THE PURGE #288

• Hello and welcome to your Saturday edition of The Purge. And this week we’re kicking it off with ‘Hacia La Noche’, which is the new single from homegrown heros Yolanda Be Cool and Portuguese producer Massivedrum. As the title suggests, it’s another summery taste of Latino house music that’s sure to be heating up dance floors across the country throughout the summer months. It’s out now.
• Also out now is ‘Miss You’, the new single from former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson. Out of all of the former 1D boys, Louis’ career has seemingly struggled to keep pace with his former brethren. He’s turned to former One Direction collaborator Julian Bunetta to help out with the co-writing on this one, which follows on from ‘Back To You’ and will be featured on Louis’ forthcoming debut album, due early in the new year. He’s set to perform the track on the UK edition of ‘The X Factor’ tomorrow night.
• Brilliant news for Dean Lewis this week, with confirmation that his monster single ‘Waves’ has now been certified triple platinum for sales in excess of 210,000 units. Not only that, but his latest single ‘Lose My Mind’ has achieved an accreditation of its own… gold for sales in excess of 35,000 units. Brad and Carla caught up with Dean on the red carpet at the ARIA Awards on Tuesday, footage of which will be on the site imminently. In the meantime, Dean’s ‘Lose My Mind’ national tour rolls into the Wollongong Uni Bar tonight.

• The 2018 Australian Open is all about the tennis, right? Wrong! Tennis Australia, in collaboration with Mushroom events, has announced a whopping line-up of top notch Aussie music talent for January’s event. Throughout a massive two week program of music, stars including Tina Arena, Jimmy Barnes, Client Liaison, Vera Blue, James Reyne, Daryl Braithwaite, Meg Mac, The Rubens and many more will perform as part of the 2018 event. The 2018 Australian Open takes place at Melbourne Park from January 15 to 28, with tickets on sale now.
• The line-up is still under wraps for now, but organisers of Queensland’s Big Pineapple Music Festival have confirmed that it’ll be back again “for bucket loads of damn good times” in May next year. They’re inviting punters to mark Saturday May 26 in the diary as that’s when the cavalcade of music performers will hit the stage in the town of Woombye. Further details incoming soon.
• Already confirmed to support The xx on their upcoming Australian tour, Kelela has announced she’ll play a one-off headline show in Melbourne during her visit. She’ll hit the stage at 170 Russell in the Victorian capital on January 15; tickets are now on sale.

• Chart sensation Alex Aiono will play his first ever Australian show in Sydney in the middle of February. The 21 year old performer and YouTube star will hit up the Oxford Art Factory for his first ever local gig for an all ages matinee show on Saturday February 17. Tickets are on sale at midday AEDT on Monday.
• Thundamentals will celebrate their landmark tenth anniversary by heading across the country from early March on their extensive ‘Decade Of The Thundakat’ national tour. The run of shows kicks off at Discovery in Darwin on Thursday March 09, but there’s a mass of shows to follow; Alice Springs, Margaret River, Dunsborough, Bunbury, Fremantle, Mulgrave, Bendigo, Ballarat, Adelaide, Cairns, Airlie Beach, Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Miranda, Wollongong, Bateau Bay, Wagga Wagga, Albury and Katoomba; the run stretching through to the middle of May. Tickets for all shows are on sale now. Full dates and details at www.thundamentals.com.au.
• And with their new single ‘Train Wreck’ doing the rounds at digital service providers, country duo Adam Eckersley and Brooke McClymont have announced a join tour across the country from early February. 27 East Coast appearances are already locked into the schedule through to the middle of May, with organisers hinting that more dates will be added shortly. Tickets are on sale this Wednesday (details HERE).

• Nothing’s changed atop the UK singles chart this week, with Camila Cabello and Rita Ora still standing firm in positions one and two for a third straight week. But Ed Sheeran is out for Camila’s crown, improving another spot with his single ‘Perfect’. No doubt it’ll rise even further with the inclusion of Beyoncé into the mix on the new version. Clean Bandit and Julia Michaels’ ‘I Miss You’ bullets into the top ten (No.11 to No.6), while MK’s ’17’ skips 17 and shifts from No.17 to No.10. The new James Arthur single ‘Naked’ is the week’s highest debut, new at No.11.
• Over on the UK albums chart this week, it’s old favourite Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds who steal the chart crown, premiering at No.1 with their new long player ‘Who Built The Moon’. Sam Smith maintains his position at No.2, before the new edition of Little Mix’s ‘Glory Days’ sees that album rocket back into the top five (No.46 to No.3). Elvis Presley’s ‘Christmas With Elvis’ is back in the chart game (No.6 on re-entry), while the new Andre Rieu album ‘Amore’ enters at No.7. Paloma Faith’s ‘The Architect’ didn’t hold its position in the top five long. After debuting at No.1 last week, it’s down to No.8. Spare a thought for Taylor Swift, however… her album ‘Reputation’ is out of the top ten in just its third week, dropping from No.8 to No.12. And last year’s ‘X Factor’ winner Matt Terry’s career is already in ‘Trouble’ if the No.29 debut for his debut album is anything to go by.

• The top four on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart is unchanged this week, with a seventh week in the No.1 spot for Post Malone’s global monster ‘Rockstar’. Camila, Lil Pump and Imagine Dragons are all steady in positions two through four, with Ed Sheeran’s new single ‘Perfect’ improving from No.7 to No.5. Portugal The Man, Demi Lovato and Maroon 5 all rebound into the top ten, but the new Selena Gomez/Marshmello collaboration ‘Wolves’ is howling its way up the chart, bulleting from No.51 to No.20.
• After the biggest selling week for an album so far in 2017 last week, it comes as no surprise to see Taylor Swift’s ‘Reputation’ maintaining its advantage at the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart. The country superstar collaboration of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s ‘The Rest Of Our Life’ premieres right behind her at No.2 with Sam Smith, a new Garth Brooks best-of (on debut) and Pentatonix’s ‘A Pentatonix Christmas’ filling positions three through five). P!nk’s ‘Beautiful Trauma’ is back in the top ten (No.16 to No.6), no doubt spurred on after her spectacular high-wire performance of ‘Beautiful Trauma’ the single at the American Music Awards.
• That’s it for another Saturday edition of The Purge, but we shall be back (oh yes we will) from 6pm AEDT tonight with another scintillating look at all the happenings on the top 100s here in Australia. ARIA Chart Watch is live at six. See you then.

TICKETS PLEASE
MONDAY DECEMBER 04 : Alex Aiono (Sydney)
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 06 : Amon Amarth (Sydney, Brisbane)
TUESDAY DECEMBER 05 : Nails (Sydney, Brisbane)
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 06 : Adam Eckersley & Brooke McClymont (Nationally)
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 06 : The Story So Far (Sydney, Brisbane)
THURSDAY DECEMBER 07 : Prophets Of Rage (Sydney, Brisbane)
FRIDAY DECEMBER 08 : Good Charlotte (Sydney, Brisbane)
FRIDAY DECEMBER 08 : Ian Moss (Nationally)
FRIDAY DECEMBER 08 : Neck Deep (Adelaide)

 Australia's first stop for pop!