The Lyric Theatre on London’s iconic Shaftsbury Avenue will be running the musical Thriller from September 9 to October 22, 2010.

See the show and dine at Planet Hollywood with a new deal from Britain’s leading discount voucher specialist, discountvouchers.co.uk, and ticketing specialist lastminute.com. To see this amazing show simply head to the website to buy tickets and benefit from the great discounts through vouchers and voucher codes.

Thriller is a high-octane, spectacular live show in honour of the King of Pop and The Jackson 5. With full support from Sony BMG the show is the first major live theatre interpretation of Jackson’s work, and includes hits such Beat It, Billie Jean, Show You The Way To Go, Can You Feel It,  I Want You Back, I’ll Be There, Rock With You and She’s Out Of My Life. Thriller – Live found its new residency after standing ovations at European concerts, and three highly acclaimed tours of the UK.

The dazzling choreography, sensational dancing and distinctive sound of Michael Jackson has been uniquely captured thanks to award-winning director Gary Lloyd, who has worked with Robbie Williams, Leona Lewis and Will Young to produce imagery that compliments eye-popping multi-media effects. Join the celebration of the 40 year career that saw more than 750 million records sold worldwide, with the album of the show’s title remains the best-selling recording of all time.

American heavy metal act Slayer has announced a series of revised scheduled dates for their upcoming UK tour.

The concerts had already been cancelled twice because of health problems. Slayer bassist Tom Araya has been suffering from major back problems which have required surgery and forced the postponement and the subsequent rescheduling of the UK gigs.

The thrash-metal band had announced less than two weeks ago that their dates scheduled for their forthcoming UK tour were cancelled.

It was announced at the time that Araya needed an operation on his back to solve a reoccurring problem.

These cancellations had first affected the January and February American and Canadian dates of the Carnage Tour then the European gigs booked for March and April.

Luckily, there was no North East date, but any fans who’ve made arrangements to travel to see them in Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Nottingham, Birmingham or London will be mighty peeved.

It was revealed that Araya, notorious for swinging his long hair while performing, became gradually bothered by serious back problems as the band was touring Australia, New Zealand and Japanese last October.

The band continued with the tour despite of the problems experienced by Araya, but the bassist immediately consulted with an orthopaedic specialist when he returned home.

It’s now been revealed that Slayer will open their UK tour in Leeds on May 26 and will subsequently move on to play Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham and London for the tour’s final two gigs.

Slayer UK tour:

Leeds Academy (May 26)
Glasgow Barrow lands (27)
Birmingham Academy (29)
Manchester Academy (30)
Nottingham Rock City (31)
London Forum (June 2,3)

As soon as a March 5 in Northampton, frontman Ian Anderson and his bandmates will kick off a lengthy series of gigs which bring the band to practically every part of the UK. Jethro Tull will wrap it up on the first of April in Sheffield.

Singer and flutist Anderson said they are several songs of the music created by Jethro Tull over the course of their career which have rarely, if ever, rarely, been performed live. Anderson said that they wanted to perform this material to the 2010 tour along with other more habitual and trusty favourites.

Jethro Tull tour dates in the UK:

Northampton Royal And Derngate (March 5)
Oxford New Theatre (6)
St Albans Arena (7)
Torquay Princess Theatre (9)
Brighton Dome (10)
Ipswich Regent Theatre (11)
Reading Hexagon (12)
Southampton Guildhall (13)
High Wycombe The Swan (14)
Swindon Wyvern Theatre (16)
London Union Chapel (17)
Bristol Colston Hall (18)
Croydon Fairfield Halls (19)
Derby Assembly Rooms (22)
Manchester Apollo (23)
Birmingham Symphony Hall (24)
York Opera House (25)
Newcastle City Hall (27)
Aberdeen Music Hall (28)
Perth Concert Hall (29)
Glasgow Pavilion Theatre (30)
Liverpool Philharmonic (31)
Sheffield City Hall (April 1)

Jethro Tull also plans to perform nine concerts in North America during the month of June, amongst which the ones in Miami (4), Boston (15) and Toronto (18).

The band returns to Europe in July for gigs in Athens on the ninetieth and Thessaloniki twentieth.

Legendary performer Peter Gabriel has announced the inclusion of a second gig at the O2 Arena in London.

Gabriel, additionally to his previously announced March 27 date, will now also play the O2 on the 28, in support of ‘Scratch My Back’, an album dedicated to covers.

