Virgin

Virgin favourite Lady Gaga leads everybody’s New Year lists ones to watch for 2009 here in the UK. But we’ve had our beady eyes and ears all over this electropop princess through 2008 already. She hit the top spot in Australia last year when our very own Leopard Lady from Brisbane declared her love and devotion. Then our Vancouver blogger David Thai had his say following the release of her album in Canada. Our intrepid New York editor Faith-Ann Young tracked Lady Gaga down when she played Perez Hilton’s showcase gig at the CMJ party.

Then the Lady herself played an exclusive Toronto gig in support of Virgin Mobile Canada’s RE*Generation program. They guys there shot a brilliant video diary during the day - culminating in a VIP view of the gig.

Now she’s finally atop the UK download charts where she truly belongs with the cracking Just Dance. Her debut album The Fame will at last be released here on 26 January. Check out the Lady Gaga MySpace for more details and check back here soon for more ones to watch in 2009…

• download Just Dance from Amazon
• download Just Dance from iTunes

The barmy Christmas season is well and truly in full flow with yet more rumours of bands reforming - fuelling festive nostalgia. Following the news about Blur and then Ska heroes The Specials who are now all set to play together next year - albeit minus an apparently snubbed Jerry Dammers - come more rumours that The Smiths might be on the road to reformation. But perhaps even more unlikely than that are the rumours surfacing that The Stone Roses might also be considering playing together again.

Even though Johnny Marr has only said something along the lines of ‘maybe, who knows?’ - this is more than enough for a few thousand gladioli-growing fans to start earnestly praying and growing their Morrissey quiffs once more. Although the thought of a legion of 30/40-something old Smiths fans bravely ignoring their paunches beneath flowery shirts and charity shop blazers should be reason enough to kill off all thoughts of healing rifts. Or if some big promoter could top a £40 million offer that Morrissey said was most recently on the table then there might be panic on the streets of London once again…

Now Primal Screamer Mani has dropped a big old teaser about the dream you should never dare to dream - that The Stone Roses might get back together. He said to Channelbee that both him and John Squire might be keen but they have yet to persuade Ian Brown. And of course 2009 is the 20th anniversay of their legendary debut album.

So what do you think? Is it a good idea for these bands to hit the comeback trail? Who would you rather see - The Smiths or The Stone Roses? Any other bands ripe for reformation?

Another reason to be cheerful this Christmas? The brilliant Ian Dury stage play will be returning to London in 2009 at the Leicester Square Theatre. Hit Me! The Life & Times Of Ian Dury will run from 6 January to 15 February. The play is described as a ‘warts-and-all portrait of the man who put the phrase “sex and drugs and rock and roll” into the national psyche’. It stars Jud Charlton - who has been nominated as Best Actor 2008 by The Stage - as the legend that is Ian Dury and is written and directed by Ken Campbell collaborator and community arts hero Jeff Merrifield. Focussing on key moments in Dury’s life - this evocative two-hander also features live performances of classics such as Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. What are you waiting for? Get yourselves over to hit-me.org for more info and tickets… and check out this video trailer.

Meanwhile the The Blockheads are on a bit of a tour at the moment, including the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in london on 21 December. Check out the tour dates on The Blockheads website.

Need some more ideas for Christmas? How about a promo of The Kinks’ CD boxset, The Clash book, CD & DVD or a place in the queue to see Blur’s comeback gig in Hyde Park next year?

So, Christmas being a time for nostalgia, you’ve got your name down to win a promo of The Kinks’ CD boxset, fingers poised to buy tickets for the Blur Hyde Park gig and you’re all booked in to see the Ian Dury stage show in London. What else can your Christmas stocking hold this year? The first ever official book by the actual real Clash men of course! With unique, never-seen-before content dusted down from The Clash archives comes this very pink and punk book from Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simenon and Topper Headon… called The Clash, of course. Nice. And if there’s still room in Santa’s sack then why not ask him to squeeze in the DVD of The Clash Live - Revolution Rock and the CD of The Clash Live At Shea Stadium? Okay - so has anybody taken the hint? There’s a big empty space underneath my Christmas tree at the moment…

Need some more ideas for Christmas? How about a promo of The Kinks’ CD boxset, tickets to see the Ian Dury play or a place in the queue to see Blur’s comeback gig in Hyde Park next year?

