You slightly bored of South By Southwest yet? Grinding your teeth at the thought of DiS carping on about its Texan jaunt for the next fortnight? Well, what are you doing then?
Despair not if you aren’t on Continental flight 6YLSL to Austin: next week the UK promises to play host to the best musical seven days of the year so far. Admittedly, mainly in London, but there’s tours and great events up and down the country.
The big ones are appearances by Bright Eyes at Koko, London and Oxford Brookes University (March 15 and 18), Arcade Fire (pictured) set up a four-date residency at Brixton Academy (March 14-17), and the second half of a UK tour from LCD Soundsystem, that takes in a special late show at the Astoria (March 11-15).
So, in actual fact, we’re pretty pissed off that we’re missing a bunch of awesome shows. Really.
Additionally, there’s a pair of big shows for Enter Shikari coming up at Hammersmith Palais (March 10-11) (we assume they’re planning to tear the place down themselves before the demolition men get to it), and Lily Allen’s on tour, too (March 10-12). Smile!
That’s not to mention Battles playing the Ether Festival, Poison the Well, a show by Redjetson and Cats and Cats and Cats, the Ali Love / Hadouken / Pull Tiger tour (something to do with mySpace) and... well, that seems enough, doesn’t it?
If you’re planning to sit at home for a week, you can drench your ears in the new sounds of LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver LP, out Monday March 12, or perhaps Les Incompetents' retrospective CD, End Of An Error (out the same day)? Maybe Deerhoof's Friend Opportunity will find itself a home in your stereo? Or, there are a wealth of singles to pick from: the latest James Yorkston record is out on Monday, as are offerings from I Was A Cub Scout, The Rakes and The Holloways?
So, lots of things really. Gonna be a busy one, next week…
DiScuss: What shows will you be going to see next week? Which records will you be buying? Or, quite simply, what the hell will you be doing? DiS will be particularly missing playing Evo. We’ll take you all down, anytime. Just come to the office. You’ll get hurt…