Music News LIVE: 3 October

Mumford & SonsCopyright: Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons have announced a new concert film, Live From South Africa: Dust And Thunder, which will premiere around the world on 8 November. 

Filmed live in Pretoria, the film sees the band playing for 50,000 fans at "one of the most exciting shows" on their Wilder Mind tour. 

"We had just spent the preceding couple of days in a studio in Johannesburg with Baaba Maal, The Very Best and Beatenberg so we couldn't help but get everyone out on stage to play a few of the songs we'd just written," explained the band.

“It was also our first time playing in South Africa and we never could have anticipated such a welcome."

In June, the band released the collaborative mini-album they worked on during that same trip, called Johannesburg.

"This show marks a really exciting time in the journey we have taken as band," they added. 

"A journey fuelled by a desire to explore the world and the connection between the communities of musicians who continue to make it feel like a smaller and smaller place.”  

The film has been directed by Dick Carruthers, who has worked with the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Oasis.

You can get more details on the band's website or watch the trailer...

Warning: third party content, may contain ads.

After releasing her new album A Seat at the Table on Friday, Solange has shared two very cool new videos, both of which she co-directed with her husband Alan Ferguson.

You can watch the Sampha featuring track Don't Touch My Hair (bit of swearing in there so be warned) on YouTube and Cranes in the Sky below...

Warning: third party content, may contain ads.

Three years in the making, A Seat at the Table's been called "bold and beautiful" by NPR, "triumphant" by the LA Times and given four stars by The Guardian as "an intensely personal testament to black experience and culture". 

The review added: "It’s safe to say that though big sis Beyoncé has run her close recently, she’s once more the most intriguing Knowles sibling."

BBCCopyright: BBC

As soon as Michael Kiwanuka stepped off stage at 6 Music Live, his powerful, impassioned set was being replayed back on monitors backstage. Intrigued, the singer and his band crowded round to watch. 

"Looks pretty good," said Kiwanuka, as the extended intro to Cold Little Heart rang out. "Can someone turn it up?"

Once he'd had enough, I grabbed him for a quick chat about the set - which marked the first time he'd been able to play songs from his number one album with a string section.

You've just been watching yourself. How did that feel?

It’s weird. It was just playing in the green room. It’s quite a luxury. Like a post-match analysis after a football game.

Are you critical of your performances?

I guess so. You want it to sound good, so you’re always working on getting it better. Prince used to watch himself back – and he was a sick performer, so it must be handy.

What’s your worst habit on stage?

Oh, man, there’s loads! I don’t know whether to open my eyes more. I just kind of shut them because it’s easier to not see people’s reactions. If they look bored it’ll throw me off.

But the main thing, when I watch other acts, is how they look so comfortable and have such a big stage presence. I always wonder ‘how do they do that?’ So I’ll watch other people and see how they do it. I’m working on that. 

How did it feel to finally play these songs with a string section?

Amazing, man. I wish I could tour with the strings all the time. But it’s very expensive.

You hinted on stage that you've started work on a third album. What stage is it at?

I’m really just writing songs at home on my acoustic. That’s a fun part, because it’s how I started out. 

I probably won’t go to the studio and start demoing until January or February -but not with a view to putting something out quickly, just to keep the creative muscle alive.

You can watch Michael's set on the BBC 6 Music website later today and on the BBC iPlayer from Wednesday.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

US radio DJ Howard Stern is to curate an all-star 50th anniversary recording of The Beatles' Revolver.

It features more than a dozen artists covering the 1966 tracks - James Taylor has performed Here, There and Everywhere, Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis has recorded a cover of Doctor Robert while Eleanor Rigby has been recorded by Jewel.

"Revolver to me is the best album the Beatles ever did," said Stern

Guitarist Joe Bonamassa's cover of Taxman was recorded live at Liverpool's Cavern Club.

The tribute is scheduled to be broadcast on Howard Stern's show on SiriusXM on 7 October.  

Read more

Bruno MarsCopyright: Bruno Mars

Bruno Mars has announced his new single, 24k Magic, will be coming out this Friday, 7 October.

It's the first we'll hear from his forthcoming new album...

"You can call it my first single, but I call it the invitation to the party," Bruno told fans on Instagram, where he's transformed his account into a puzzle of the single's artwork...

Bruno MarsCopyright: Bruno Mars

Loves a good puzzle does Bruno.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Teenage pop star Shawn Mendes has landed his second chart-topping album on the US Billboard 200 chart.

Illuminate,  released on 23 September, follows Handwritten, which debuted at number one back in 2015.