Yes - the news that all Oasis fans have been waiting for - Blur have confirmed that they are all set to reform in 2009 and will play Hyde Park, London on July 3. This will be the first time the original foursome have played together since naughty Graham Coxon left a few years back. Kinks’ fan Damon Albarn has been busy being the sound behind the animated Gorillaz, working with Clash man Paul Simonon on The Good, The Bad & The Queen and resurrecting Monkey magic in time for the BBC’s Beijing Olympics stings. Cheese fan Alex James has been busy on a farm somewhere, writing columns for British newspapers and trying to conduct an orchestra for a BBC reality TV series (and the less said about Fat Les and Wig Wam the better). Um, frankly I don’t know what drum fan Dave Rowntree has been up. But I bet he’s glad he’s got some big dates in his diary now for 2009.

Tickets are on sale from 9am GMT on Friday 12 December from livenation.co.uk.

If this doesn’t make some Blur fan happy enough for Christmas, then how about a promo of The Kinks’ CD boxset, tickets to see the Ian Dury play or The Clash book, CD & DVD?

Ladyhawke has just released her brilliant new single My Delirium. From her eponymous debut album, this latest single follows the Paris Is Burning and Dusk Till Dawn singles. This release features some fab remixes from JBAG, Sunship, Sugardaddy, Toddla T & Ross Orton, Chateau Marmont and Fan Death.

Check out the video for My Delirium and watch our very own Eleanor Conway’s interview with the rare and shy creature that is Ladyhawke herself.

How much do we love Ladyhawke? Quite a lot actually.

The Kinks are back! And you can get your hands on a sought-after, not-for-sale promo version of the brand new Kinks CD box set. Picture Book is the ultimate Kinks collection - a chronologically-ordered set of 6 CDs. Compiled with the help of Ray Davies, this is a fantastic set of rarities, live versions and classic originals celebrating one of Britain’s most successful and influential bands ever. Without the Kinks - there’d have been no 90s Britpop.

Featuring the song writing genius of Ray Davies and the guitar virtuosity of brother Dave, hits like You Really Got Me, Lola, Waterloo Sunset, All Day And All Of The Night and Sunny Afternoon not only defined British cool in the sixties and seventies, but also cemented the band’s place in rock’n'roll mythology.

Picture Book includes rare demos, mono versions, alternate mixes, live renditions as well as archived BBC television and session material - alongside the classic originals of course.

So you want a very nice promo version of this box set - of the kind that you just can’t buy in the shops? It’d make a brilliant Christmas present for that discerning music fan that’s impossible to buy for…

We’ve got 3 to give away so all you have to do is add a comment below and we’ll pick 3 random names out of the virtual hat before Christmas. Go for it… easy as.

Sorry people - but the comp is now closed. Thanks for all your comments!

• read Rose’s review of Picture Book

Need some more ideas for Christmas? How about The Clash book, CD & DVD, tickets to see the Ian Dury play or  a place in the queue to see Blur’s comeback gig in Hyde Park next year?

Heard about Lady Gaga’s Toronto gig in support of Virgin Mobile Canada’s RE*Generation program? Well here’s a brilliant video diary the guys at Virgin Mobile shot during the day - culminating in a VIP view of the gig.

The RE*Generation program, introduced in the spring of 2008 in Canada, is Virgin Mobile and Virgin Unite’s effort to empower a generation to help its own by bringing together organizations that care about Canada’s at-risk and homeless youth and connecting them with people who want to help.

For all you eager Aussie beavers quivering with anticipation over the forthcoming Australia V Festivals - here’s a flashback to this year’s awesome V Festivals in Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth. Watch Queens Of The Stone Age rule the stage with Make It Wit Chu.

If you missed it before, here’s the interview with QOTSA backstage at the Melbourne V Festival: watch the QOTSA interview

The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol, Elbow, Duffy, Louis XIV, Tame Impala, The Do, The Temper Trap and The Canyons are already on the V Festival lineup for 2009 and tickets are on sale now. Check out vfestival.com.au for more details…

Electro-popster Lady GaGa performed at a benefit concert in Toronto last Sunday in support of Virgin Mobile Canada’s RE*Generation program. RE*Generation has raised $300,000 for Canadian programs that support at-risk and homeless youth.

