the Radio Theatre.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Swing Out Sister plays the intimate Bush Hall on 26 and 27 February 2010.

 

BBC Radio 4 on Saturday, 6 February, at 10.30am broadcasts Stefan Gates's Cover Story, a personal programme by Gates, one of the naked children that featured in the famous album cover of Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy, and how he feels about it.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Florence and the Machine will play the Hammersmith Apollo on 13-15 May.  Tickets are £20.

 

The Stereophonics have added another London date to their Keep Calm and Carry On tour, now playing Wembley Arena on 11 March.

 

During the week of 7 February, the Bio Channel is showing quite a few music-based programmes, including several on Wednesday, 10 February, on The Jacksons (9pm), The Mamas and Papas (8pm and 10pm), Fleetwood Mac (10pm), Cat Stevens (11pm and 5am the next morning), and others; those are shown on rotation so keep an eye on the listings.

 

The post-Ali Campbell UB40 have released another album of reggae covers called Labour of Love IV, which hasn't had wonderful reviews.

 

Angelique Kidjo plays the Barbican Centre on 16 May, with tickets priced between £10 and £27.50.  Her new album Oyo contains some soul classics and has received mixed reviews.

 

Cliff Richard fans may enjoy ITV3's line-up for Wednesday, 10 February, as they're showing An Audience with Cliff Richard at 7.55pm and When Piers Met Sir Cliff at 9pm.

 

Patty Griffin has released a gospel-influenced album called Downtown Church, which includes a duet with Emmylou Harris.

 

Norah Jones plays Hammersmith Apollo on 22 June.  Tickets are £25-£35.

 

Mika will perform on Alan Carr's Chatty Man on Channel 4 at 10pm on Thursday, 11 February.  He will also feature on 4Music's The Album Chart Show at 11.50pm on Friday, 12 February.

 

The Blur documentary No Distance Left to Run is out on DVD on 15 February.

 

George Benson and Wet Wet Wet's Marti Pellow play the O2 on 2 May.  Tickets are £50.

 

Singer/songwriter Richard Hawley explores 'the depths of seafaring culture throughout the history of British music' in a four-part series called The Ocean, which begins on BBC Radio 2 on Monday, 8 February, at 11.30pm.   You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Eddi Reader plays the East Wintergarden on 17 February.  Tickets are £20 but the event has now sold out.

 

BBC4 shows a new compilation of performances from Jools Holland's music show called Later....Latin, featuring Santana, Shakira, Gloria Estefan, Gotan Project and others.  Tune in on Thursday, 11 February, at 10.30pm.  The channel will add to the Latin Season with programmes on Friday, 12 February, including Herb Alert and his Tijuana Brass band (8.45pm), Latin Music USA (including how Ritchie Valens became a star), followed by Valens' biopic La Bamba at 10pm, with his music provided by Los Lobos.  Many of the programmes are repeated later that night.

 

1Camp Bestival at Lulworth Castle on 30 August will feature Madness, Human League, Calvin Harris and George Clinton, so a fairly decent mix for you....  Tickets are £130.

 

Kid Creole and the Coconuts play the London Latin Music Festival on 22 April at the Barbican Centre.  Tickets are £15-£25.

 

A 1977 performance by Ry Cooder will be featured on an old The Old Grey Whistle Test being shown on Friday, 12 February, at 11.45pm on BBC4.

 

Corinne Bailey Rae will play Shepherd's Bush Empire on 24 February, promoting her highly acclaimed album The Sea, her first since the death of her young husband.  She can also be seen and heard on many radio and television programmes, including Channel 4's Alan Carr's Chatty Man at 10pm on Thursday, 4 February (repeated the next day at 11.05pm on E4) and The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, 7 February, at 9am.  She also appears at midnight on Thursday, 10 February (ie Wednesday night), on Channel 4's 4Music: The 360 Session, and at 10pm on Trevor Nelson's BBC Radio 2 show on Wednesday, 10 February.  You can listen to that  online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Noah and the Whale plays the Roundhouse on 12 March.  Tickets are £17.50.

 

Josh Rouse releases another acclaimed album on 22 February, called El Turista.

 

Imogen Heap plays the Shepherd's Bush Empire on 19 February.  She also appears on BBC Breakfast on BBC1 on Friday, 5 February, which could perhaps be seen afterwards on the BBCiPlayer, as might Joan Armatrading's appearance the previous day between 8am and 9.15am.

 

Joan Armatrading plays the Royal Albert Hall on 12 April.  Tickets cost £28.50 to £36.50.

 

Fionn Regan plays the ULU in Bloomsbury on 24 February.  Tickets are £10. His new album, The Shadow of an Empire, is apparently quite different from his debut but has attracted some good reviews.

 

Krystle Warren plays the Soho Theatre on 24-27 February.  Tickets are only £10.

 

An intriguing show at Shepherd's Bush Empire on 15 February is a joint programme with Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt.  Tickets are £30-£35

 

Ultravox plays the Hammersmith Apollo on 11 April.  Tickets are £28.50 to £36.50.

 

Kathryn Williams will play the Purcell Room at the South Bank Centre on 6 March.  Tickets are £16.

 

The Guillemots' Fyfe Dangerfield has released a solo album on Geffen called Fly Yellow Moon.

 

Tom McRae's Scala gig on 17 March has sold out.  He has a new album on Cooking Vinyl called Alphabet of Hurricanes.

 

Singer/songwriter Jesca Hoop, who apparently used to be the nanny for Tom Waits' children, will perform a live session on Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie's show on BBC Radio 2 on Wednesday, 10 February.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

I was sorry to hear that Men at Work have lost a plagiarism case against them concerning their biggest international hit, Down Under, and its similarity to the old children's song Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree.  I was baffled by that as the latter, as I know it, is a sort of chant sung as a round that sounds nothing like Down Under, but apparently the original version had a flute solo very similar to the one in the band's hit, and it seems they used to sing the children's song over it when performing that in concert.  Such a shame it was done though if it's justice for the underdog, I suppose that's a good thing.  I know the song's co-writer Colin Hay is an amazing singer/songwriter so should not need to resort to such things, and if you've not given him a thought since the 80s, you should check out some of his solo work, particularly 2000's Going Somewhere.

 

Paloma Faith plays Shepherd's Bush Empire on 29 March.  Tickets are £15.

 

Cara Dillon and Seth Lakeman will play at the East Wintergarden together on 17 March.  The idea seems to be to have a wonderful St Patrick's Day celebration with Dillon, who will be joined by her old bandmate Lakeman. Tickets are £20.

 

The Cranberries play the Royal Albert Hall on 31 March.  Tickets are about £35.

 

Rufus and Martha Wainwright performed at the funeral of their mother Kate McGarrigle in Montreal, as did Emmylou Harris.  One thousand people attended the funeral on 1 February, and her ex-husband Loudon Wainwright III paid tribute to her in his acceptance speech at the Grammy awards a few days earlier when he won Best Traditional Folk Album for his Charlie Poole tribute, High Wide and Handsome.  Rufus has cancelled his Australasian tour.  Sarcoma victim McGarrigle set up the Kate McGarrigle Fund with the McGill University Health Centre and the Cedars Cancer Institute in Canada and donations can be made in her memory to www.muhcfoundation.com/en/kate. Kate's last public performance was the McGarrigle/Wainwright recent annual Christmas concert, A Not So Silent Night, at the Royal Albert Hall, which raised $55,000 for the fund, and which is now available on DVD. (Rufus is due to play the Sadlers Wells Theatre on 13 April.)

 

Juliana Hatfield has released a new album called Peace & Love on Ye Olde Records.

 

Thomas Dolby will be playing the Union Chapel on 28 February 2010.  His  1984 touring band will be reunited, but (somewhat worryingly) they will meet onstage unprepared and unrehearsed.  The reminiscing should be good but I kinda wish they'd rehearse a wee bit, but we'll see how it goes.  Guests are expected to include some members of Prefab Sprout (who Dolby used to produce) and possibly Eddie Reader, but she is unconfirmed.

 

Many apologies for the lack of updates owing to an impossible increased workload (as many of you must also be experiencing thanks to the recession); but I hope to improve soon.....

 

Sting will be Claudia Winkleman's guest at 10pm on Friday, 20 November, on BBC Radio 2.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

BBC4 on Friday, 20 November, is showing at 7.30pm a programme from Series 3 of Transatlantic Sessions, including Eddi Reader, Julie Fowlis, Karen Matheson, which will be repeated at 3.10am the next morning.

 

The amazing composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has released an album on Decca called Playing The Piano/Out of Noise, which has been well-received.

 

Green Day plays Wembley Stadium on 19 June 2010.  Tickets are about £49.50.