The Canadian singer, who just turned 18, is due to play Radio 1's Teen Awards on 23 October. 

Meanwhile, in the UK, former X Factor winner James Arthur is sitting atop the UK singles chart, almost four years after his last number one.

James - who reached the top spot in 2012 with Impossible - said it felt "incredible" to reach number one with Say You Won't Let Go.

Read more

PACopyright: PA

Lady Gaga is going from one end of the spectrum to the other after announcing she is to play a series of US 'dive bars' - or 'pubs' to you and us - just days after revealing she'll perform at next year's Super Bowl halftime show.

She announced the news on her Facebook page, with the first show - set to feature the debut performance of new track Million Reasons - coming at an undisclosed dive bar* on Wednesday.

The dive bar* audiences will be made up of competition winners but the shows will be live streamed on Facebook.

*pub

**still a pub

BBCCopyright: BBC

Michael Kiwanuka is currently playing an exclusive, 45-minute set on 6 Music, embellished by a full string section - which you can watch live here.

Talking to Lauren Laverne just before his performance, he recalled his experience at the Mercury Music Prize ceremony three weeks ago. 

He said he arrived having decided he couldn't win, explaining: "I thought I'd given myself immunity from disappointment". 

Then Jarvis Cocker made his infamous speech, saying that the jury's decision had come down to "two black stars" (a reference to David Bowie's nominated album). 

At that point, Michael threw his cynicism out the window.

"I put my jacket on, I was ready to get up and then Skepta's name came out," he laughed. "Luckily the cameras didn't see. I styled it out."

Listeners of BBC 6 Music got a loud awakening this morning thanks to Placebo's session at Maida Vale studios, as the band kicked off this year's 6 Music Live.

They performed during Shaun Keaveny's breakfast show - catch up here on the Twitter highlights and listen back to the show. There'll also be video of the set coming later. 

And we'll bring you more from Maida Vale later, where we're told Michael Kiwanuka has just been having as pre-performance coffee... he'll be performing live for Lauren Laverne very soon.

While we were having breakfast at our desks in the office this morning, thousands of clubbers were saying a fond farewell to legendary Ibiza nightclub Space - as the venue hosted its last event of the year, and last ever party in its current guise.

After 27 years, the White Isle venue's being taken over by neighbouring club Ushuaia next year. 

Having kicked off at 16:00 BST on Sunday afternoon, the epic Space Closing Fiesta has only just wrapped up (gone 11:00 BST on Monday morning) with DJ Carl Cox joined behind the decks by owner Pepe Rosello, who told the crowd: "Your love will remain here forever. Thank you very much indeed."

Cox played his final track, Angie Stone's I Wish I Didn't Miss You, before telling people: "That's it Space... adios, adieu, I bid you farewell. Hasta la vista!".

Here's a look at the epic line-up that played the club out...

BustedCopyright: Busted

Take one portion of Daft Punk's collaborations with Nile Rodgers, add a hefty chunk of director Nicolas Winding Refn's super stylish Ryan Gosling movie Drive and you are a good way towards Busted's new single On What You're On. 

Not that we're complaining - in fact it seems to be working very well for the reformed boyband, who will release their first new album in more than a decade in November. 

On What You're On is the first proper single from Night Driver, recorded in LA earlier this year - where they also made this new video...

Warning: third party content, may contain ads.

So a far cry from Crashed the Wedding, eh boys? Yes. And Matt Willis is pretty happy about that...

Quote Message: Back in the day, we made the music that we made because that's what we were into at the time. We made this record because that's what we wanted to make right now... This is the exact album that I want to be on. Sometimes I listen to bands and I'm like, 'man, I want to be in that band!'. And now I can hear my album and I'm like 'I want to be in that band'. And it's the coolest thing, it's like 'that's me!'.

Back in the day, we made the music that we made because that's what we were into at the time. We made this record because that's what we wanted to make right now... This is the exact album that I want to be on. Sometimes I listen to bands and I'm like, 'man, I want to be in that band!'. And now I can hear my album and I'm like 'I want to be in that band'. And it's the coolest thing, it's like 'that's me!'.

Read more from our chat with Busted or listen back to their appearance on Scott Mills' Radio 1 show on Friday.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The 1975 brought Radio 1's Live Lounge month to a close in style on Friday night, teaming up with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for a stunning performance at The Blackpool Tower Ballroom. 

You can watch the full concert on the iPlayer, get a breakdown of 13 highlights from the gig (including frontman Matty Healy's Sideshow Bob hair) and also read about why working with the classical musicians made Matty cry (although, on reflection, that could have been about the hair).

