The former leader of The Commotions looks back, while Stockport's light-psych-pop five-piece headline the latest NME Awards Tour, plus Hannah Peel, Grammy-winning metallers Ghost, Ben Haenow and Blackberry Smoke.
Hannah Peel
Norwich Arts Centre, March 24, 8pm, £10.50 door, 01603 660352, www.norwichartscentre.co.uk
Northern Irish artist, singer and electronic composer and member of the The Magnetic North, who released her solo album, Awake But Always Dreaming, to great acclaim at the end of last year. She first came to recognition with her mesmerizing, hand-punched 'music box' EP Rebox, featuring covers of 80s bands Cocteau Twins, Soft Cell and New Order. She will be joined by WORMS and Catnip and Claws, while the Electronic Sound magazine DJs will be spinning tunes in the bar.
Ghost
UEA LCR, Norwich, March 24, 7.30pm, £27.50, 01603 508050, www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk
Grammy Award-winning Swedish occult rockers Ghost arrive as part of their 'Popestar' tour, playing from their surprise EP, Popestar, in addition to songs from their most recent album, Meliora. The EP contains interpretations of selections by Echo and the Bunnymen, Simian Mobile Disco, Eurythmics and Imperiet. The make-up and masked outfit won a Grammy for in the 'Best Metal Performance' category for the song Cirice. Support comes from instrumental rockers Zombi.
Ben Haenow
Open, Bank Plain, Norwich, March 25, 7.30pm, £12.50, 01603 763111, www.open247.org.uk
Singer who won the eleventh series of The X Factor in 2014 and who bagged the Christmas No.1 with his now platinum-selling cover of One Republic's Something I Need. He also recently released the duet Second Hand Heart with Kelly Clarkson. Last year he parted company with Simon Cowell's record label Syco after just one year of working together but he has recently been in the studio writing for an eagerly awaited second album. Support from Christian Burrows and Lily Jo.
Lloyd Cole
Aquarium, Wellington Esplanade, Lowestoft, March 26, 7.30pm, £22, 01502 573533, www.aquariumlive.co.uk
Having released two anthologies, the handily titled 1983-1989 and 1989 –1996, the former leader of The Commotions, who is more recent times has been acoustic guitar virtuoso who has spent several years in New York recording with assorted avant/electronic/lo-fi folk artists and bands, will indulge us here in looking back to perform songs from both periods. It's perhaps a strange move for a musician who opened his solo venture with a song called Don't Look Back.
Stiff Little Fingers
Waterfront, King Street, Norwich, March 27, 7.30pm, £20.35, 01603 508050, www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk
Punk stalwarts return to the Waterfront as part of tour marking their 40th anniversary. Formed in 1977 in Belfast, at the height of The Troubles, songs like Suspect Device and Wasted Life were championed by John Peel. In 2014 they released a new album, No Going Back, their first since 2003's Guitar and Drum! Still fronted by the iconic Jake Burns, their music continues to combine the energy of punk with infectious hooks. Support from Theatre of Hate.
Blossoms
UEA LCR, Norwich, March 27, 7.30pm, £17.50, 01603 508050, www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk
The NME Awards Tour brings Blossoms back to the region following their sold-out tour back in September. The
Stockport's all-male, skinny jean-wearing, light-psych-pop five piece headline the latest NME Awards Tour. The band's cathartic sing-a-longs with minor key moodiness hark back to The Stone Roses and The La's. Their eponymous debut record spent two weeks at No.1 when it was released in August. The bill also includes hotly-tipped Cabbage, the latest to be dubbed 'Manchester's most-exciting new band, and rising indie teen Rory Wynne.
Frigg
The Apex, Bury St Edmunds, March 29, 7.30pm, £16, 01284 758000, www.theapex.co.uk
Hot fiddles from cool Scandinavia thanks to this Finnish fiddle septet. A leading act on the Nordic scene they have previously dazzled Celtic Connections, Fiddles On Fire and Cambridge Folk Festival prompting a steadily growing appreciation for their blistering Nordgrass, a mix of Nordic folk and American bluegrass. Embracing everything from Nashville to Nordkapp, Salzburg to Stornoway, they manage to sound like a polka band, a rock group, or a Riverdance ensemble, while remaining purely acoustic and firmly string-powered.
Blackberry Smoke
UEA LCR, Norwich, March 29, 7.30pm, £20, 01603 508050, www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk
Keeping alive the grand tradition of US Southern rock Blackberry Smoke arrive in support of their fifth studio album, Like An Arrow which includes a guest appearance from The Allman Brothers Band's very own Gregg Allman. The band out of Atlanta, Georgia, got its start in 2000, and are adept at exploring the classic Deep South rock sound that infused their earlier albums The Whippoorwill and Holding All the Roses. Support from Biters, who also hail from Atlanta.
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