 

BBC4 in the wee hours of Saturday, 21 November, will show Paul Weller: Into Tomorrow at 12.40am, then BBC4 Sessions: Paul Weller at 2.10am.

 

Billy Ocean will play Indigo2 on 9 June 2010.  Tickets are £25.

 

Sufjan Stevens has released two albums: Run Rabbit Run, a reworking of 2001's Enjoy Your Rabbit, and The BQE, the soundtrack to his homage to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

 

Children in Need on BBC1 on Friday, 20 November, from 7pm through 2am will include appearances by Spandau Ballet and Harry Connick, Jr (around 11pm), Alison Moyet, Paloma Faith, Little Boots, Steophonics (around 1am), James Morrison, the Nolans (around 12am), and Madness, David Gray with Annie Lennox, Paolo Nutini (about 11.30pm).

 

Brian May of Queen will be a guest on The Alan Titchmarsh Show on ITV1 at Friday, 20 November, at 3pm after Harry Connick, Jr, and Taylor Swift will appear on This Morning that day after 10.30am.

 

Mark Eitzel has a highly regarded new album out called Klamath, which apparently nods to Nick Drake and John Martyn.

 

Late Junction on BBC Radio 3 at 11.15pm on Thursday, 19 November, will include a specially recorded collaborative session by Sweet Billy Pilgrim and Adem.  On Wednesday, 18 November, it will feature the lovely voice of Emily Loizeau.  She'll also appear on Tom Robinson's BBC 6 Music programme on Friday, 20 November, at 7pm.  You can listen online to the BBC Radio 2 programme or to the BBC 6 Music programme for up to a week afterwards.

 

Pet Shop Boys play O2 Arena on 21 December.  Tickets are £30.

 

The former singer of X, Exene Cervenka, has followed her ex-bandmate and ex-husband John Doe in releasing an Americana solo album.  Somewhere Gone has been getting good reviews.

 

Barbra Streisand has released a well-received album, Love is The Answer.

 

Children in Need Rocks the Royal Albert Hall at 8pm on Thursday, 19 November, will include (separate) performances by Take That and Robbie Williams, Shirley Bassey, Paolo Nutini, Sir Paul McCartney, Snow Patrol, Muse, Lily Allen, Leona Lewis, and Mika.

 

Julie Fowlis has released an album on Shoeshine records called Uam, which has been well received.  It includes a duet with Eddi Reader.

 

The Wainwright Family Christmas, featuring Rufus Wainwright, sister Martha Wainwright, their mother and aunt, the McGarrigle Sisters, joined by Guy Garvey of Elbow and possibly other guests, will take place at the Royal Albert Hall on 9 December.   Tickets are £35 to £70.

 

The fantastic Boo Hewerdine has an impressive new album out, God Bless the Pretty Things.

 

Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze will play Blackheath Halls, practically his home turf, on 20 December.  Tickets are £16.50.  His former bandmate, who has also had a wonderful solo career as well as being in Ace and Mike and the Mechanics, Paul Carrack, will play the Barbican Centre on 13 January 2010.  Tickets are £28.50.

 

The Pogues and guests will play the Brixton O2 Academy on 18 and 19 December.

 

Robyn Hitchcock has released a concert film DVD from New York City concerts in Autumn 2008 and an accompanying audio CD called I Often Dream of Trains in New York.

 

Paul McCartney plays O2 Arena on 22 December.  Tickets range from £55 to £125.

 

Cynthia Lennon, first wife of John Lennon and mother of Julian, will be the guest of Suzi Quatro on her BBC Radio 2 programme at 11pm on Thursday, 19 November.  She will talk about her life with the late Beatle and chat about her favourite American recordings.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards

 

REM has released a two-CD, 39-track live album compiled from their July 2007 shows in Dublin, called Live at the Olympia.  It has not received stellar reviews.

 

Little Boots gives a guided tour of her hometown of Blackpool on Channel 4's 4Music: The 360 Sessions on Thursday, 19 November, at 12.35am.

 

Dame Shirley Bassey has released her first studio album in 20 years, called The Performance, which includes songs by Tom Baxter, Rufus Wainwright, Richard Hawley, Gary Barlow, Kaiser Chiefs, Pet Shop Boys, KT Tunstall and Manic Street Preachers.  She is also expected to appear on BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing on 21 November 2009.

 

Show of Hands (Steve Knightley and Phil Beer) will perform live on Mike Harding's programme on Wednesday, 18 November, at 7pm on BBC Radio 2. You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Chris Rea's Still So Far To Go greatest hits tour will reach London's Hammersmith Apollo on 14 March 2010.

 

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have released The Live Anthology, a pick of live performances over 30 years.

 

Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame will play the Royal Albert Hall on 30 May through to 3 June 2010.  Tickets are £35-£40.

 

Taylor Swift appears on The Paul O'Grady Show on Wednesday, 18 November, at 5pm, and then on This Morning on Friday, 20 November, on ITV1.  Little Boots performs her new single Earthquake on the same (latter) programme.

 

Norah Jones has a new album out called The Fall on Blue Note.

 

John Mayer will play the Hammersmith Apollo on 18 January 2010.  Tickets are £30.

 

ITV1's Celebrating The Carpenters at 7.30pm on Wednesday, 18 November, will include performances of the groups best-loved tracks by Chrissie Hynde, the Feeling, Dionne Warwick, Jamie Cullum and the Noisettes, with chat from Richard Carpenter, and Ronan Keating is a co-host.

 

Brett Anderson will play the Shepherd's Bush Empire on 22 January 2010.  Tickets are £16.

 

Procol Harum has a definitive 2-CD anthology out called All This and More on Salvo records, which includes a live CD and DVD of live performances and television footage.

 

Sky Arts 1 will again show on Tuesday, 17 November, John Lennon: Live in New York, the concert in Madison Square Garden in 1972 in aid of local school children, at 9pm.

 

U2's The Unforgettable Fire has been released in various remastered anniversary versions, including a DVD and a package with a CD of B-sides and live tracks.

 

BBC2's Later Live....with Jools Holland on Tuesday, 17 November, will include performances by David Gray (duetting with Annie Lennox), The Decemberists, Corinne Bailey Rae, Big Pink, and Rox.  An extended version is shown on Friday at 11.45pm.   Gray will play Hammersmith Apollo on 9 December.  Tickets are £32.50.

 

Vasco Rossi will play Hammersmith Apollo on 4 May 2010.  Tickets are £40.

 

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band have released their first album in five years, called Speed of Life.

 

Natalie Merchant, formerly of 10,000 Maniacs, Roachford and Krystle Warren are some of the soloists who will perform with the London Jazz Festival Orchestra in the recording of the opening celebration of the festival at the Barbican Centre, hosted by actor Denis Lawson (uncle of Ewan MacGregor, whose first major role was in Dennis Potter's Lipstick on Your Collar, which is full of fun 50s songs and will finally be repeated, beginning on Monday, 16 November, at 9pm on Yesterday and running the next few weeknights. You should watch that!).  You can listen to the Barbican event on BBC Radio 3 on Tuesday, 17 November, at 7pm or online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Leonard Cohen's Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 has been released as a well-received DVD.

 

Hugh Masekela will play with the LSO at the Barbican Centre on 10 December.  Tickets are £7 to £32.

 

Snow Patrol has already released a 30-track  'best of' collection called Up To Now, which has earned good reviews.

 

Laura Viers will play the Union Chapel on 27 January 2010.  Tickets are £15.

 

Pixie Lott will perform her new single Cry Me Out on This Morning on Tuesday, 17 November, between 10.30am and 12.30pm, and at 12.30pm on Loose Women, Siobhan Fahey, of Bananarama and Shakespears Sister and the ex-Mrs Dave Stewart, will join in the discussion.

 

Montreaux Years 2004 will be shown on Sky Arts 1 at 1am on Tuesday, 17 November, and may include artists such as Carlos Santana, Suzanne Vega, Buddy Guy and The Corrs.

 

Creedence Clearwater Revival's John Fogerty has released part two of his country saga, The Blue Ridge Rangers Ride Again.

 

La Roux's Gold Tour will reach the O2 Brixton Academy on Friday, 7 May 2010.  Vampire Weekend will play there on Tuesday, 16 February, and Wednesday, 17 February 2010.

 

Rickie Lee Jones has a new album out called Balm in Gilead on Fantasy records.

 

BBC Radio 2 on Tuesday, 17 November, at 10.30pm will broadcast Journeys to Glory: The Spandau Ballet Story, featuring interviews with the band and presented by Jonathan Ross. You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Channel 4 seems to frequently be showing Robbie Williams: Making of You Know Me, such as on Monday, 16 November, at 11.25am and at 12.10am on Tuesday, 17 November, the latter followed at 12.30am with Robbie: Live at Knebworth, coverage of a sell-out show from 2003.