As a Monday morning treat, here's the band's cover of Sorry by Justin Bieber...

Bieber just so happens to have kicked off the whole month in LA. You can catch up with Friday lunchtime's Live Lounge with Tom Odell and the rest of the performances on the Radio 1 website.

MobyCopyright: Moby

Electronic producer Moby has taken aim at his "middle-aged compatriots", whose attempts to accommodate the pop market end with "anodyne and depressing" results.

If that sounds out of character for the normally calm and reserved vegan - then it's all down to his new project and pseudo-political manifesto, Moby and the Void Pacific Choir.

Warning: Third party content, may contain ads.

In an exclusive online interview ahead of the release of the album, The Systems are Failing, Moby told us...   

Quote Message: I look at the culture in which we live and there is so much, especially in the public figure realm, of this shameless, endless self-promotion and self-aggrandisement that it make me nauseous. On one hand I want to draw people to issues that seem pressing but also I look at the public figures who are just so obsessed with self-promotion that it makes my stomach hurt, and I don't want to be like them.

I look at the culture in which we live and there is so much, especially in the public figure realm, of this shameless, endless self-promotion and self-aggrandisement that it make me nauseous. On one hand I want to draw people to issues that seem pressing but also I look at the public figures who are just so obsessed with self-promotion that it makes my stomach hurt, and I don't want to be like them.

Here's one of the new tracks for his album, which is out on 14 October (with a warning that there are some upsetting scenes of intensive farming methods)... 

Read more

Sam NeillCopyright: Sam Neill

Coldplay's tour has given us plenty to talk about - from collaborations with Michael J Fox to tributes to Prince and Bruce Springsteen and a Glastonbury headline set - but the band have just announced a whole new European leg for next year. 

They'll play another 13 stadium dates across nine countries on their A Head Full of Dreams Tour, including shows at Dublin's Croke Park on 8 July 2017 and Cardiff's Principality Stadium on 11 July.

The dates kick off in Munich on 6 June, with tickets going on sale on Friday.

Warning: third party content, may contain ads. 

Supersonic, the new Oasis documentary, got its premiere last night and is a reminder of just how brilliant their music was and what brilliant value the Gallagher brothers were.

It also left me a bit sad that the events depicted happened 20 years ago, and those days are now gone, and we've all changed and matured and mellowed since then.

Well, not all of us, as it turns out. After the screening, Liam turned up for a Q&A in Manchester looking and acting exactly the same as ever - hairy and lairy and foul-mouthed and very, very funny.

He held court, giving his views on the film and suggesting names for an audience member's baby. He also addressed the topic of a reunion in a roundabout way when asked whether he had spoken to Noel about the film (expletives deleted)...

Quote Message: Nah, I haven’t spoke to him mate. He’s far too busy in his big house. He’s probably eating tofu right now and having a face peel and that. That’s what they get up to, them posh people. No, I haven’t spoke to him, mate, but everybody knows me and him are cool. Well, we’re not cool actually. I mean I’m cool. He ain’t cool. But we will be cool at some point. from Liam Gallagher

Nah, I haven’t spoke to him mate. He’s far too busy in his big house. He’s probably eating tofu right now and having a face peel and that. That’s what they get up to, them posh people. No, I haven’t spoke to him, mate, but everybody knows me and him are cool. Well, we’re not cool actually. I mean I’m cool. He ain’t cool. But we will be cool at some point.

So there we go. Cool but not cool - but definitely still very cool.

Kanye West stopped mid-performance at an event in New York last night after hearing that his wife Kim Kardashian-West had been robbed at gunpoint in Paris.

The reality TV star was confronted by at least two men dressed as police officers, her publicist and police say.

The haul from the robbery in the early hours of Monday morning, thought to be mostly jewellery, was worth several million euros.

Kanye - who was on stage at the Meadows Music and Arts Festival in New York at the time of the robbery - ended his set telling fans: "I'm sorry, family emergency. I have to stop the show."

Read more

Yes, the weekend is officially over, but Music News LIVE is back so it ain't all bad...

We've got news on Lady Gaga, Kanye and Solange coming up plus we'll be hearing from the ever-quotable Liam Gallagher, Moby and Busted and checking in with all the BBC 6 Music Live action from Maida Vale.

And you can still catch up on last week's round-ups, including Friday's page when we brought you new music from the likes of Mura Masa and One Direction's Niall Horan plus Elbow news and details of a new Bob Marley musical. 

Let's go...