The RE*Generation program, introduced in the spring of 2008 in Canada, is Virgin Mobile and Virgin Unite’s effort to empower a generation to help its own by bringing together organizations that care about Canada’s at-risk and homeless youth and connecting them with people who want to help.

“Youth homelessness is a serious issue in Canada and one that we can’t afford to ignore. There are tens of thousands of young people living on the streets in Canada. Many have experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, violence and substance abuse, mental illness and family instability,” said Andrew Black, President and Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Mobile Canada. “Virgin Mobile and Virgin Unite want to help make a difference and we want to inspire our customers and other Canadians to do the same. RE*Generation gives them a place to direct that passion, connect with agencies so that they can make a difference and inspire everyone they know to make a change in the lives of youth that need it the most.”

Have yourself a merry little Cribsmas with the Live At The Brudenell Social Club limited edition triple DVD released on Dec 15 in the UK. It includes live renditions of every Cribs song ever recorded - some of which have ever been released. Recorded a year ago, the DVD also includes a bunch of behind the scenes footage and interviews with the likes of Johnny Marr and Alex Kapranos.

The Brudenell Social Club is where The Cribs played their first ever gig and this three-day-long celebratory event sees them play each of their three albums on separate nights in their entirety. They played to an intimate crowd of fans, family and friends… oh and some other impressive types along the lines of Franz Ferdinand, Kate Nash and Kaiser Chiefs also happened to mooch along as well. How lovely.

Perfect stocking filler for your discerning indie fan…

The Kaiser Chiefs, fresh from the success of their new album Off With Their Heads, are now looking forward to heading over to Australia in March with The Killers, Snow Patrol, Elbow and Duffy for their four dates on the V Festival tour - Sydney, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Perth.

Here’s a ‘making of Never Miss A Beat’ video for you to enjoy in the meantime (worth it to see Ricky’s ‘walk the dog’ yo-yo skills in action, his surreal diva ‘I don’t want to be an anchorman’ moment and his umbrella-in-strong-wind dexterity). And be sure to look out for the second single off the album - Good Days, Bad Days - it’s brilliant… Can’t wait to see them at V Festival Australia…

get your mitts on V Festival Australia tickets now

Virgin Unite Ambassador, Jewel has recruited celebrity friends to provide hand-written lyrics of their hits for an auction to benefit Project Clean Water.

In addition to Jewel’s personal contributions, Katy Perry, Pussycat Dolls, Randy Travis, Carrie Underwood, Brooks & Dunn, John Mellencamp, Josh Groban and Jason Mraz are just a few of the artists who’ll be auctioning lyrics written in their very own hand. The auction takes place December 3, 2008 to December 18 2008.

“Project Clean Water has always been my passion along with music. I am so excited to be able to find a way to tie the two together with this auction,” said Jewel. “I am also very blessed to have the support of my musician friends who will help make a stronger impact on the donations from the auction.”

Visit Jewel’s website at www.jeweljk.com or www.jeweljkauction.com to check out the auction and place your bid.

From Australia to Canada to the US to the UK - our league of aspiring music journalists have been treated to free tickets to Virgin Festivals in their part of the world in return for sharing their festival adventures with us on music.virgin.com. So a massive big huge thank you to all of our fantastic contributors who have been blogging like… bloggers for the better part of this year in the hope that they will win the awesome grand prize of trips to a Virgin Festival in every participating country throughout 2009, starting with Australia in March.

It’s been a close and hard fought contest and even though it feels a shame that there can only be one winner (you’re all winners in our eyes - ahhhh) we’re delighted to announce that the ulimate winner of the Global VPass is Eleanor Conway. Congratulations Eleanor! You are on your way to Australia, Canada, USA and the UK in 2009 to blog on each Virgin Festival for music.virgin.com.

This girl has had it all going on - video camera in hand, blagging interviews with bands, editing together the most brilliant clips, mobilizing her fans on Facebook and MySpace - is there nothing she can’t do!?