 

Paloma Faith will play Shepherds Bush Empire on 29 March 2010.  Tickets are £15.

 

Bio's The Chris Isaak Hour on Monday, 16 November, at 6pm, repeated on Tuesday, 17 November, features an in-depth interview with Trisha Yearwood.

 

Seth Lakeman plays the Shepherds Bush Empire on Saturday, 12 December.

 

Rod Stewart will appear on The Graham Norton Show at 10.35pm on Monday, 16 November, on BBC1, which will be repeated on Tuesday at 11.55pm.

 

Judy Collins plays the Jazz Cafe on 31 January 2010.  Tickets are £20.

 

David Gray performs at the Hammersmith Apollo on Wednesday, 9 December.

 

Gideon Coe's BBC 6 Music programme on Monday, 16 November, at 9pm includes lives sets by Tinariwen and the Yardbirds. You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Stereophonics will perform their new single on GMTV on ITV1 on Monday, 16 November, some time between 6am and 8.35am.   Oddly, they'll do so again on ITV1's other breakfast programme, This Morning, after 10.30am on Thursday, 19 November.

 

Jamie Cullum  is the guest of Jools Holland on his BBC Radio 2 show on Monday, 16 November.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Thomas Dolby and Friends will play the excellent Union Chapel on Sunday, 28 February 2010.  Interestingly, the plan seems to be for the band and guests not to rehearse at all but just to turn up and see if they remember how to play things they knew years ago, which could go horribly wrong, but then the calibre of performers will be high so it's bound to be a pleasant surprise.  Unconfirmed possible performers may include Eddi Reader and Trevor Horn.  Tickets are £25.

 

David Gilmour: Remember That Night will be broadcast on Sky Arts 1 on Monday, 16 November, at 12.30am, which shows David Bowie, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Robert Wyatt joining the Pink Floyd guitarist at the Royal Albert Hall.

 

Bill Wyman, the former Rolling Stones bass guitarist, will be a guest on Johnnie Walker's Sounds of the 70s on Sunday, 15 November, at 3pm.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Simple Minds plays Wembley Arena on 7 December.  Tickets are £36.

 

Elbow are featured in the South Bank Show on ITV1 at 10.45pm on Sunday, 15 November.

 

The great Lyle Lovett has released a new album on Humphead called Natural Forces.

 

Scouting for Girls plays Scala on 11 February 2010.  Tickets are £20.

 

Natalie Merchant, former singer of 10,000 Maniacs, will perform at Conway Hall, WC1R, on Monday, 16 November.   Tickets are £25.  On the same night, the marvellous but now more country-ish (though usually Hank Williams style) Bap Kennedy, brother of Brian, plays The Windmill, SW2.  Tickets are a mere £5!

 

Florence and the Machine will play the Union Chapel as part of the Mencap Little Noise Sessions.  Tickets are £40.

 

James Blunt is featured in Songbook at 8.30pm on Sky Arts 1 on Sunday, 15 November, chatting and performing an 'unplugged' version of songs.

 

The Dave Matthews Band will play the O2 Arena on 6 March 2010.  Tickets are only £38.50.

 

One of Aled Jones' guests on his BBC Radio 2 programme on Sunday, 15 November, at 7am will be Corrs singer Sharon Corr. You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Morrissey has released an album of B-sides called Swords.

 

Madeleine Peyroux plays the Royal Festival Hall as part of the London Jazz Festival on 20 November.  Tickets are £10 to £27.50

 

Absolute Radio has announced plans to launch an 80s station called Absolute 80s on London DAB and internet radio in the slot currently occupied by Absolute Xtreme, which should broadcast from early December. It aims to cater to over-30s with music by Human League, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Duran Duran, Prince, ABC, Depeche Mode, Blondie and Bon Jovi.

Regina Spektor plays Hammersmith Apollo on 4 December.  Tickets are £25.

 

The Electric Light Orchestra's (ELO's) 1978 charity gig at Wembley is shown on Sky Arts 1 at 9pm on Saturday, 14 November, and repeated twice on Sunday.  Also on Saturday, programmes on Neil Young (at 4pm), Jimi Hendrix (2pm and 7.30pm), Johnny Cash (1pm) and Ryan Adams (8.30pm), as well as the Dave Fanning interview of the latter on Sunday at 10.25am and 1pm.

 

Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck will play the O2 Arena on 13 & 14 February 2010.  Tickets are from £60 to £120.

 

The current Marcella Detroit-less incarnation of Shakespears Sister, ie just Siobhan Fahey, has released a new album called Songs from the Red Room.

 

Don McLean will play the Royal Albert Hall on 7 May 2010.

 

Jefferson Starship will play the Electric Ballroom, NW1, on Wednesday, 18 November.  On the same night, Paloma Faith, Mika and Alex Gardner play the Union Chapel as part of the Mencap Little Noise Session.  Tickets for that are £40.

 

My Life Story play Koko on 26 November.  Tickets are £20.

 

The Biography Channel will show a profile of David Bowie at 9pm on Saturday, 14 November, followed by one on Mick Jagger  at 10pm, then Eric Clapton at 11pm, and they will be repeated throughout the week.

 

Seasick Steve plays Brixton Academy on Tuesday, 17 November. Tickets are £19.50.

 

Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Liam Finn, son of Neil Finn, will perform on Dermot O'Leary's programme on BBC Radio 2 on Saturday, 14 November 2009. Robbie Williams and Sir Paul McCartney will also be on the progamme. You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

The Stranglers' Hugh Cornwall plays the Islington Academy on 20 November.   Tickets are £15.  The Stranglers without their former front man will play the Hammersmith Apollo on 19 March 2010, and their album highlighting five decades of their work, Decades Apart, will be released on 22 February 2010 on EMI.

 

Ray Davies will play the Hammersmith Apollo on 19 December.

 

The Enemy play the Forum on 19 November.  Tickets are £20.

 

Gary Numan plays Indigo2 on 3 December.  Tickets are £25.

 

The latest instalment of Live from Abbey Road on Channel 4 on Saturday, 14 November, at 11.45pm will include performances by Seal and Imelda May.

 

Lily Allen plays Brixton Academy from 27 to 28 November.  Tickets are £24.

 

Martha Wainwright is busy in November, appearing on Later...with Jools Holland (the live version on 11 November and the extended version on Friday, 13 November), on 4Play on Saturday, 14 November, at 1.50am, where she performs from her new album of Edith Piaf covers, and on Loose Ends on BBC Radio 4 at 6.15pm on Saturday, 14 November.   You can listen online to the latter for up to a week afterwards.  She will then appear as one of the panellists on BBC2's Never Mind the Buzzcocks at 10pm on Wednesday, 18 November, at 10pm.

 

Wild Beasts will play Koko on 4 March 2010.  Tickets are £12.50.

 

Thea Gilmore plays Bush Hall on 3 December.  Tickets are £15.

 

Jools Holland's regular wonderful Christmas performances at the Royal Albert Hall take place from 27 to 28 November.  Tickets are £50 to £15.

 

Arctic Monkeys appear on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on Friday, 13 November, which is repeated at 12.05am on Sunday morning on BBC1.  They are playing Wembley Arena on Tuesday, 17 November, and Wednesday, 18 November.

 

Emily Loizeau plays Bush Hall on 19 November.  Tickets are £14.

 

The outstanding Luka Bloom, brother of Christy Moore, plays the Jazz Cafe on Saturday, 14 November.  Tickets are about £22.

 

The Troggs, Spencer Davis and The Animals will play the Shepherds Bush Empire on 29 November.  Tickets are £26.50.

 

Joan Armatrading For Mayor will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 10.30am, just before the annual Lord Mayor's Show, on Saturday, 14 November.  She reports on the world of ceremony and tradition surrounding the office of Lord Mayor.  You can listen online to the latter for up to a week afterwards.

 

Joan Armatrading plays the Royal Albert Hall on 12 April 2010.  Tickets are £28.50-£36.50.

 

Swing Out Sister will play Bush Hall on 26 February 2010.  Tickets are £25.

 

The Proclaimers play Hammersmith Apollo on 22 October, with guests from The Wonderstuff (including Miles Hunt).

 

Noah and the Whale promote their new album with a gig at Koko on 2 October.  Tickets are £14.

 

BBC3 will kick off coverage of the Reading Festival at 8.05pm on Friday, 28 August, showing Florence and the Machine, followed at 9pm by the main stage set of The Kaiser Chiefs.  Kings of Leon will appear at 10.30pm.

 

A 25th anniversary edition of This is Spinal Tap will be released on 7 September, which includes a remastered feature, commentary by the band, documentaries, outtakes, extra scenes, live footage, television spots and all sorts of other goodies.

