New Year, New Gigs: Stereoboard's Pick Of 2020 Events
Friday, 10 January 2020
Written by Helen Payne
Aaaand relax. The Christmas songs are behind us. You made it. Mariah and Bublé are going back in their vacuum sealed boxes for another 11 months, Santa’s having a well-deserved rest with the new headphones he got from Mrs Claus, and we in the wider world are finally allowed to listen to tunes that don’t involve sleigh bells. Thank baby Jesus for that.
With this in mind, you might be wondering what 2020 has in store for live music fans. Luckily for you, Stereoboard has compiled a list of the best events throughout the year, organised in calendar-friendly chronological order. It’s going to be a great year for gigs. You are welcome.
JANUARY
Everyone’s least favourite month. Boo! Luckily, the countdown for Bombay Bicycle Club’s new album has begun. It will surely see you through. ‘Everything Else Has Gone Wrong’ will arrive on January 17, and will be supported with tour dates across the UK and Ireland. The band’s autumn anniversary shows, celebrating 10 years of their debut album, were their first since going on hiatus after releasing ‘So Long See You Tomorrow’ in 2014. If you missed out, then these are definitely the tickets for you.
He boasts the funniest chat on Twitter, so perhaps James Blunt will bring some of that sass to his live tour. With some of the former army man’s new material being described as “hymns to his sons” and the first date of the tour starting on Valentine’s Day, it might be more of an emotional evening than his Twitter bants suggest. While we’re talking emotional, Lana Del Rey is also touring in February, so stock up on tissues. Good luck.
Country music was HUGE in 2019. If you’re not digging the honky-tonkin’, whiskey-shootin, rootin’ tootin’ tunes of Eric Church, Luke Combs, Darius Rucker or Charles Esten, then WHERE OH WHERE have you been? Country To Country Festival returns for its eighth year this March at London’s O2 Arena, Glasgow’s SSE Hydro and the 3Arena in Dublin. Spurs and stetsons at the ready. If you follow a rather different kind of crowd, the phenomenon that is Lewis Capaldi also tours the UK in March, playing his biggest headline shows to date.
What a month! Pop fiends, rejoice. April is going to take all your money. You can throw it right back with Craig David’s garage classics, or catch the reunion of the iconic Pussycat Dolls, who are performing together for the first time since their split in 2010. On the other side of the coin, teenage girls everywhere are losing their shit to the fact Harry Styles will physically be in the same room as them when he takes over UK and Ireland arenas with the Love On Tour, and now-thirty-something, former teenage girls will be doing the same when pop-punk favourite Avril Lavigne graces the stage in support of her sixth album.
If you’re not booking tickets for RuPaul’s Drag Race, then you need to sashay away, girl! The Werk The World Tour heads to the UK and Ireland in May with a little help from some excellently named drag queens. If that’s not really your thing, Kevin Parker and Co. are in London at the end of the month for Tame Impala’s headline show at All Points East, while Foals continue their run of dates supporting the monstrous double-edged sword that is ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost’.
Green Day. Weezer. Fall Out Boy. If those names send an excited shiver up your spine, then the three of them TOGETHER will really get the blood pumping. Cue the Hella Mega Tour, crash landing head-first with guitars blazing in Glasgow, London, Huddersfield, Dublin, mainland Europe and North America this summer. What a time to be alive! Also scheduled for June is Queen and Adam Lambert’s Rhapsody Tour. If that isn’t enough for you to start squawking “MAMAAAAA” at the top of your lungs, then I don’t know what is.
July is going to be another huge month for gigs, an especially great thing since you’ll still be treating that burning FOMO from when all your mates went to Glastonbury in June. See the full list below, but the main event is, without a doubt, Taylor Swift at BST Hyde Park. The phenomenal T Swizzle will start the decade as she means to go on, by supporting ‘Lover’ with a ginormous bubblegum-hued performance and generally being amazing. Get there early to be at the front — and by early, we mean around three days queuing in a tent outside the park early. It’s going to be one of those “I was there” moments.
Knotfest is here! If you’re scratching your head thinking this is some sort of nautical-themed knot-tying olympics, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Slipknot created the inaugural Knotfest in 2012 to showcase and celebrate music, art and culture, and to have complete creative control over the line up. Originally taking place in Iowa and Wisconsin, the metal fest has since travelled to California, Japan, Mexico, France and Colombia. Now, Knotfest is coming to the UK for the first time, taking over Milton Keynes’ National Bowl on August 22. Can I get a hell yeah? Further specifics of the day, including line up details, will be revealed in early 2020, but why risk it? Get a ticket now, before they sell out.
Heavy is the head that doesn’t have tickets to see Stormzy. The self-professed King of Grime has sixteen dates planned across the UK and Ireland supporting his second album. The universally loved star has put a spotlight on grime and minority cultures alike, and things can only get better, and bigger — can things even get bigger than headlining Glastonbury? If anyone can push that limit, it’s Stormzy! If grime ain’t your bag, though, then how about three megastars collaborating for a rock supergroup? Alice Cooper, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry and actor Johnny Depp will hit up Leeds, Glasgow, London and Birmingham in September as the Hollywood Vampires. Don’t miss it!
After postponing a handful of times, the UK leg of Ozzy Osbourne’sNo More Tours 2 Tour has been rescheduled to now take place this autumn. The Prince of Darkness himself, celebrating a five decade-long career, has said that he’s not retiring yet, and wants to be 100% ready before hitting the stage and, “knocking your fucking socks off”. Best bring an extra pair then, just in case. Elsewhere, there’s plenty more in store for you live-wise this month. The team behind the hilarious My Dad Wrote A Porno Podcast are also hitting the road, taking their side-splitting commentary of a cringey x-rated novella across the UK, Ireland and the world.
Although it takes some degree-level organisational skills to plan as far in advance as November, there is one untouchable specimen of humankind that nails it. Sir Elton John has had the Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour locked in for about three years, and the final UK leg—that is, his FINAL UK DATES EVER—take place in November and December, right in time for Chrimbo. Elsewhere on the well organised front, the award winning, high energy comedian Mo Gilligan continues his There’s Mo To Life Tour from October, throughout November and straight into December. His 2018 Coupla Cans Tour had phenomenal success, so keep your fingers crossed for any remaining tickets! The funnyman is in high demand, and you can see why.
How did that happen!? We’ve reached Christmas already. Doesn’t it feel like time passes faster each year? You can probably expect another batch of tour dates from Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey, as every December treats us with, but our choice of the slim pickings announced so far for this month is the DJ Pete Tong. His Ibiza Classics Tour takes those club classics you remember from your raving days and gives them an orchestral spin, thanks to the Heritage Orchestra and conductor Jules Buckley. Get your groove on to violins and brass playing trance and techno, taking you right back to those hedonistic nights, but in a more mature, responsible, adult way. (Maybe).
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