Category: What’s On In Bristol

Today, Newcastle alt-rock trio The Pale White return to announce their second album ‘The Big Sad’, due for release on 18th April 2025 via End of the Wall Recordings, pre-order / save here. 

The announcement also comes alongside a brand new single ‘Lost In The Moment‘, available to stream here.

Back in 2025 with their debut release from the imminent new album ‘The Big Sad‘, new single ‘Lost In The Moment‘ sails in with anticipation which erupts into an exciting cacophony of high impact guitar riffs. Moving through waves of intricate textures established with a driving bassline, tubular bells and often hypnotic vocals, the track captures the captivating feeling of those nostalgic moments where time stands still.

Speaking on new single ‘Lost in The Moment’, frontman Adam Hope says, “A special song to me. It’s about the feeling, or lack thereof, which suddenly washes over you when you least expect it. A certain type of numbness, not necessarily tied to anything good, or bad. Perhaps it’s a captivation of something beautiful, or maybe it could be the type of melancholy in the pit of your stomach when reminiscing and romanticising the past. Whatever it may be, time freezes and you’re neither here nor there… just for a moment.“

“The Big Sad: an album born from the ashes of dark times, but representing a beacon of light for the future. An album of honesty and purity, one that our current fanbase sonically may not be expecting. The sound of a band that got tired of slamming on the fuzz pedal to tick the ‘rock’ box and dares to try something new, dares to shock, dares to be great.”

This is the northeast calling, with songs of stillness, reflection, renewal, defiance, hope, classic melodies and, at certain perfectly judged moments, furniture-shifting riffs. With a powerful album shaped by pandemic-era loss (of momentum, and of a band member), and by the wins brought by what singer/songwriter/guitarist Adam Hope describes as a “weight lifted off my shoulders”. With a fresh, front-footed, fired-up approach that owes everything to a band returning to their roots in Wallsend and Newcastle – and, for the first time, making their music entirely on their own independent terms: self-produced and self-confident.

This is the return of The Pale White with, in all its surging emotion and pitch-perfect songcraft, the 13-track triumph that is The Big Sad.

At the time devoid of fresh blood, Newcastle quickly became alight with buzz around The Pale White upon their formation in 2016. Brothers Adam and Jack Hope, then joined by Tom Booth, honed their skills as a ferocious three-piece and quickly settled into a rhythm of their own with a self-titled EP in 2017 and 2018’s hip-swaggering ‘Take Me to the Strange’ before releasing their debut 2021 album ‘Infinite Pleasure’.

Heads were quickly turning and with ongoing support from Radio 1, Radio X and Triple J, the band’s tunes were playing up and down the country. Highlighted as “one of the North East’s hottest groups” by NME and their tunes praised as “filthy, QOTSA-esque stoner rock” by The Independent in a 5-star live review, local hype soon translated into widespread acclaim, huge support slots and impressive festival appearances.

THE PALE WHITE – 2025 UK LIVE DATES

Supporting Frank Black:

06 February: Palladium, London

Headline Tour:

06 March: Deaf Institute, Manchester

07 March: King Tut’s, Glasgow

08 March: Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

10 March: Dead Wax, Birmingham

11 March: Louisiana, Bristol

13 March: Green Door Store, Brighton

14 March: Oslo, London

15 March: Northumbria Uni, Newcastle

22 March: Limelight 2, Belfast

David Lewis Gedge and his semi-legendary band celebrate a special anniversary live across Ireland and the United Kingdom this September and October.

The Wedding Present was born in Leeds, in 1985.

Rising from the ashes of a band called The Lost Pandas, The Wedding Present was assembled by David Gedge [singing & guitar] and Keith Gregory [bass], when they enlisted the services of Peter Solowka [guitar] and Shaun Charman [drums].

The band’s first single – ‘Go Out And Get ‘Em, Boy!’ –  was released in May 1985 and now shares its title with the first volume of David’s autobiography, in which he describes the early days of playing in and around Leeds.

Since 1985, The Wedding Present have had eighteen UK Top 40 hit singles; not bad for a group that has, from its inception, stubbornly refused to play the record industry’s game. That pioneering spirit has been at the core of the band’s philosophy throughout. From George Best [“an unmitigated delight” (NME)] onwards, the band has charted an appealing, if often eccentric, course of its very own.

The band are planning several events [including a Wedding Present musical!] to celebrate their forty years in existence, including this wide-ranging tour throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom. These concerts will feature the band playing tracks from across their extensive repertoire and include many of their hits.

The Wedding Present will be joined in Manchester by special guests Mozart Estate. Founded by former Felt and Denim bandleader Lawrence in the late 1990s, Mozart Estate pull together glam rock elements, bleeping synths and tongue-in-cheek lyrics to create B-side bangers. 

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40th Anniversary Tour Dates: 

October

03 Bristol – O2 Academy with Mozart Estate

10 Manchester – O2 Ritz with Mozart Estate

18 Liverpool – O2 Academy with Mozart Estate

23 Birmingham – O2 Institute with Mozart Estate

24 Oxford – O2 Academy with Mozart Estate

25 London – O2 Forum Kentish Town with Mozart Estate

Artist and venue O2 pre-sale begins on Wednesday 29^th January at 10am.