 

Seth Lakeman plays the Shepherd's Bush Empire on 12 December.

 

Scott Walker will be the feature of Marc Riley's Musical Time Machine on Tuesday, 25 August, on BBC Radio 2 at 11.30pm.  Stuart Maconie's conversation with the reclusive singer was recorded in May 1995.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Florence and the Machine plays the Shepherd's Bush Empire on 27 and 28 September.  Tickets are £15.

 

Mark Eitzel plays St Giles-in-the-Fields on 8 October.  Tickets are £12.50.

 

Shout Factory has released a box set of Richard Thompson music in Walking on a Wire, which is receiving good reviews and is generally available for about £35.

 

Gary Numan plays Indigo2 on 3 December.  Tickets are £25.

 

Paolo Nutini will be picking his ten favourite tracks (two each day) on the Tracks of My Years feature during BBC Radio 2's Ken Bruce programme during the week beginning Monday, 24 August, at about 11.30am.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Bat for Lashes plays the Roundhouse on 5 October.  Tickets are £20.

 

Elvis Perkins plays Scala on 22 September.  Tickets are £11.

 

Hugh Cornwell will perform tracks from his Hooverdam album and The Stranglers' Rattus Norvegicus IV album on 20 November at the Islington Academy.

 

Finlay Quaye plays Monto Water Rats on 3 September.  Tickets are £10.

 

The Decemberists play the London HMV Forum on 18 November and the London Coronet on 19 November.

 

Paolo Nutini plays Hammersmith Apollo on 30 September.  Tickets are £25.

 

Rounder releases on 5 October a four-disc box set of unreleased Woody Guthrie recordings with a 64-page book and previously unseen photographs in a 'suitcase'.

 

Ray LaMontagne and Josh Ritter play the royal Albert Hall on 16 and 17 September.  Tickets are £20-£40.

 

John Mayall releases a new album on 7 September called Tough.

 

The Blow Monkeys play Dingwalls on 3 September.

 

Neko Case plays the Barbican Centre on 17 September.  Tickets are £12.50 to £20.

 

Tom McRae releases a new album in September and will play the Scala on 8 October.

 

Bellowhead will play the Shepherd's Bush Empire on 21 October.

 

Robyn Hitchcock plays the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 4 September.  Tickets are £20.

 

Marc Almond plays the Roundhouse on 1 November.

 

Channel 4 continues its coverage from the V Festival on Sunday, 23 August, at 2.35pm, featuring highlights from the first day including performances from Lily Allen, Calvin Harris and The Killers.

 

Duke Special  plays the ULU on  31 August. Tickets are £12.50.

 

Wilco plays London HMV Forum on 4 November.

 

Hugh Masekela and the London Symphony Orchestra play the Barbican Centre on 10 December.  Tickets are £7 to £32.

 

A Flock of Seagulls plays the Islington Academy on 6 September.  Tickets are £16.

 

Dermot O'Leary's BBC Radio 2 programme on Saturday, 22 August, at 3pm, will include a live set by Neil Finn as well as a set by The Red Deltas.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Liam Finn (son of Neil Finn) will play Bush Hall on 9 and 10 November.  Tickets are on sale for £13.50.   His six-track mini-album with Eliza Jane Barnes (daughter of Australian singer Jimmy Barnes), Champagne in Seashells is available as an import from 1 September, although you can download one track for free at zShare.

 

Mike Harding's BBC Radio 2 programme on Wednesday, 19 August, at 7pm will broadcast an interview with the great Loudon Wainwright III, who pays tribute to influential banjo player and country artist Charlie Poole on his forthcoming album High Wide and Handsome---the Charlie Poole Project.   You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

BBC4 will be repeating their excellent tributes to Stiff Records, ending with a documentary on one of the earliest Stiff signings, the late great Ian Dury: On My Life shown at 12.15am on the morning of Saturday, 22 August (ie Friday night).  That follows a 10.45pm showing on Friday, 21 August, of If It Ain't Stiff...., featuring other Stiff artists including Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Captain Sensible of The Damned, Rachel Sweet, Wreckless Eric, Lene Lovich, Clive Gregson of Any Trouble, Shane MacGowan, Tracey Ullman, Madness and too few glimpses of Kirsty MacColl.  The programme follows the 9.45pm (on Friday) showing of the second part of Stiff & Co at the BBC, featuring footage from those artists and others . Sadly, they don't appear to be showing the footage and behind-the-scenes coverage of Son of Stiff Tour in this run of the Stiff extravaganza, but perhaps that will turn up the following week.

 

An archive set by Suede will be broadcast during Gary Crowley's show on BBC 6 Music on Wednesday, 19 August, between 9pm and midnight. You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Ray Lamontagne has added a date to his performance at the Royal Albert Hall, so he is now playing on Wednesday, 17 September, as well as the previous night.  The great Josh Ritter will be providing support.

 

BBC Radio 2 will mark The 40th Anniversary of Woodstock with a programme of that name on Saturday, 15 August, at 10pm, presented by ex-Lovin' Spoonful frontman John Sebastian, and including contributions from Pete Townshend, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, Graham Nash, Carlos Santana and Joni Mitchell, and it promises to share previously unreleased Woodstock recordings. You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Meanwhile, BBC4 will show an extended version of the Oscar-winning documentary about the legendary Woodstock Music and Arts Fair, called Woodstock, 3 Days of Peace & Music: Director's Cut, at 9pm on Saturday, 15 August.  It includes performances by many of the above artists as well as The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Richie Havens, Crosby, Stills (and Nash) and Joe Cocker.

 

BBC4 follows the above documentary with Sight and Sound in Concert: Santana, which was recorded in 1976 and will be broadcast at 12.35am on the morning of Saturday, 15 August (ie just past midnight on Friday).  That is followed at 1.05am by Hotel California: LA from The Byrds  to The Eagles, focusing on 1960s and '70s California music.  At 2.35am, BBC4 will show In Concert: Crosby and Nash, showing a 1970 gig.

 

The Michael Nyman Band featuring David McAlmont will play the Union Chapel on 24 October.  Tickets are £25.

 

Cara Dillon will play the Union Chapel on 10 October.  Tickets are £17.50.

 

Neil Finn and Phil Selway will be on BBC Breakfast on BBC1 on Wednesday, 12 August, discussing the Seven Worlds Collide project below.

 

Idlewild will play the Electric Ballroom on 16 October.  Tickets are £16.

 

Three programmes of Soundtrack to My Life will be shown on Sky Arts 1 on Saturday, 15 August:  Chris Rea (at 6.30pm), Right Said Fred (1.25am on Sunday morning) and the great Joe Jackson (6.30pm on Sunday).

 

Calvin Harris will play the Forum on 28 October.  Tickets are £15.

 

Producer Joe Henry releases another album of his own work, called Blood from Stars, on 17 August.

 

BBC4 on Friday, 14 August, focuses on the Manchester music scene, which starts at 10pm with They Came from Manchester: The Story of Mancunian Pop, featuring Joy Division, Buzzcocks, James, The Fall, The Hollies, Oasis, M-People, 10cc, and Freddie and the Dreamers (repeated at 1.15am).  That is followed at 11pm by Factory: Manchester from Joy Division to Happy Mondays, which of course, also includes New Order.  At 12.30am on Saturday morning, BBC4 shows The Stone Roses Live, recorded in August 1989 in Blackpool.

 

Pete Yorn has teamed up with actress Scarlett Johansson to release a album of divorce duets on Rhino called Break Up.

 

Sky Arts 1 shows Hard Rock Calling 2009 on Friday, 14 August, at 9pm featuring performances in Hyde Park by Neil Young, the Killers and Bruce Springsteen.  That's followed at 10.55pm by a concert by Neil Young and Crazy Horse from the Ragged Glory Tour.

 

Ebury has published a book by Simon Goddard called Mozipedia: The Encyclopaedia of Morrissey and The Smiths.

 

The Dave Fanning Interview focuses on Dave Matthews on Friday, 14 August, at 12.20am, repeated at 12.30pm, on Sky Arts 1.

 

Noah and the Whale are releasing a concept album called The First Day of Spring on Vertigo on 31 August 2009.

 

Sky Arts 1 shows two Elvis Costello concerts on Thursday, 13 August, first Live at Memphis from 2004 (at 9pm) and then in Montreal from at 10.30pm and 12.50am the next morning.  Both concerts are repeated twice on Friday.

 

John Mayall marked his 70th birthday with a performance in Liverpool, where he was joined on stage by Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor and Chris Barber.   That will be shown on Sky Arts 1 on Thursday, 13 August, at 10am and 4.25pm.