Released on January 25, ‘Scratch My Back’ promises to feature songs authored by artists such as Radiohead, Bon Iver and Arcade Fire.

Peter Gabriel Will Perform:

O2 Arena, London, (March 27 and 28)
Meanwhile, American hip hop artist and actor Mos Def has announced that he also his planning an appearance in the British capital.

This time, the concert will be one off, as the rapper will play for a single show at the Koko in April.

Mos Def will be performing in support of his latest album, ‘The Ecstatic’, released last year.

The multi talented singer-songwriter has recently been said to be in the midst of filming a documentary about a little known punk band called Death.

Mos Def will perform:

London KOKO (April 15)

As previously announced, the singer-songwriter has got some interesting backing for her album in the persons of Beck, the Beastie Boys and Santigold, who remixed some tracks on her record.

Norah Jones is scheduled to perform at these dates:

Manchester Apollo (June 21)
Hammersmith HMV Apollo (22)
Also touring the UK in the coming months is young budding performer Laura Marling. She will play concerts in Ireland as well.

Her concert run begins on April 9 in Belfast and will stretch until the 25th when she will be performing in London.

Beginning in Belfast on April 9, the singer-songwriter will then head to Dublin, before returning to the UK for shows.

Marling is scheduled to relase a new album, her second, in 2010 and she has just issued a new track called ‘Goodbye England (Covered In Snow)’. This track has been released in a 7-inch vinyl limited edition.

Laura Marling UK and Ireland tour dates:

Belfast Limelight (April 9)
Dublin The Academy (10)
Manchester Lowry (12)
Glasgow Fruitmarket (13)
Edinburgh Queen’s Hall (14)
Birmingham Alexandra Theatre (16)
Cambridge Corn Exchange (17)
Newcastle Tyne Theatre (19)
York Opera House (20)
Bristol Colston Hall (21)
Southampton Guildhall (23)
London Palladium (25)

Carmarthenshire Council is carrying out negotiations with the people behind Beach Break Live concerning the use of Pembrey Country Park.

Carmarthenshire Council admitted that no decision had been made about the three-day festival which was previously held in Cornwall and Kent. The town council does want to consider the event seriously has it could bring huge benefits to the region.

But local residents opposing the event have initiated petitions which are being circulated in Burry Port and Pembrey.

The Beach Break Live festival was first staged in Cornwall in 2007 although event organisers were forced to move it to a safari park in Kent last year after councillors had denied them planning permission.

Dizzee Rascal and The Zutons had headlined the 2009 edition of the festival which also featured other activities such as sports, dance, arts, games and theatre alongside the concerts as well as the bars and food.

Carmarthenshire Council claimed that a move to Pembrey could be worth £330,000 in local spending by the crowd of 20,000 for things like taxis, site hire, hotels, food suppliers and other event-related services.

But councillor Joanne Davies said putting the event at Pembrey would be crazy, adding that the area is a family orientated park as well as a public beauty spot.

She also said that concerns had been raise about congestion, noise and littering, adding that  Festival Fields close to Llanelli which staged the 2000 National Eisteddfod would represent a better option for the festival.

A county council representative said discussions were being held with the event organisers and communication had been initiated with authorities in both Cornwall and Kent.

New Puritans, who are scheduled to launch their second record, called ‘Hidden’, on January 18, will begin touring later during the same month.

On tour, the band will promote their show by hiding a small series of free tickets in the cities and towns they perform.

The group will reveal clues for the tickets on their website,www.thesenewpuritans.com, before each concert.

New Puritans are set to play the following dates:

London Bush Hall (January 25)
Brighton Audio (February 2)
Birmingham Hare And Hounds (2)
Manchester Deaf Institute (3)
Glasgow Captains Rest (4)
Newcastle Jukebox (5)
Leeds Brudenell Social Club (6)
Wild Beasts also revealed UK tour dates starting in December.

The band, schedule to kick off the tour with a homecoming Christmas concert in Kendal set for December 22, are scheduled to perform in cities including London, Exeter, Newcastle, Manchester and Warwick.

Wild Beasts will perform on these dates:

Kendal Brewery Arts Centre (December 22)
Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms (March 3)
London Koko (4)
Warwick University (11)
Bournemouth 60 Million Postcards (12)
Leicester Queens Hall (13)
Norwich Waterfront (15)
Exeter Phoenix (16)
Liverpool O2 Academy 2 (18)
Newcastle Cluny (19)
Manchester O2 Academy 2 (20)

Dublin City Council gave the fine to U2 concert promoters MCD following a series of complaints from residents to council authorities concerning an excessive amount of noise during the band’s Croke Park gigs in July 2009.