Also of course congratulations to those top contributors who have already won tickets to next year’s Virgin Festivals for their sterling blogging efforts: David Thai, Leopard Lady, Ordinary Boy, Nef West, Livvy, Mae Giglia and Kyria B. Nice work guys - and we’d love you to carry on blogging so we can follow your adventures in music wherever you are.

Don’t worry - the opportunities don’t end there, stay logged on for loads more competitions and exciting stuff on the way from music.virgin.com - the site where the festival season never ends…

Tame Impala are one of the awesome acts already confirmed on the V Festival Australia lineup for March & April ‘09. Check out the video for Half Full Glass Of Wine - one of the corking tracks on their brilliant debut EP which will be available to download here in the UK on 1 December. You can preorder the EP from their official website: tameimpala.com

Currently touring Australia, the lads from Perth are set to release their debut album in the UK in Spring ‘09 and are promising a bunch of live dates - so keep your surfing eyes peeled for more info as we get it.

Tame Impala join The Killers, Snow Patrol, Kaiser Chiefs, Duffy, Elbow, Louis XIV, The Do, The Temper Trap and Canyons on the V Festival Australia bill - with more acts to be announced soon. Tickets are now on sale at Tickemaster - so what are you waiting for!?

Prodigy fans might have to wait until until March 2nd next year for their new album Invaders Must Die, but the generous V Festival ‘08 headliners are giving away a free download of the title track from their official website for one week only from Weds 26 Nov. Keep your digits hovered over www.theprodigy.com for when the time is nigh!

But they’re not finished there - oh no… those crazy crazy Prodge types are also releasing the video for the song on the Xtival channel on XBox Live. So keep your eye on: www.xbox.com from 12 noon (London time) on November 28.

And if all that doesn’t whet the jilted generation’s appetite enough, then here’s the full Invaders Must Die tracklisting:

1. Invaders Must Die
2. Omen
3. Thunder
4. Colours
5. Take Me To The Hospital
6. Warrior’s Dance
7. Run With The Wolves
8. Omen Reprise
9. World’s On Fire
10. Piranha
11. Stand Up

V Festival Australia is on for 2009 and The Killers, Snow Patrol and the Kaiser Chiefs will be headlining. Virgin Mobile’s third V Festival whirlwind is to hit Sydney on 28 March, Gold Coast on 29 March, Melbourne on 4 April and Perth on 5 April next year. Elbow, Duffy, Louis XIV, The Do, Tame Impala, The Temper Trap and Canyons beef up the already awesome lineup with more acts to be announced soon. Tickets will be on sale Friday 28 November but if you’re a lucky lucky Virgin Mobile Australia customer then you can get your hands on pre-sale tickets from this Wednesday 19 November. Check out vfestival.com.au for more details…

Britney Spears won the Act of 2008 and the the Album Of The Year awards at last night’s MTV Europe Awards at the Echo Arena in Liverpool - proudly sponsored by none other than Virgin Trains. Those world conquering MTV types took the train to Liverpool this year as the city celebrates being European Capital Of Culture 2008. And which most famous Scouser took home the Ultimate Legend Award? Why Sir Paul of McCartney of course. How fitting. And God-like person Bono was even on hand to present the award. With such royalty in attendance it seemed a shame that princess of pop Ms Spears wasn’t on hand to receive her two awards - maybe she was a bit busy with other stuff in the US - you know, family commitments and all that…

Luckily the lovely Pink (or is that P!nk?) made an effort to show up, pick up an award for most addictive track (So What?), start a pillow fight with a bunch of audience members and then shower everyone in feathers. Presumably she heeded the good advice to leave the barrel of tar at home.

30 Seconds To Mars also picked up 2 awards (Rock Out and Video Star), Kanye West was crowned Ultimate Urban and Lil Wayne was the Artists Choice. The Killers also treated us to a performance of their very Giorgio Moroder-sounding single - Human, Kid Rock managed to squeeze two numbers in for the price of one with a mash up of new So Hot and old All Summer Long and bootylicious Beyonce belted out her newie If I Were A Boy. Jared Leto had the crowd standing to attention for a certain Barack Obama while Kanye and Estelle performed American Boy to the President-Elect’s giant mugshot on a big screen. Watch Kanye & Estelle’s performance.