 

Gideon Coe's programme on BBC 6 Music at 9pm on Wednesday, 12 August, will include footage from a live set at Glastonbury 1987 by The Woodentops. On Thursday, 13 August, it will include archive sets by The Stranglers (1982) and Calexico.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

The Cranberries' former lead singer Dolores O'Riordan releases her second solo album on 24 August on Cooking Vinyl, called No Baggage, although reviews so far have not been kind.

 

Marc Riley's programme on BBC 6 Music at 7pm on Wednesday, 12 August, will include a live session by Neil Hannon's latest cricket/music project, The Duckworth Lewis Method. You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Shout! Factory has released a box set of Richard Thompson music called Walking on a Wire (1968- 2009).

 

BBC 6 Music's 6 Music Plays It Again at 12 midnight on Thursday morning (13 August) and Friday morning (14 August) will be, in two parts, Joe Strummer's London Calling, his 2001 BBC World Service DJ-ing stint.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Wild Beast's second album, Two Dancers, on Domino has been receiving favourable reviews.

 

Emerson, Lake and Palmer -- Live at Montreaux 1997 will be shown on Sky Arts 1 at 11.45pm on Tuesday, 11 August, and repeated at 11am and 4.55pm on Wednesday.  The Tuesday night performance is followed at 1.20am by an intimate performance from 1969 by Led Zeppelin.

 

At 9am and 4.05pm on Tuesday, 11 August, Mark Knopfler Plays Avo Session will be on Sky Arts 1, part of the Dire Straits front man's world tour, filmed in Switzerland.

 

Seven years after Neil Finn's original Seven Worlds Collide charity project, he's pulling together more impressive musicians and releasing an album on 31 August called The Sun Came Out, which will benefit Oxfam.  Those taking part include Johnny Marr (ex-Smiths etc), Jeff Tweedy and Glenn Kotche of Wilco, members of Radiohead, K T Tunstall, the wonderful fellow Kiwi singer Bic Runga, and Neil's son Liam Finn.  The album will be previewed at a live gig at Dingwalls on Tuesday, 11 August.

 

Paolo Nutini will play the Hammersmith Apollo on 30 September.  Tickets are £25.

 

David Byrne can be seen making appearances on various programmes at present, including The Andrew Marr Show on BBC1 at 9am on 9 August, as he has turned the Roundhouse into a musical instrument, which he refers to as "steam-punk technology".  He used cables to connect an old pump organ in the middle of the concert hall with the building's structural beams, pillars and pipes, producing a music of apparent clangs and whistles. The installation runs until 31 August and is opened from 10am to 6pm, but on Thursday and Friday until 10pm.

 

Martin Carr will be playing a free gig at London Pure Grove on 11 August at 7.30pm.

 

Kraftwerk will reissue eight of their albums on 5 October.  The "12345678 Catalogue", will be available as individual CDs and as an eight-CD box set, as well as downloads and vinyl LPs. The albums to be reissued are: Autobahn (1974), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans Europe Express (1977), The Man Machine (1978), Computer World (1981), Techno Pop (1986), The Mix (1991) and Tour De France (2003).

 

Patrick Wolf will play the Forum on 15 November.  Tickets are £20 to £32.50.

 

Mick Jones of The Clash and Big Audio Dynamite has put a large part of his collection of archive performances and marketing materials on display in a "guerrilla exhibition" near the Westway.  The exhibition is called Rock 'n' Roll Public Library and can be found on 2 Acklam Road, W10 5XL, near Ladbroke Grove tube.  It's open Wednesday to Sunday, 11am to 7pm, until 25 August.

 

Wilco will play the Forum on 4 November.  Tickets are £28.

 

Edwyn Collins' wife Grace Maxwell has written a book, Falling and Laughing: The Restoration of Edwyn Collins, tracking his recovery following two brain haemorrhages and a bout of MRSA.  The couple discuss and sign copies of the book at Waterstones Piccadilly on Monday, 3 August, at 7.00pm, but you have to get a ticket first.

 

Billy Childish will play a free gig on 14 August at 5pm at London Rough Trade East.

 

Echo and the Bunnymen will be playing the Roundhouse on 10 October.  Tickets are £23.50.

 

As usual, Sky Arts 1 dishes out several treats on Saturday, 8 August.  At 10.05am, you can see Blind Faith: Live in Hyde Park (repeated at 2.30pm), a programme on Cat Stevens at 3.30pm, The Buddy Holly Story at 4.30pm, Soundtrack to My Life: Alison Moyet at 6.30pm, a Dave Fanning interview of Rod Stewart at 8pm, the Don Metts documentary film Punk: Attitude at 9pm, which has archive footage and appearances from members of the Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Damned (Captain Sensible), The Ramones and Siouxsie and the Banshees (Siouxsie Sioux) (repeated at 9pm on Saturday, 15 August).  The film The Blues, a Musical Journey: Warming by the Devil's Fire will be shown at 10.35pm.  A few of the programmes are repeated on Monday, when the film The blues, a Musical Journey: Godfathers and Sons will be shown at 11.25pm.

 

Jack Penate will play the Brixton Fridge on 29 October.  Tickets are £14.

 

An Audience with Neil Diamond will be repeated on BBC2 at 7.20pm on Saturday, 8 August.

 

BBC Radio 4 from Monday, 27 July, until Friday, 31 July, at about 3.45pm each day will broadcast an episode of Joan Armatrading's Favourite Guitarists.  The first, on Monday, will be Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler, followed on Tuesday by Bonnie Raitt, then John Williams on Wednesday, Bloc Party's Russell Lissack on Thursday, and Bert Jansch on Friday.  You should be able to listen to it live online or play the shows up to a week afterwards online.

 

Siouxsie Sioux will discuss her passion for Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in BBC Radio 2's The Movie That Changed My Life on  Friday, 31 July, at 7pm. You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Mark Radcliffe's BBC Radio 2 programme on Thursday, 30 July, at 8pm will come live from the 45th annual Cambridge Folk Festival, which kicks off that day.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

David Gray will play the Roundhouse on Monday, 14 September 2009, on the day his new album, Draw the Line, is released, following the release of his new single Fugitive on 7 September.

 

BBC Radio 2 at 11.30pm on Tuesday, 28 July, will broadcast Marc Riley's Musical Time Machine, which will include a segment from Radio 1's 1973 series The Story of Pop, where Alan Freeman talks to The Who's Pete Townshend just prior to the release of Quadrophenia.  They also discuss The Kinks.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Maximo Park will play the Royal Albert Hall on Friday, 9 October.

 

BBC 6 Music will in its 6 Music Plays It Again programme at midnight on Tuesday, 28 July, and Wednesday morning at the same time, broadcast The Thing About Syd, a profile of Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett.  You should be able to listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Noah and the Whale will present a film and special performance at London ICA on Thursday, 3 September (film screenings) and Friday, 4 September (live performance); one ticket covers both.

 

BBC Radio 4's The National Theatre of Brent's Iconic Icons pays tongue in cheek tribute to Bob Dylan on Wednesday, 29 July, at 6.30pm.  You should be able to listen  online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Edwyn Collins' wife, Grace Maxwell, has a new book out called Falling and Laughing: the Restoration of Edwyn Collins, published by Ebury Press.  The new Mojo (September issue) includes on page 22 a self-portrait by Edwyn and a brief Q & A of sorts in which he refers to some of the difficulties following his stroke, but his grand attitude shines through.

 

Lucinda Williams plays Shepherd's Bush Empire on Monday, 27 July.

 

The Enemy appears on Channel 4's Alan Carr: Chatty Man on Sunday, 26 July, at 10pm, which will be repeated on Tuesday, 28 July, at 11.05pm.

 

The excellent Madeleine Peyroux documentary, Somethin' Grand, will be repeated on BBC4 at 1am on Sunday, 26 July, followed by her Live in LA at 1.55am.  If you missed them and it's on BBC iPlayer, they are definitely worth checking out.  Peyroux plays the free iTunes Festival on Sunday, 26 July, with Imelda May at the Roundhouse; tickets must be applied for beforehand on the festival's Facebook page at facebook.com/ituneseu.

 

Chris Difford plays Ronnie Scott's at 6pm on Sunday, 26 July.

 

Suzanne Vega will review her favourite film, the wonderful Funny Face starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire, on The Movie that Changed My Life at 7pm on BBC Radio 2 on Friday, 10 July.   You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Paolo Nutini will be the musical guest on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross at 10.35pm on Friday, 10 July.