An investigation revealed that the Irish performers exceeded the sound levels normally permitted by the city of Dublin a total of 12 times during the concerts. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had previously set the noise limit at 75 decibel. A council spokesman confirmed that an environmental officer had registered the band performing over the limit.

The fine has been a little controversial because it appears low.

Chair of the Croke Park Area Residents’ Alliance Pat Gates called the penalty “paltry” and said it didn’t provide much of a deterrent. Gates added that all fines coming to city council should be handed back into the local community, since they’re the ones who had to deal with the noise.

It’s been previously reported that Dublin residents had angrily protested U2 because of the 100 trucks which were driven through the small lanes around the venue.

Now on a break, the band is schedule for a second go at the whirlwind extravaganza which will make U2 perform between June and October 2010.

Here are the June dates for the 360 tour:

Anaheim, CA (June 6, 7)
Denver, CO (12)
Oakland, CA (16)
Seattle, WA (20)
Edmonton, Alberta (23)
Minneapolis, MN (27)
East Lansing, MI (30)

In concert at the Liverpool Echo Arena, the singer simply walked-off stage after saying “good bye” at the audience following the incident. He had been performing his second song of the night. Morrissey had begun the concert with The Smiths classic ‘This Charming Man’ and was half way through ‘Black Cloud’ when he was hit on the head.

Speculations have been flying since there were conflicting reports over whether it was a glass bottle or a plastic cup that had struck the star. The concert was halted for nearly 15 minutes as fans in the crowd chanted his name. Then a member of his crew walked on stage and announced that Morrissey had been struck on the head by a bottle and the remainder of the gig would be would cancelled. The crowd booed and jeered at the announcement.

The audience was informed that a full refund would be provided.
 
Echo Arena general manager Tim Banfield said Merseyside Police have been contacted about the incident.

Banfield said that the behaviour of one individual has created a great deal of disappointment for the other fans, the venue and the performer as his or her reckless move caused the concert to be cancelled, ruining what may have been a brilliant performance out for thousands of Morrissey fans. He added that the team at the Echo Arena takes great care to guaranty the safety of both artists and of visitors at the venue.

Morrissey is now scheduled to travel to Holland to resume his European tour on Monday November 9 with a concert in Nijmegen. At the moment of writing, the singer’s minor head injury has proven inconsequential for the Dutch performance and plans are still on for the event.

The singer has gone through an eventful series of dates on this tour. The star was hospitalised following a collapse while onstage during the Swindon Oasis on October 25, only the tour’s second gig. That incident had forced Morrissey to postpone his Bournemouth show on October 26.

He’s scheduled to perform through out Europe during the month of November before heading to the US.

Morrissey’s European tour:

Nijmegen – De Vereeniging, November (09)
Lille – Aéronef, (10)
Paris – Le Zénith, (12)
Brussells – Forest Club (14)
Berlin – Tempodrom, (16)
Hamburg – CCH 1, (17)
Düsseldorf – Philipshalle, (19)
München – Tonhalle, (20)
Dublin – The National Stadium, (23)

The famous eternally-white-haired actor, who is known for his comic performances in such motion pictures as ‘The Pink Panther’, ‘Planes, Trains & Automobiles’ and ‘Father Of the Bride’ will give a concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London next Monday, November 9.

Presented under the name of ‘An Evening of Bluegrass And Banjo’, the concert will see Martin perform tunes played on a clawhammer banjo while he’ll be joined by The Steep Canyon Rangers, his own bluegrass ensemble.

The Steep Canyon Rangers released an album this year titled ‘The Crow: New Songs For The Five-String Banjo’ which features a series of songs in most part instrumental with a host of guest performers.

Mary Black, who also performs on the band’s new album, will support the Steve Martin gig.

Martin was previously invited to play the banjo on a remake of bluegrass classic ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’. The piece had won the 2002 Best Country Instrumental Performance a Grammy award.

Born in 1945 and raised in California in a Baptist family, Steve Martin is also a writer, playwright and film producer.  Martin worked at Disneyland in his younger days. He became famous as a writer first, thanks to his involvement with the American TV show Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Later on, Martin was frequently invited as guest on American TV programmes the Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live.
Fans can check availability of Steve Martin tickets at NME.COM/TICKETS or by calling 0871 230 1094.