The Great Ticket Scandal - Good Things Come To Those Who Wait (Feature)

Last Thurday night saw hoards of music fans tune in to Channel 4 following the announcement that the channel had won a legal battle to screen its undercover investigation of two secondary ticketing websites: viagogo and Seatwave. In the controversial documentary, Dispatches: ‘The Great Ticket Scandal’, the ticketing websites found themselves under fire for some of their practices, unfairly labelled as glorified ticket touts by the shows producers, leaving fans infuriated at their conduct yet without a full and balanced picture. The ticketing landscape was shaken to its core as stakeholders from all sides pitched in their tuppence worth.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Monday, 27 February 2012

Stereoboard Look At The Most Popular Musical Comics (Tim Minchin, Bill Bailey Feature)

To many, music is a wonderful form of expression; one that can translate countless feelings and thought processes that we just couldn’t put into words. It can connect or capture a listener in many ways and ease them through bad times, be present in prominent memories of the good times and much more. Then again, not everyone takes music wholly seriously as an artform. While it’s a fantastic thing, we all like a little sarcasm or quirk or just a good reason to laugh. 

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Friday, 24 February 2012

Popular V's More Alternative Songs Of Valentine's Day (Valentine's Day Feature)

While each year is jam packed with songs of love, desire and heartbreak, there’s one day of year that they’re all likely to suffer overplay worldwide. That day is, of course, Valentine’s Day. If you’re into the whole lovey dovey thing, cheese-filled tracks along the lines of ‘I Will Always Love You’ will go down a treat; if you’re alone, some would choose to delve into chocolate and tales of heartbreak. That is how the sweeping generalisation depicts us all on this day of year at least. Warning: this may contain cynicism.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Tuesday, 14 February 2012

The Show Must Go On: Should Iconic Band Members Be Replaced? (Queen, Thin Lizzy Feature)

With the speculation rife that Sonisphere will host Queen this summer with American Idol’s Adam Lambert at the hilt, it has raised the age old debate of: should you replace a band member in an iconic band? It’s an age old problem; bands can’t avoid arguments, people passing away or simple artistic differences, but there will never be one definite answer.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Monday, 06 February 2012

Stereoboard Tour of the Week - Happy Mondays

Following last year’s long-awaited reunion of the one and only Stone Roses, fellow Mancunians the Happy Mondays have followed suit with their own Second Coming. Actually, it’s more like their Third or Fourth coming, depending on whether or not you consider their previous reincarnations to be the “real” Happy Mondays. This time around, however, the full original line-up are together again for the first time in almost 20 years. That’s right - Madchester is well and truly back!

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Thursday, 02 February 2012

Stereoboard’s Top 10 Live Events in February 2012

With the Christmas and New Year celebrations long since forgotten and 2012 well and truly underway, it’s time to look ahead to the next month’s worth of live music-based festivities. OK, so maybe February has a few less gigs to offer than the other 11 eleven months, but guess what… it’s a leap year, of course! That’s right – a whole 24 hours more than the last three years. Let’s see what 2012 has in store for us on this extra-long February…

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Wednesday, 01 February 2012

Stereoboard Tour of the Week - Ed Sheeran - Tickets Onsale Now

Following in the footsteps of fellow solo artist Adele - whose record-breaking second album ‘21’ returned to the top of the chart at the weekend, exactly one year after its release – Yorkshire lad Ed Sheeran is well and truly making his mark on the UK Albums Chart with his hit-making debut, the curiously-titled ‘+’.

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Thursday, 26 January 2012

Stereoboard Look At Possible Sonisphere 2012 Headliners (Sonisphere Feature)

While Download is currently leading the race in announcing their bands, Sonisphere has finally given fans a hint of what’s to come. We already know that their main competition will be hosting Black Sabbath, Metallica, Soundgarden, Machine Head and more, and, at present, we have no one for Knebworth’s rock onslaught.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Post-Hardcore: So, What is it and Where has it been? (Feature)

The mysterious yet surprisingly popular genre of rock music known by some as post-hardcore took an agreeable turn for the better last week as two of its most lauded saviours, At The Drive-In and Refused, made their long-awaited returns as they were both confirmed for this year’s Coachella Festival in California.

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Sunday, 15 January 2012

Stereoboard Tour of the Week - Graham Coxon - Tickets Onsale Now

Let’s see – what has Graham Coxon been up to since 2009, when he released his most recent album ‘The Spinning Top’ and was heavily involved with Pete Doherty’s debut solo offering? As if you didn’t know, of course. Not only has it been three years since the guitarist brought out his seventh solo album, but also the same amount of time since he finally patched up differences with his old band Blur and, for the first time in 10 years, performed live with them for several long-awaited reunion shows including Glastonbury, T In The Park and the band’s huge headlining shows in Hyde Park.

