• Fans of a certain British period drama will be thrilled to know that Warner Music will release the show’s official seasonal collection next month. ‘Christmas At Downton Abbey’ sees castmembers of the show playing their part on what’s a monster 45 track double CD release, housing a selection of classic carols. It’s out on November 21.
• The Vamps national tour? Check. Short Stack on support? Check. Now Frontier Touring is upping the ante with the boys’ 2015 national tour, confirming that New York-based three piece AJR has been added to the bill. The tour kicks off in Sydney on January 23, taking in all five main capital cities. Tickets are on sale today.
• Wu-Tang Clan will celebrate their two decade anniversary next month by releasing their new album ‘A Better Tomorrow’. The collective’s sixth album, it features appearances by RZA, GZA, Method Man, Ghostface Killah and many more. The album’s due down under on November 28.
• Some of Australia’s biggest artists will be headed to the New South Wales Hunter Valley in March for the inaugural Campfire Festival. Held at Hope Estate over three days, the new festival will bring together the likes of John Butler Trio, Kasey Chambers, The McClymonts, Wendy Matthews and Lee Kernaghan for three big days of home-grown performances. Early bird tickets for the March 13 to 15 event are on sale now.
• Soul superstar D’Angelo will be on the ground in Australia shortly as part of the national Soulfest concert series, but he’s announced he’ll hit the stage at Melbourne’s 170 Russell for a one-off sideshows during his visit. He’ll play the venue on Tuesday this week; tickets are on sale now.
• Rocker Billy Idol will return to Australia in March next year for his first live performances in 13 years. Arena shows are locked in for Sydney, Melbourne and Wollongong, along with A Day On The Green shows in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, WA and South Australia. Cheap Trick provides support on all dates, with The Angels and Choirboys joining the party for the A Day On The Green events. Frontier Touring pre-sale begins on Monday, with general public tickets on sale on Thursday October 23.
• Could it be? Yep, it certainly is. The Billboard Hot 100 singles chart is still ‘All About That Bass’. Meghan Trainor’s been in the top spot for the past six weeks Stateside and it looks like she’ll notch up another week over on the British singles chart to boot. Taylor’s steady at two, Iggy’s stationary at No.3. But Tove Lo now has a top five US hit on her hands with ‘Stay High’, which moves from No.6 to No.4 and Bobby Shmurda hits the top ten with ‘Hot Boy’, which will feature on his EP ‘Shmurda She Wrote’, which is to be released digitally in Australia on November 11.
• Jason Aldean notches up a No.1 debut on the Billboard 200 Albums chart this week with his new LP ‘Old Boots, New Dirt’. Hozier’s self-titled set is new at No.2, with Barbra, Bennett and Gaga steady at Nos.3 and 4 respectively. New at No.5 is Weezer’s new long player ‘Everything Will Be Alright In The End’, Stevie Nicks’ ’24 Karat Gold : Songs From The Vault’ is new at No.7, a premiere for Alex & Sierra’s ‘It’s About Us’ at No.8 and Keyshia Cole’s new album ‘Point Of No Return’ is in at No.9.
• Who’s going to debut where on this week’s singles and albums chart back here in Australia though? Find out when our Chart Watch goes live; 7pm AEDT on the East Coast.
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