 

Promoter Harvey Goldsmith was the castaway on Desert Island Discs on Sunday, 5 July, and chose some records by the acts he has worked with over time, including The Who (still his favourite rock band), Pavarotti and Led Zeppelin.  He tells of how Van Morrison contacted him via the Rolling Stones and persuaded Goldsmith to manage him.  Morrison was living in the States at the time and asked Goldsmith to find him a home in the UK, as Van wanted to move back to England.  Goldsmith worked hard to find the perfect home, Van arrived, took one look at the house and went home, saying that he "didn't like the vibe."   And that was his experience with Van, but he still selected Van's Domino as one of his Desert Island Discs.  The programme is repeated on BBC Radio 4 on Friday, 10 July, at 9am.  You should be able to listen to it live online .

 

An archive set from 1987 by Van Morrison will be one of those featured on Gideon Coe's programme at 9pm on Tuesday, 7 July, on BBC 6 Music.  You should be able to listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

BBC3 on Friday, 10 July, at 8pm will who highlights from T in the Park, including sets by Maximo Park, James Morrison and, after 9pm, Franz Ferdinand.  The set by The View will be shown Saturday morning at 1.15am.

 

More highlights from Glastonbury 2009 will be shown by BBC4 at 9pm on Friday, 10 July. That is followed at 10pm by Sight and Sound in Concert: Santana.  After that at 10.30pm will be More Guitar Heroes at the BBC.

 

ITV2 will be showing highlights from the gigs that make up the iTunes Festival in Camden on Thursday, 9 July, beginning at 10pm on ITV2, featuring Snow Patrol, Flo Rida.  Franz Ferdinand will follow on Friday at 8pm.

 

A 1981 set by The Undertones will feature on Gideon Coe's programme at 9pm on BBC 6 Music on Thursday, 9 July.  Before that, you can hear an archive set by New Model Army on Marc Riley's programme after 7pm.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Ralf Hütter of Kraftwerk will be interviewed on The Culture Show when it returns to BBC2 at 7pm on Wednesday, 8 July.  A theatrical experience called It Felt Like a Kiss, a collaboration between Damon Albarn, film-maker Adam Curtis, and theatre company Punchdrunk will also be covered.  The programme will be repeated on Saturday, 11 July.

 

Gideon Coe on Wednesday, 8 July, at 9pm on BBC 6 Music will play some archive live music by Elbow from 2001.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Jose Feliciano will play the Jazz Cafe for £25 in Time Out.

 

Sky Arts 1 will be showing Morrissey Live at Eurockéennes (the French Glastonbury) again on Tuesday, 7 July, at 11am, after showing Pixies live at the same festival at 10am that day.

 

BBC Radio 4 will broadcast John Mayall's Blues Adventures on Tuesday, 7 July, at 1.30pm, where the blues veteran traces the progress of the blues and R&B in Britain in the early 1960s.  Contributors include Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones and Eric Burdon of The Animals.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Imelda May will play Shepherds Bush Empire on 9 October.  Tickets are £16.50.

 

Marc Riley's Musical Time Machine on BBC Radio 2 at 11.30pm on Tuesday, 7 July, will show Riley reassessing music interviews from the BBC archive, starting with The Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who died in 1967.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

On BBC1 at 10.35pm on Tuesday, 7 July, the Imagine.... programme will profile singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright, who apparently talks candidly about his father Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle and his sister Martha, amongst other things.

 

Tune into Sky Arts 1 at 9pm on Friday, 10 July, to see Rufus Wainwright Sings Judy Garland, and at 11pm to see Rufus Wainwright: All I Want.

 

Fleetwood Mac have added another date at Wembley Arena on 6 November.  Tickets are already on sale, and the other two dates have sold out.

 

For two weeks from 29 June, rare Woodstock relics will be on show at the Hard Rock Cafe in Covent Garden, including the Gibson guitar battered by Pete Townshend and then tossed into the crowd, Joe Cocker's jacket and Jimi Hendrix's vest.

 

The wonderful Marshall Crenshaw has released a new album called Jaggedland, his first in six years, which apparently contains more of his trademark jangle-pop but benefits from his maturity and great musicians.

 

Friday nights on BBC4 are always a musical treat, and on Friday, 3 July, you can see the first of three (more) highlights from this year's festival in Glastonbury: 2009 Sessions, which should focus on Tom Jones' slot from 9pm.  Following that at 10pm is Sight and Sound in Concert: Thin Lizzy, a 1983 concert of Phil Lynott and the boys.  At 10.35pm will be More Guitar Heroes at the BBC, showing archive performances of Jimi Hendrix, Peter Townshend, Ry Cooder, Thin Lizzy, the Jam, and Fleetwood Mac.  That will be repeated at 12.30am on Saturday morning.  At 11.35pm, you can enjoy the musical comedy of Flight of the Conchords, this episode from Series Two being New Zealand Town.  Neil Finn appears in one of the episodes.

 

Regina Spektor has released her new album, Far, on Warner Brothers, which seems to be pleasing everyone who hears it.

 

Stevie Wonder: Live at Last, taken from his two-night residency at London's O2 Arena last September, will be shown on BBC2 at 11.35pm on Friday, 3 July.

 

New Order and Joy Division's Bernard Sumner is working on the debut album of his new band, Bad Lieutenant, which is due out in October.

 

Jack Savoretti's concert at Bush Hall on 21 July has been cancelled (as have his Manchester and Birmingham gigs that week).  I have not heard why but suspect I may be a jinx as I did the same to the Morrissey gig I was looking forward to seeing.

 

On 13 July, collector's editions of Thomas Dolby's The Golden Age of Wireless and The Flat Earth will be released, containing digitally remastered material and some extra live tracks.  Meanwhile, you can treat yourself to his recently released greatest hits compilation, The Singular Thomas Dolby, which contains not only 19 great tracks but a full DVD of 19 titles, including his 1980s videos.  It was wonderful to enjoy the video for Radio Silence again; I've seen She Blinded Me With Science  and Hyperactive since then, but the first track to appeal to me, which features the voice of Lene Lovich, in those early days of MTV never gets aired.

 

Bio will be showing on Wednesday, 1 July, The Chris Isaak Hour at 8pm, Donnie and Marie Osmond at 10pm, Donnie Osmond: In My Life at 11pm, and the interesting biography of Barry Manilow at 9pm, which no doubt includes Bette Midler and other stars with whom he has worked.

 

Florence and the Machine will play the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on Sunday, 27 September.  Tickets are now on sale.  Her debut album Lungs is released on 6 July.

 

Led Zeppelin will be featured in a programme on Sky Arts 1 at 6.25pm on Thursday, 2 July.  That is followed later, at 9pm, by Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, which is repeated at 6pm on Friday, 3 July.  Also on Friday will be a programme on Procol Harum at 10.05am, The Stones in the Park at 8pm, and The Doors: Soundstage Performances at 9pm and 11.05pm.

 

Kate Walsh will play London Tabernacle on Wednesday, 14 October.

 

BBC4 on Wednesday, 1 July, will be showing at 6pm Legends: Roy Orbinson -- The "Big O" in Britain, which includes interviews with Elvis Costello, Bill Wyman and Bono.  Orbinson fans should also tune into Sky Arts 1 on Thursday, 2 July, at 3pm to see more of him.

 

The excellent cast of Jersey Boys will apparently be performing a medley of Four Seasons songs from the show on This Morning on Wednesday, 1 July, between 10.30am and 12.30pm.   I cannot recommend enough this show at the Prince Edward Theatre.  Even if you don't think you're a big enough Four Seasons fan, the story is strong enough and you really should go see it.  Plus there are loads of songs you probably always loved that you didn't remember where by Frankie Valli and/or the Four Seasons, including later FV hits like My Eyes Adored You and Can't Take My Eyes off You.  The plot is hugely engaging, not simply a rags to riches band story, and the performances are utterly outstanding, and you will feel the excitement of living in the time and discovering this brand new music delivered by an impressively sharp foursome.  Go see it!  I will be going back again shortly.  My only regret when I saw it last year was there was no London cast recording, just Broadway's.

 

Paul McCartney's Standing Stone project will be shown on Sky Arts 2 on Tuesday, 30 June, at 10.40pm, followed at 12.05am by his Liverpool Oratorio.  They are repeated on Wednesday at 4.50pm and 6.15pm, respectively.

 

Jools Holland's guest on his final BBC Radio 2 show of the series on Monday, 29 June, at 10.30pm will be Bat for Lashes singer Natasha Khan, who will perform a song from David Lynch's Wild at Heart and discuss her influences.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Wilco's self-titled seventh studio album is now out on Nonesuch and is receiving a great deal of critical praise.

 

The City of London Festival continues through August and brings numerous impressive gigs--many of them outdoor, and covering all sorts of genres--to the City.  Particularly enjoyable are the free ones, such as lunchtime ones in Finsbury Circus (enjoy it now before Crossrail destroys it) or Guildhall Yard.  Check out the full programme here.

