• Well hello and welcome to your Saturday serve of The Purge! It’s almost the end of the year and The Purge entries will be few and far between over the coming weeks. But we’re still serving up some news about the new track from UK starlet Lily Allen. ‘Trigger Bang’ is its name and it’s a collaboration with London rapper Giggs. We’ve not got too much more info on the single, except that it was produced by her long-time collaborator Fryars and was released on Tuesday.
• Fatboy Slim’s upcoming Australian tour will have a little more of a local flavour to it, with confirmation of the release of a new EP entitled ‘Fatboy Slim vs Australia’. To drop on January 19, the seven tracker will feature remixes of Fatboy Slim classics given a re-tweak by some of Australia’s finest, including The Aston Shuffle, Sam La More and The Kite String Tangle; the latter reworking ‘Praise You’, which is out now. “I’m totally down for vs Australia, sounds like a dual and a whole lot of fun if ever I heard it,” Fatboy Slim’s Norman Cook says. “Let the people decide when I come to play in January… dance bitch.”
• Aussie songstress Kira Puru will play headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne in March. Already confirmed as support on The Rubens’ dates in Melbourne and Brisbane, Kira will now play the Oxford Art Factory in Sydney on March 09 and The Workers Club in Melbourne on March 10. Tickets for both are on sale now.
• Hip hop dynamos Young Thug and Future are hitting up Brisbane for a huge one-off show at the city’s Riverstage on Sunday February 25. They’ll be playing all the hits they’re famous for and tickets are on sale now.
• Tickets are also now on sale for a one-off Melbourne show by Young Thug. He’s set to play the city’s Festival Hall on February 28.
• Sweden’s Jens Lekman will take the opportunity to play a series of headline shows early next year while he’s in the country for an appearance at A Festival Called Panama in Tasmania. He’ll play Melbourne’s Zoo Twilights on March 09, Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory on March 13, QPAC in Brisbane (with Grizzly Bear) on March 14, a double hit at The Junk Bar in Brisbane on March 15 and a gig at The Night Cat in Melbourne on March 16. Tickets for all are on sale now.
• Ed Sheeran’s Beyoncé-featuring version of his latest single ‘Perfect’ made it all the way to No.1 on last week’s UK singles chart. But could he be challenged in Christmas week by one of the greatest seasonal songs of all time? Mariah Carey’s classic ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ is up from No.5 to No.2 this week; its equal highest position on the UK singles chart and a position not achieved since its original release way back in 1994. Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ is also on the rise. It’s up to No.3 this week and is just one place shy of its all time peak of No.2, achieved back in 1985. Proof that the Brits are really getting into the Christmas spirit this year is top 20 places for The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale Of New York’ (No.7), Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ (No.12), Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree’ (No.15), Shakin’ Stevens’ ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ (No.16), Michael Bublé’s ‘It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas’ (No.18) and Elton John’s ‘Step Into Christmas’ (No.19). There are another 14 Christmas songs in the UK top 50 this week including Kylie’s ‘Santa Baby’, which is up from No.98 to No.47.
• Over on the albums chart, the usual suspects all nestle their way into the top five for the busy Christmas period, but it’s Ed Sheeran who takes the spoils; ‘÷’ retaking the No.1 position a week out from Christmas ahead of Sam Smith’s ‘The Thrill Of It All’ and P!nk’s ‘Beautiful Trauma’. Michael Ball and Alfie Boe are still in the top five (No.4), but Rag N Bone Man is back into it (No.13 to No.5) with ‘Human’. Elvis Presley and Michael Bublé are the only artists with Christmas albums in this week’s top ten (at Nos.9 and 10 respectively).
• The new version of Ed Sheeran’s single ‘Perfect’, featuring Beyoncé’s vocals, has done the trick over in the USA; the track climbing two places to nab the No.1 spot just a week out from Christmas. That shift results in the former No.1 and No.2 songs (Post Malone’s ‘Rockstar’ and Camila Cabello’s ‘Havana’) down to No.2 and No.3 respectively. Halsey’s ‘Bad At Love’ is up from No.11 to No.8 and Mariah Carey’s seminal festive season classic ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ bullets from No.21 to No.11. 6ix9ine’s ‘Gummo’ is also on the move – and how – up from No.54 to No.13.
• They mightn’t have been able to do so here or in the UK, but U2 have nabbed the No.1 position on debut Stateside with their latest long player ‘Songs Of Experience’. It lobs at No.1, outperforming Chris Stapleton’s ‘From A Room : Volume 2’, which enters at No.2. Taylor Swift’s ‘Reputation’ is down to No.3, with Ed Sheeran and Pentatonix making up the rest of the top five. There’s a big rise for the Demi Lovato album ‘Tell Me You Love Me’ (No.21 to No.6) and a No.9 debut for the new Miguel album ‘War & Leisure’.
• And that’s your lot for another exciting edition of The Purge. We will, as always, be back with the ARIA Chart Watch tonight at 6pm on the East Coast. Look forward to your company then.
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MONDAY DECEMBER 18 : Sheryl Crow & Melissa Etheridge (Nationally)
TUESDAY DECEMBER 19 : Halsey (Nationally)
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