General sale begins on Friday 31^st January at 10am.

Tickets available here.

For more information:

Website

Spotify

Instagram

X

Facebook

Nearly 45 years since their formation, and 25 years on from their exaltant reunion in 2000 – CHAMELEONS – are ecstatic to announce a new run of shows for later this year. 

The Middleton post/punk band’s second major tour in as many years, the announcement follows a triumphant series of UK performances that saw them play some of the UK’s biggest and most iconic spaces last December, including a night at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. 

And in 2025, Mark Burgess and the band will be expanding their horizons with 8 shows locked-in nationwide throughout November.

Kicking off at Southampton‘s 1865 on 13th November, the cult band will also be visiting Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, and London‘s infamous Electric Ballroom. I

In London and Manchester, Chameleons will be joined by very special guests Kirk Brandon (Theatre of Hate, Spear of Destiny) aKoustiK featuring Sam Sansbury on cello, who will be playing a career-spanning set. 

As is now customary, the tour will also see the return of Chameleons’ legendary pre-Christmas homecoming show ‘HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS… 2025‘. Planning a very special night for what will be the 11th Anniversary in this series of shows, the band will headline Manchester’s salubrious Albert Hall venue once again on 21st November.

Chameleons spent 2024 recording and releasing new music, sharing their new live album, ‘Return of the Roughnecks (Live at The Ritz)’, and a new EP titled ‘Tomorrow Remember Yesterday’. This year, they will release their highly anticipated new album, Arctic Moon, which will mark their first full-length studio record in over two decades. 

The Chameleons’ live band for these dates will feature Mark Burgess (bass / vox), Reg Smithies (guitar), Todd Demma (drums), Danny Ashbury (keyboards), and Stephen Rice (guitar).  With an incendiary setlist already in mind, expect a broad, career-spanning collection of classics plus new material from their forthcoming album ‘Arctic Moon‘ (due out on Metropolis Records later this year).

With additional very special guests for Manchester and London still to be announced, support for the entire tour is confirmed to come from: The Veldt. Emerging in the 1980s, the North Carolina shoegaze soul heroes carved out a distinct niche within the first wave of shoegaze bands worldwide. With their music a mesmerizing blend of ethereal atmospheres, sultry melodies, and irresistible rhythms, they established themselves as a standout presence in the genre. Collaborating with an array of influential artists across their career, including TV On The Radio, Mos Def, and Lady Miss Kier (Deee-Lite), The Veldt released their magnum opus in 1994: ‘Afrodisiac’; a record that has since been ranked as one of Pitchfork’s “Top 50 Shoegaze Albums Ever Released”.

The full list of shows can be found below. Tickets go on pre-sale tomorrow @ 10AM, and general sale this Friday @ 10AM.  

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CHAMELEONS – NOVEMBER 2025 TOUR

13.11.25 – 1865, Southampton

14.11.25 – Electric Ballroom, London

15.11.25 – Trinity, Bristol

16.11.25 – XOYO, Birmingham

17.11.25 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

19.11.25 – Glasgow, Garage

21.11.25 – Albert Hall, Manchester

22.11.25 – Camp & Furnace, Liverpool 

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TICKETS

Tickets are on General Sale from Friday 31st January at 10AM: 
https://pinkdot.seetickets.com/tour/chameleons

Pre-sale from Wednesday 29th January at 10AM here:

https://pinkdot.seetickets.com/tour/chameleons?pre=artist

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Formed in Greater Manchester in 1981 by singer and bassist Mark Burgess, Chameleons have remained one of the city’s most revered bands among musos ever since their inception. With notable fans including the likes of Noel Gallgher to Interpol, The Charlatans to Moby, their music has been passed down through the generations like an elixir of eternal inspiration. And here in 2025, a growing fandom of their immense canon sees Chameleons finding immortality as something of a cult phenomenon. 

With their dedicated advocates finding awe in the “sonic cathedrals” in which they have constructed over the past four decades, Chameleons have released four iconic studio albums (‘Script of the Bridge’ (1983), ‘What Does Anything Mean? Basically'(1985), ‘Strange Times'(1986) and latterly ‘Why Call It Anything’ (2001)), plus many Peel sessions, live records, compilations and an EP (‘Tony Fletcher Walked on Water…. La La La La La-La La-La-La’ (1990)). Shimmering, shadowy, and shrouded in deepest mysteries, their distinctive and towering post-punk songs sound as vital today as the moment they were built.

Acknowledging their supporters with an annual homecoming every December for the last ten years, a typically breathtaking pre-Christmas celebration of their music entitled ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is‘, demand for the Chameleons on the live stage has surged to all time high. And with word spreading across the UK, in 2025, the band now set their sights on one of their biggest and most far-reaching UK tours yet.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

CHAMELEONS
Spotify – The Chameleons | Spotify
YouTube – (1) The Chameleons – Topic – YouTube
X – (11) The Chameleons (@ChameleonsBand) / X (twitter.com)