Music News

With the festive season on its way there’s bound to be plenty going on so check local weekly publications for updates. All info on this page was correct at the time of writing. WORDS RIK FOXX

¿QUÉ PASA? ...on the music front

Málaga’s ROLLING STONES tribute band HONKY TONK CATS are scheduled to play the Teatro Las Lagunas, Mijas Costa, on December 18. Ticket info: www. ticketmaster.es There is a healthy Spanish scene going on along the coast, for concert info: www. conciertos.club/malaga

The Weekend Beach Festival 2022 in Torre del Mar (east of Málaga) have announced their line-up with highenergy Swedish garage rockers THE HIVES, Spanish indie outfit IZAL, US reggae singer TARRUS RILEY and Puerto Rican rapper RESIDENTE headlining. Tickets purchased from the cancelled 2020 event are valid – for the line-up and ticket info: www. weekendbeach.es

The SPICE GIRLS are disappointed they haven’t landed the ‘Sunday Legend’ spot at next year’s delayed Glastonbury 50th anniversary festival which if you didn’t already know has gone to DIANA ROSS. Miss Ross, as she insists on being addressed, allegedly has some eccentric on-tour demands like being woken by the sound of her own voice; when staying in hotels, she requests a daily bunch of roses, then the heads cut off the previous day’s still-fresh flowers so that no-one else can enjoy them after her, and someone has to flush the toilet after she’s finished – is that where mad MARIAH gets her ways from?

Sticking with MARIAH CAREY – on the stroke of midnight after Halloween, the self-proclaimed ‘Queen of Christmas’ emerged from her deep freeze slumber going viral bashing up pumpkins with a candy cane baseball bat and declaring, “It’s time”. The festive fruit-loop then announced a new single, Fall in Love at Christmas, featuring US soulie KHALID, and a fresh $5m plus TV special, Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues, which will go global on Apple TV+ (date TBA).

Vinyl lovers may find their Christmas stockings empty due to a global PVC shortage (the compound used to make records) and a lack of pressing plants to stamp the discs – with the recent releases of ABBA, ADELE and ED SHEERAN especially in demand. One trade insider reckons there’s a waiting list of up to eight-months for some vinyl albums. ADELE label bosses, Sony, upset many in the industry when trying to monopolise factories worldwide to just press their releases.

Music label bosses are always cautious about releasing albums this time of the year, not wanting to get caught in the Christmas rush, so releases are a bit hit ‘n’ miss this month. There’s a comeback for JLS with 2.0 and PAUL WELLER & the BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA has An Orchestrated Songbook on the 3rd; veteran NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE returns with Barn, plus Keys by ALICIA KEYS on the 10th.

©Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Barn

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN is the latest artist to put his back catalogue upfor-grabs. He has been negotiating with Sony Music wanting north of $350m for both the publishing and recorded masters though they are trying to knock the price down.

LITTLE MIX lady LEIGH-ANN PINNOCK is branching out making her big screen debut in the festive comedy Boxing Day, which drops on December 3. Could this be a new career for her as the girls say they are all going in separate directions sometime next year?

It was only a matter of time but the OZZY & SHARON OSBOURNE biopic is in motion with the writing team behind the ELTON JOHN flick, Rocketman on board. Son JACK and ‘ghost daughter’ AIMÉE will be on ‘production duties’ along with SHARON who says she doesn’t want the movie to be “squeaky, shiny clean like the Queen biopic. Our film will be a lot more real. We’re not making it for kids. It’s an adult movie for adults” – how long will that take to wrap up?

Still with biopics, DURAN DURAN are working on one charting their late 1970s formation and all the way through their 40 year plus career. They are also helping the UK’s BBC to re-launch its Radio 2 In Concert series on December 2, performing classic hits and tunes from their October released album, Future Past. Also, on the 7th, COLDPLAY will feature songs from their recent UK number-one album Music of the Spheres. Both one-hour shows will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 2, BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer at 8pm (CET) with more concerts to be announced.

Two-weeks after proclaiming “This is it”, ABBA were knocked back by the success of Voyage and “maybe, just maybe” more new music could materialise in the future. In a radio interview ANNI-FRID (the former brunette) said “never say never” regarding more new recordings – but AGNETHA is said to be very negative towards any future projects. In the meantime, the ABBAtar London hologram concerts have now been extended into next December... and are still selling.

Board games became popular during lockdown, especially over last year’s festive period with one of the most popular being Monopoly. A UK company (booghe.co.uk) are making special music limited editions of the classic game for the Christmas market with AC/DC, the BEATLES,

BOWIE, ELVIS, METALLICA,

MICHAEL JACKSON, QUEEN and the STONES versions. Players can collect albums, attend concerts and hire musicians – it will be interesting to see the reasons on the Go Straight To Jail cards. e