Weekly News Round-Up: The Cure, The Courteeners, Dry The River and more

Wondering if you’ve missed out on any of the week’s top news stories? Well wonder no longer – here Live4ever looks back on ten of the biggest headlines we featured during the last seven days in British music.

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The Cure have now revealed most of the details of their 2016 North American tour.

Having announced the first gigs last month (these being the Hollywood Bowl, Chicago’s UIC Pavilion and Madison Square Garden), the tour schedule is now pretty much completed.

Dry The River‘s ‘Hooves Of Doubt‘ EP will be their parting gift – the band today (November 12th) announced their split after seven years together.

“We’ve had an incredible seven years, but we’ve decided it’s time to move on to new endeavours,” the statement reads.

Andy White – the session drummer best known for being brought in by George Martin to add some spice to The Beatles‘ recording of their debut single ‘Love Me Do‘ – has died at the of 85. He suffered a stroke.

The well told story goes that, having not long since replaced Pete Best, Ringo Starr‘s drumming on ‘Love Me Do’ at Abbey Road also failed to live up to producer Martin’s high expectations, leading to White – as one of the era’s most highly respected session drummers – being called in.

Queen and Adam Lambert have been announced as the first headliners for next year’s Isle Of Wight Festival.

“I think Queen at The Isle of Wight Festival is a date that was long overdue,”Brian May believes. “How incredible to take on this challenge at this point in our lives. With an injection of new blood in the shape of the incredible Adam Lambert, Queen will be ready to tear it up on this legendary stage in 2016. Freddie would have loved it. Can’t wait.”

There’s a nice extended look at David Bowie‘s new track ‘Blackstar‘ on the trailer for the Sky Atlantic series The Last Panthers which can be seen below.

‘Blackstar’ is the title-track of Bowie’s forthcoming album, due for release on January 8th 2016. While it’ll be the second full length studio LP from Bowie since 2013, the chances of him emerging from an apparent live retirement since he suffered a health scare over ten years ago now still look to be firmly at ‘zero’.

Liam Fray, The Courteeners (Photo: Andy Crossland for Live4ever Media)

The Courteeners have announced an expanded version of their 2014 album ‘Concrete Love‘ for release on November 27th which will come complete with the new festive-themed single ‘Winter Wonderland‘.

‘Concrete Love – Extra Love‘ will also contain unreleased acoustic versions of album tracks and rare EP cuts, while proceeds from the single are to be donated to the homeless charity Shelter.

Having celebrated 20 years of their belligerent, highly charged 1994 classic ‘The Holy Bible‘ across various live shows recently, the Manic Street Preachers will now do the same for its 1996 follow-up ‘Everything Must Go‘ at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium on May 28th next year.

The concert is also notable for being the band’s largest headline show in their homeland since the fondly remembered gig at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff back in 1999. As was the case then, main support will be provided in Swansea by Super Furry Animals.

Biffy Clyro have shared some in-studio pictures on Instagram as they continue work on a follow-up to the 2013 double album ‘Opposites‘.

The band have spent most of this year out of the limelight but will end it with a return to the live scene for Edinburgh’s New Year’s Eve Hogmanay celebrations along side Idlewild and Honeyblood.

The Who will play the Wembley SSE Arena in London on February 13th, 2016.

The date is a part of the band’s farewell trip around the world which is currently on hold as frontman Roger Daltrey recovers from viral meningitis. “Who’d have thought that fifty years on from first playing at Wembley Arena with the Beatles and many of the top groups of that time, The Who would once again play at this legendary venue,” he says.

Former Motorhead drummer Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor – who was a part of the band during their iconic 1975-1984 period and rejoined for a another spell between 1987 and 1992 – has died at the age of 61.

It was Taylor’s former bandmate ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke who broke the news with a tribute to his friend who passed away on November 11th.

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