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Friday, 13 January 2012

The Biggest Band Brand: KISS (KISS Feature)

He had noted that Paul was less concerned with the products and wanted to be a credible musician, to which Gene fired back that credibility is fleeting, it can be gone the next day, but you can’t argue with the figures of a business. That’s exactly what they are: a business, a brand. They’re fantastic musicians – credible musicians in fact, but damn they’re fronting one of the best music brands in existence. Not only are they focussed on their music and on their fans, they’ve managed to make themselves a sustainable business alongside it.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Monday, 09 January 2012

The Ongoing Saga of Sugababes (Feature)

Last week, Stereoboard reported that Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena and Siobhan Donaghy – known to many as the original Sugababes – had been working together on new material for the first time in 12 years. Die-hard Sugababes fans will of course remember their 2000 debut ‘One Touch’ – the first and only album to feature all three of the group’s founding members.

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Sunday, 08 January 2012

Do We Need Age Limits On Music Videos? (Music Video Feature)

As time progresses, people tend to push the boundaries further in varying formats. In terms of music, artists have most certainly been pushing the boundaries in their songs and videos, so much so that the Prime Minister is considering putting age limits on certain music videos. 

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Friday, 06 January 2012

Stereoboard Tour of the Week – Cancer Bats

While we’d normally expect bands to travel a bit further afield than just one city when on tour in the UK, we’ve decided to make a rare exception for 2012’s first Stereoboard Tour of the Week. Canadian hardcore punkers Cancer Bats have chosen to celebrate the forthcoming launch of their new album ‘Dead Set on Living’ in style by cramming a week’s worth of tour dates into a single day – Saturday 21st April.

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Thursday, 05 January 2012

Digital Music Dominates Sales Figures (Digital Music Feature)

While we looked at the reasoning behind many record labels hoping to move entirely digital back in November, it seems we now have one further – and more concrete – source for concern: actual sales figures. The numbers are in and last year the physical purchase of music dropped while downloads soared. Surprising? Not particularly... 

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Wednesday, 04 January 2012

A Look Ahead - Stereoboard’s Top 10 Live Events in 2012

After a year of live music that has been dominated by the likes of Rihanna, Katy Perry and Take That, and has even seen Beyonce headlining Glasto, we can gracefully admit that 2011 well and truly belonged to pop. But looking ahead, however, with the likes of Blink 182, the Chilis, the Stone Roses and Black Sabbath all preparing to make a big return to our shores in 2012, it seems that the coming year may well be heading back into the hands of rock and roll. Sadly, however, there will be no Glastonbury this year, but fear not as Download, Isle of Wight, T in the Park and even Phoenix Festival are eagerly making plans to fill in for their muddy counterpart. So, whether you’re planning to hit one of the summer festivals this year or just hoping to take in one or two gigs, here are Stereoboard’s Top 10 live events for 2012…

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Monday, 02 January 2012

Stereoboard’s Top 10 Live Events of 2011

As Christmas approaches and another year draws to a close, we here at Stereoboard decided to take a look back over the past 12 months to figure out which of the many gigs, tours and festivals in 2011 were our favourites. Unfortunately, there were just too many to choose from, so we decided to stop scratching our heads and instead turned to Twitter to find out what you’ve all been up to during the past year and which live event was your pick of the bunch. OK, we cheated, but with so many huge artists on tour in 2011 and more summer festivals than you can shake a stick at, it seems that we can agree that this was far from an easy choice. But somehow, between us, we’ve been able to reach a final decision and pick out Stereoboard’s Top 10 live events of 2011. Let’s pat ourselves on the back. In no particular order, here they are…

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Thursday, 22 December 2011

Christmas Songs: The Good, The Bad & The Alternative (Christmas Song Feature)

Christmas is the key time of year for music with a rush and desire to snag the iconic Christmas #1 spot. While many years ago this would have been a well loved and respected tradition, it can – at times – seem more of an annoyance nowadays. There are, however, some benefits: the unshakeable classics and successes, the complete flops and the sarcastic, uncaring alternatives.

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Thursday, 22 December 2011

Stereoboard Look At The Most Profitable Concert Tours Of All Time (Tour Feature)

With Lady Gaga rumoured to be announcing a 450 date world tour, undoubtedly one of the more ambitious and rigorous of touring schedules, it’s fair to compare this latest feat to her previous tours and to others on a wider scale. Let’s be honest, Lady Gaga doesn’t do anything by halves. What’s the harm in breaking a few more records?

Written by: Heather McDaid | Date: Wednesday, 21 December 2011

Stereoboard Tour of the Week - Korn - Tickets Onsale NOW!

A heavy metal band making a dubstep album? Who’d have thought it? OK, so by now – unless you’ve been living on a desert island for the past year – you’re probably more than aware that Korn’s latest album ‘The Path of Totality’, which was released earlier this month, has taken the band in the largely-unexpected direction of dubstep. Not that they’ve abandoned their nu-metal origins completely, but it’s fair to say that this latest move by the Californian rockers may have come as a bit of a shock to some.

Written by: Rob Sleigh | Date: Wednesday, 21 December 2011