 

On Monday, 29 June, BBC3 is showing a highlights programme called Glastonbury: the Best Bits, at 7pm, which will no doubt show performances by Bruce Springsteen, Madness, the Specials, Neil Young, Blur, Tom Jones, Lady Gaga and a few others.  On Tuesday at 7pm, Franz Ferdinand's set will be shown on BBC3, and on Wednesday, Lady GaGa will be featured.

 

For those of you who are interested in Madonna's efforts to adopt children from Malawi, Channel 4 is showing a programme called Madonna and Mercy: What Really Happened?, where journalist Jacques Peretti looks into the controversy surrounding it, on Monday, 29 June, at 8pm.

 

Sky Arts 1 is showing a plethora of great concerts on Sunday, 28 June, most notably Morrissey Live at Eurockeennes (the "French Glasonbury") at 4.50pm, Peter Gabriel: Growing Up Live at 10.05am, John Lennon -- Live in New York at 7.05pm (and at 8am on Monday), Thin Lizzy Live '78 at 8.05pm (and Live and Dangerous airs at 9am on Monday), Talk Talk at 2.40pm, Cream Reunion Concert at 10.30pm (and 12pm no Monday), Eric Clapton--Crossroads at 9am, Queen--Live  at 8am, Listening to You: The Who at the Isle of Wight at 9pm, The Who: The vegas Job at 12.05am on Monday morning, and REM Road Movie at 12.10pm on Sunday.  This channel always offers numerous treats and several of those concerts are repeated fairly regularly, so keep an eye on it.  (It's available on Virgin cable now, too.

 

Gary Numan will play the Shepherds Bush Empire on Saturday, 25 July.

 

The episode of Celebrity Masterchef that includes Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley competing for a place in the semi-final will be repeated on Sunday, 28 June, at 11.30am on BBC2.

 

Martha Tilston and the Woods will play St Giles in the Fields on Thursday, 3 September.

 

The Duckworth Lewis Method's cricket-themed first album will be released on 6 July.  The group includes The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon (aka "Lewis") and Pugwash's Thomas Walsh (aka "Duckworth"), and the album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios.  Until about 4 July, The Times is offering a chance to listen to streamed tracks or watch a video of Jiggery Pokery, which includes "guest vocal cameos" by Alexander Armstrong  and Phill Jupitus.

 

Glenn Tilbrook will be chatting about his favourite music and performing an acoustic session on Bob Harris' BBC Radio 2 programme after 11pm on Saturday, 27 June.  You can listen again online for up to a week afterwards.

 

M Ward plays Shepherds Bush Empire on Tuesday, 30 June.  Tickets are £13.50.

 

Crosby, Stills and Nash follow up their Glastonbury success with a gig at the Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday, 1 July.  Tickets are £45 to £65.

 

Neil Sedaka plays the Albert Hall on Tuesday, 30 June.  Tickets are £32.50 to £50, which seems quite reasonable compared to what other legends (or less so) are charging these days.

 

The second album from The Rumble Strips, Welcome to the Walkalone, is due out on 13 July  and has been produced by Mark Ronson.  Their first single is "You're not the Only Person".  Tune into Channel 4 at 12.10am on Tuesday morning (29 June) to 4Play to see Mark Ronson profiling the band.  That will be followed at 12.25pm by a profile of Moby and the Album Chart Show at 12.40am where The Enemy performs songs from their album Music for the People.

 

Malian band Tinariwen has a new well-received album, Imidiwan, with Independiente.

 

Glenn Tilbrook performs Untouchable in a video clip shown on the repeat of TOTP2 on Dave at 7.00am on Sunday, 28 June.

 

Lenny Kravitz is playing the Brixton Academy on Wednesday, 1 July.

 

Brian Kennedy is due to perform on the episode of Songs of Praise from beautiful Belfast that will be aired at 4.55pm on Sunday, 28 June, on BBC1.

 

The BBC looks to be giving Glastonbury some decent coverage.  Their digital radio station BBC 6 Music will be offering almost non-stop coverage during the weekend, with most of their presenters there including Catatonia's Cerys Matthews. They will also play highlights at 9pm on Monday, 29 June. Tune in online, via your satellite/cable television, or on your DAB radio from 12pm on Friday, 26 June, until late Sunday night.  Meanwhile, BBC3 and BBC4 in the evenings will bring footage of the event, with highlights of the performances shown late on BBC2 each night.  Tune in in particular to see The Specials at 9pm on Friday on BBC4, with highlights of their set and that of Fleet Foxes and possibly Neil Young on BBC2 at 11pm on Friday, and Madness on BBC4 at 7pm.  More highlights on BBC2 will feature at 4.20pm on Saturday, with coverage on Sunday being broadcast on BBC2 at 5pm (including Madness and Amadou and Mariam) and 10pm, the latter featuring headliners Blur, and perhaps Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Bat for Lashes.

 

The Beat, known in the USA as The English Beat, are expected to appear on Mark Lamarr's BBC Radio 2 programme at 12 midnight on Saturday, 27 June 2009 (ie Friday night).  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.  A session from them in 1979 will also be broadcast on the Gideon Coe show on BBC 6 Music at 9.30pm on Tuesday, 30 June.  You can listen online for up to a week.

 

The fantastic Bap Kennedy, a fine singer/songwriter who was once in Energy Orchard and  is also one of Brian Kennedy's brothers, will be giving a free concert on Friday, 26 June, at What's Cookin' at the Sheepwalk, E11, at 8.30pm.  He's promoting his fifth album, The Big Picture, to which I understand  Van Morrison has contributed.  He'd be worth paying to see so do get there if you can.

 

Ray Davies is expected to perform on Loose Ends on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday, 13 June, at 6.15pm.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Former Catatonia singer and now solo artist Cerys Matthews presents My Life in Verse: Cerys Matthews on BBC2 on Friday, 12 June, at 9pm, exploring the legacy of Celtic poetry, including W B Yeats and Robert Burns.

 

Blues artist Big Joe Louis will do a live session on Mark Lamarr's show on BBC Radio 2 at midnight on Saturday, 13 June.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

ITV2 on Friday,12 June, will show two programmes of The Isle of Wight Festival, the one at 7pm featuring The Ting Tings and The Noisettes, and the one at 10pm featuring Alesha Dixon, Basement Jaxx, the Prodigy and others.

 

Blues musician Taj Mahal does a studio session performing songs including some from his recent album Maestro on World on 3 on BBC Radio 3 on Friday, 12 June.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

On Thursday, 11 June, BBC 4 will show BBC One Sessions: Amy Winehouse at 10pm and BBC Four Sessions: P J Harvey at 10.50pm.

BBC2 will show Leonard Cohen Live in London from his 2008 tour, at 12.20am on Friday, 12 June.

 

Julie Felix, the folk singer who appeared on The Frost Report in the 60s, is one of the contributors to BBC Radio 4's programme on Burl Ives, which will air at 11.30am on Thursday, 11 June, and which is likely to also touch upon the career of Pete Seeger, who like Ives was blacklisted in the McCarthy era.  You can listen to the programme online for up to a week afterwards.

I may be seeing things but I thought I caught sight of an applauding Eddi Reader in the audience of the first programme of the the superb comedian Michael McIntyre's new series Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow (the one featuring Welsh comic Rhod Gilbert, whose set I thoroughly enjoyed when he opened for Lee Mack some years ago, with his great stalker routine, and he's now doing Welsh tourism adverts), which was shown on Saturday, 6 June, on BBC1.  It's not impossible as there are celebrities scattered throughout the audience and this one was filmed in Edinburgh.

The Bio Channel is broadcasting the  Chris Isaak Hour, and the guest on the episode shown on Wednesday, 10 June, at 8pm (repeated on Thursday at 8am and 2pm) will be Michael Bublé .  The programme on Saturday, 13 June, at 8am will feature Stevie Nicks.   Other episodes include as guests Glen Campbell, Jewel, Yusuf Islam, Trisha Yearwood, Smashing Pumpkins and Chicago.

Annie Lennox will perform her hit Little Bird on GMTV after 8.35am on ITV1 on Wednesday, 10 June.

 

Moby will be Janice Long's guest on her programme that beings at midnight on Wednesday, 10 June, on BBC Radio 2.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

Sky Arts 1 will show a 1969 Led Zeppelin concert in an intimate session at 9.55pm on Monday, 8 June.  It will be repeated on Tuesday at 10.25am and 5pm.

David Gedge, formerly of The Wedding Present, will be performing with the BBC Big Band in this second part of that concert, broadcast at 10pm on Monday, 8 June, on BBC Radio 2.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

Long-time Jools collaborator, singer Ruby Turner, will appear on Jools Holland's BBC Radio 2 programme on Monday, 8 June, at 10.30pm.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

Don't Look Back in Anger: The Story of Britpop is broadcast on Tuesday, 9 June, at 12 midnight on BBC 6 Music.  It's a four-part series originally broadcast in 2004. You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

ITV1 will repeat The Truth about Boy Bands on Tuesday, 9 June, at 11.05pm, featuring New Kids on the Block, Take That, Boyzone and others.