Okay, okay, enough already. We know you Americans are now once again officially the greatest people on the planet ever after 8 years of shame - never more delightfully represented by spoon-wielding Katy Perry in a sequined Barack Obama tshirt - and we really, really love you but what about the rest of us!? Yes okay thank you for the nod in the direction of McCartney, but what about some of our slightly more, uh… hip acts? Come on the European voters - spread the love around a bit…

The Ting Tings and Duffy kept it up for the Brits by performing That’s Not My Name and Mercy, Marks & Spencers’ man band Take That debuted their new single Greatest Day while Liverpool locals The Wombats did a brilliant cover of our Olympic Games representative and MTV award loser Leona Lewis’ Bleeding Love. That’s more like it.

So did we win any awards? Err, well - yes. And which esteemed Brit act took the honour of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with McCartney to showcase the best of what this country has to offer right now? Who did legions of ‘the kids’ vote for as Best Act Ever? Rick Astley. Rick bloody-rolling-Astley. I ask you. Did this have something to do with the democratic but slightly cheeky power of the world wide interweb? Unfortunately Rick wasn’t around to collect his gong but MTV pulled a cracker and got the lovely and gorgeous Perez Hilton - star of Virgin Radio 999 in Toronto - to take it in hand and keep warm for him.

MTV Europe Awards - you have been Rick Rolled. It could only happen here. Oh thank heavens for a slice of Perez and Virgin Train back home to the Old Smoke.

“Changes have been made to Virgin Festival by Virgin Mobile in order to ensure an even hotter line-up, and one that will make South Africans proud,” announced Peter Boyd, CEO of Virgin Mobile.

The festival has been postponed to early 2009 in order to secure the international line-up that is more in line with what Virgin Festival stands for throughout the different countries.  “Our criteria for a successful Virgin Festival are a great Greenfield venue, an impressive and eclectic international line-up, a huge local line-up, the Road to V bringing local unsigned bands into the mix, and some quirky brand activations for the crowd from Virgin.  Four out of five of these are on track, but we’re not entirely satisfied with the international line-up,” said Boyd. “Some of the bands that South Africans kept asking for were simply not available at that time of the year.”

He went on to say that Virgin Mobile and Big Concerts will work hard together to achieve a line-up that will show South Africans what a festival of this nature is all about, and one that will make South Africans proud.

As a platform for the Road to V winning band, three concerts presented by Virgin Mobile will still be taking place. On the 13th December in Johannesburg at Coca-Cola Dome, 14th December at Durban’s ICC and on the 17th in Cape Town at Grand Arena at Grandwest. Maroon 5, One Republic, The Parlotones and Goldfish will be lighting up the stage together with Road to V’s winning bands. The grand winner will still open the Virgin Festival by Virgin Mobile when it goes live.

“International acts Maroon 5 and One Republic will still be coming to South Africa, therefore existing ticket sales will still be honoured, only now the concert will be a curtain raiser for Virgin Festival 2009. Unlike the festival it will be indoors, but the dance arena will still be included,” explains Attie Van Wyk, CEO of Big Concerts.

For those who’ve already bought tickets, there’s no need to worry. Current ticket holders have three options:
1.    Hold onto tickets for next year’s Virgin Festival, as they will still be valid;
2.    Get a full refund from Computicket;
3.    Or attend the Virgin Mobile pre-show instead, which will be cheaper, so you will also be entitled to a partial refund of your original ticket price.
“We are confident we have arrived at the best solution for music fans, and it will be worth the wait for Virgin and South Africa.” concluded Boyd.

Those bonny Sugababes girls are all set for South Africa in December to play the first ever Virgin Festivals there in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Having done a darn fine job at this year’s UK V Festivals in Chelmsford and Stafford, the pop threesome will now get the chance to keep those South African lads gawping and fixated as they take to the stage.

Cape Town spunks Goldfish have also been confirmed. The nu-jazz/electronica duo join fellow South Africans Dirty Skirts, fresh from their UK tour, on the growing lineup. The Parlotones, Jozi and Zebra & Giraffe are already on the bill along with One Republic, Maroon 5 and Snoop Dogg.

More lineup news coming soon!Check out p_c_w’s Flickr photostream for more Sugababes photos