Live4ever’s 2021 News Round-Up: Part 4 feat. Arctic Monkeys, Wet Leg, Adele and more


Alex Turner fronting Arctic Monkeys @ Brooklyn Steel (Paul Bachmann for Live4ever)

Alex Turner fronting Arctic Monkeys @ Brooklyn Steel (Paul Bachmann for Live4ever)




Big album news continued as October began, Liam Gallagher confirming his third solo album C’MON YOU KNOW for release on May 27th next year, and Idles doing the same with their new record Crawler, which was due on November 12th.

The surprise announcement came with first single The Beachland Ballroom, which Joe Talbot already believed was ‘the most important song on the album’.

After two years away, Glastonbury organisers made their first announcement for the festival’s planned return in 2022, unveiling Billie Eilish as headliner for the Pyramid Stage on June 24th.

“We are very excited to confirm that Billie Eilish will headline the Pyramid Stage on the Friday night at Glastonbury 2022, to become the Festival’s youngest ever solo headliner,” a post on the festival’s social media read. “This will be her first UK festival headline performance.”

Of all the high profile comebacks and albums in 2021 though, perhaps the biggest came this month from Adele, who confirmed her new album 30 was set to be released on November 19th.

“I was certainly nowhere near where I’d hoped to be when I first started it nearly 3 years ago,” a statement from the singer read.

South By Southwest Festival added to those comebacks, revealing the first list for next year’s event with Katy J Pearson and Yard Act some of the UK artists making the trek over to Austin, Texas in March 2022.

Among the others from British shores confirmed initially were Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, Nuha Ruby Ra and Hamish Hawk, as organisers aimed for a, ‘diverse lineup full of adventurous talent’ upon the event’s return.

The Strokes announced a show at New York’s Barclays Center which will be taking place tonight (December 31st).

It’s set to be another New Year’s Eve concert for the band after they said goodbye to 2019 by unveiling the New Abnormal album which was subsequently released in the April of 2020.

Foals made their late move in November – “With Wake Me Up, I just wanted to write a song about transporting yourself to a better, idyllic situation,” Yannis Philippakis said of the new single, which took the band on from 2019’s two-part Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost.

“I think we all had that feeling of the last eighteen months being like a weird fever dream that felt surreal but very affecting,” he continued. “I think we all wished we could have woken up somewhere else at various points.”

Two new studio albums were revealed to be coming from Jack White next year, starting with Fear Of The Dawn on April 8th.

Taking Me Back will open that record, the first from the White Stripes man since 2018 and Boarding House Reach.

Big name returns still continued as the year drew to a close: not long after drummer Matt Helders disclosed that the band’s new album was close to completion, Arctic Monkeys revealed their initial plans for what’s thus likely to prove to be a busy 2022.

Tour dates in Turkey, Bulgaria, Croatia and the Czech Republic have been arranged for August 2022 following the pre-pandemic wrap-up of Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino – a Live4ever album of the year in 2018.

Paul McCartney’s third instalment of his McCartney solo series landed the veteran songwriter nominations for the 2022 Grammy Awards.

McCartney III itself is up for Best Rock Album, while its Find My Way single is up for Best Rock Song.

December opened with some news to get excited for in 2022, Wet Leg confirming their self-titled debut album will be released on April 8th next year.

With an instant one-two single success thanks to Chaise Longue and Wet Dream as big as any in recent memory, the first full length from Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers is primed to be one of 2022’s most anticipated releases.

Exciting news for the summer too – Dave, Arctic Monkeys, Rage Against The Machine, Megan Thee Stallion, Bring Me The Horizon and Halsey were revealed to be headlining next year’s Reading And Leeds festivals across two main stages between August 26th-28th.

Some heavyweights had also been unveiled further back on the bill; Wolf Alice and Fontaines D.C. making for an impressive supporting cast immediately before Arctic Monkeys on the Saturday in Reading and Sunday in Leeds, while others confirmed included Run The Jewels, Little Simz, Pale Waves, Glass Animals and Bastille.

Various stars from the entertainment world came together to create the first official video for George Harrison‘s classic single My Sweet Lord, all executive produced by his son Dhani and directed by Lance Bangs.

“Making this was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life,” Bangs said. “The approach was to represent the song visually while these agents and inspectors kept missing the metaphysical wonder around them. Images are choreographed to the sounds of vocal melodies, guitar strums, drum patterns, chord changes.”


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