Sky Arts 1 will show a two-part documentary on The Beach Boys called Endless Harmony beginning on Monday, 8 June, at 6pm, and repeated over the next couple days.

Jarvis Cocker and his band will perform tracks from his new album Further Complications on Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie's BBC Radio 2 programme at 8pm on Monday, 8 June.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.  A live set by Cocker will also be broadcast on Marc Riley's BBC 6 Music programme at 7pm on Tuesday, 9 June.  You can also listen to that one online for up to a week afterwards.

4Music on Tuesday, 9 June, at 12.10am on Channel 4 will show snippets of  The Yeah You's and then of songwriter Remi Nicole at 12.20am.

The Gospel Music of Johnny Cash will be shown on Sky Arts 1 on Sunday, 7 June, at 11pm, featuring rare footage and performances.

Jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb, who played with Miles Davis, discusses Davis' seminal album Kind of Blue at the Hay Festival on a programme to be shown on Sky Arts 1 on Sunday, 7 June 2009, at 8pm.

Chris Hawkins presents another part of a documentary on David Bowie on BBC 6 Music on Monday, 8 June, at 3am, and on Tuesday at 1.30am.  Hawkins also presents, on Sunday, 7 June, at 2am, he presents a Finlay Quaye set from Glastonbury in 1998.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

Former  Stone Roses front man Ian Brown will be painted in Brush with Fame by a former art forger in the style of Cezanne at 3.30pm on Sky Arts 1 on Sunday, 7 June.  (The programme before that at 3pm will show John Cleese painted in the style of Matisse.)  Robin Gibb is painted in the style of Van Gogh in the programme at 4.30pm.

A concert by Queen fronted by Free's Paul Rodgers will be shown on Sky Arts 1 on Saturday, 6 June, at 9pm.  It's repeated on Sunday at 10am.

 

Thomas Dolby was one of the guests on Liz Kershaw's programme on BBC 6 Music on Saturday, 6 June, at 12pm, hosting the "It's My Party" segment.  The programme included a session from The Chameleons, and you can listen to the programme online for up to a week afterwards (Dolby's bit is about 1.40 in and also includes a lovely track from the great Madeleine Peyroux, who is spookily out of her time, a modern Billie Holiday).

Performances from Pink Floyd's 1994 Dark Side of the Moon concerts will be shown on Sky Arts 1 on Saturday, 6 June, at 2.30pm.

 

Lily Allen has added a date at the Brixton Academy, now playing on 15 December. Tickets are £24.

Chrissie Hynde is the celebrity this week who will each day pick two of her favourite discs at 11.30am on Ken Bruce's BBC Radio 2 programme from Monday, 8 June, until Friday, 12 June.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

From the Basement on Sky Arts 1 at 12.05pm and 3.35pm on Saturday, 6 June, will feature performances by Jack White's The Raconteurs, Seasick Steve and Band of Horses.

Singer/songwriter Carrie Rodriguez, who was discovered by and recorded albums with Chip Taylor, will perform an acoustic set on Bob Harris' programme on BBC Radio 2 at 11pm on Saturday, 6 June.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

The Enemy will play Somerset House on Friday, 10 July, and the HMV Forum on Thursday, 19 November.  They're promoting their album Music for the People.

 

Tori Amos has released her self-produced 10th album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, which also comes as a Limited Edition with a DVD with 17 special music videos for the songs on the album.  She will be performing at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo on Thursday, 10 September.

 

Elton John will be playing the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday, 22 September, joined by some excellent friends: Teddy Thompson, Stephen Fry and Ray Cooper.  Tickets are a breathtaking £175-£150.

Sky Arts 1 on Saturday, 6 June, at  will show Duran Duran's Arena: An Absurd Notion, the 1984 live concept concert film by Russell Mulcahy, at 5pm.

 

Little Boots' wildly hyped and anticipated album Hands is out on 8 June, although it seems to have met with disappointment from most reviewers with the exception of The Guardian.

BBC Radio 2 on Saturday, 6 June, will broadcast an exclusive concert by Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, at 10pm.   The concert was recorded in June 2009 and includes some songs from his recent album, Roadsinger (To Warm You Through the Night), but apparently also some of his many hits from the 1970s.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.   Fans can also enjoy a night celebrating him on BBC4 on Wednesday, 10 June, when another concert--this one of Stevens in 1971--will be shown at 10pm, followed at 10.40pm by Imagine....The Artist Formerly Known as Cat Stevens, and then at 11.35pm by BBC Four Sessions: Yusuf Islam, his first solo concert performance for 30 years, at the Porchester Hall in London.

 

Jimmy Buffett will be playing the Shepherds Bush Empire on Sunday, 5 July.

The Bio Channel will, on Saturday, 6 June, show programmes about the fabulous Mama Cass (9pm) and Davy Jones of The Monkees (at midnight), as well as Elvis: Return to Tupelo (10pm).

 

M Ward will play Shepherds Bush empire on Tuesday, 30 June.

Sky Arts 1 on Saturday, 6 June, will show at 1pm and 8pm coverage of the 2009 Hay Festival featuring an interview with South African jazz legend Hugh Masekela.  It's repeated Sunday at 1pm.

 

Jenny Lewis will play the Shepherds Bush Empire on Tuesday, 18 August.

On Saturday, 6 June, Starsailor will appear on Dermot O'Leary's programme on BBC Radio 2 at 3pm and also on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends at 6.15pm.  You can listen to the former or the latter online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames will be playing the Jazz Cafe on 24 and 25 June.

 

E4 is showing The Blues Brothers on Saturday, 6 June, at 10pm.

 

Mica Paris will play Ronnie Scott's on Wednesday, 10 June.  Tickets cost £20 to £36.  She's promoting her new album Born Again, which includes tracks written by Rihanna, James Morrison  and Eric Benet.

 

Channel 4 in the wee hours of Saturday night, or technically Sunday morning at 12.10am on 7 June, will be showing highlights from the Wireless Festival 2008, including performances by Morrissey, Mark Ronson, Fatboy Slim and Hot Chip.

 

Lisa Hannigan, perhaps most widely known these days for her work on vocals on Damien Rice's albums, has released a new album called See Sew and will play the lovely Union Chapel on Thursday, 16 July.

 

Boyzone and Lionel Richie will appear on the first of Graham Norton's new series, Totally Saturday, on Saturday, 6 June, at 7.30pm on BBC1.  Richie will also perform a live set on Ken Bruce's programme, which begins at 9.30am, on Monday, 8 June, on BBC Radio 2.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.  The Bio Channel will also show a programme on him at 10pm on Wednesday, 10 June.

 

Buzzcocks and The Fall will be playing The Forum, NW5, with "post-punk poet" John Cooper Clarke on Wednesday, 10 June.  Tickets are £17.50.

 

Marc Almond will play London Roundhouse on 1 November.

 

Highlights of a concert by Malian guitarist and songwriter Vieux Farka Toure recorded in May at London's Jazz Cafe will be broadcast on Saturday, 6 June, at 3pm on BBC Radio 3.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Bert Jansch is playing a special one-off show at the Jazz Cafe on Monday, 8 June.  Tickets are £25.

 

Patrick Wolf has a new, well-received album out called Bachelor.

 

BBC4 celebrates the 50th anniversary of Island Records on Friday, 5 June, beginning at 9pm with a programme called Keep on Running: 50 Years of Island Records, featuring archive footage as well as contributions from Amy Winehouse, Paul Weller, U2, Brian Eno, Cat Stevens aka Yusuf, Grace Jones, Sly and Robbie and PJ Harvey.   That will be followed at 10.30pm by Island at the BBC, including archive performances of Cat Stevens, Roxy Music, Bob Marley and the Wailers, U2, Steel Pulse and PJ Harvey.

 

Los Lobos play the Jazz Cafe on 29 July.

 

Channel 4 on Friday, 5 June, at 11.05pm will show the episode of The Simpsons called How I Spent My Strummer Vacation, featuring the voices of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, as the Rolling Stones feature in the plot, as well as Elvis Costello, Brian Setzer, Tom Petty and Lenny Kravitz. (Of course Tom Petty voices a regular animated character on the excellent King of the Hill--Hank's niece Luanne's fiancé, Lucky).

 

Manic Street Preachers are playing at the Forum, NW5, on Monday, 8 June.  Tickets are £20. They are plugging their ninth album Journal for Plague Lovers, which features lyrics by lost bandmate Richey Edwards.