Free tickets for Verve in NYC

Fuse TV is giving away VIP tickets to The Verve’s upcoming New York City concert at The Wamu Theater at Madison Square Garden on April 28th.

The winner will win 2 tickets to the show, round trip airfare from the closest major airport to New York City, hotel accommodations for 3 days + 2nights, $500 in spending cash, and ground transportation to + from New York airports.

The contest runs today (3/21) through this Thursday, (April 3^rd).

All additional information about the contest can be found here: http://fuse.tv/contests/bittersweet-sweeps/index.php

Also, here’s a promotional trailer for the contest:

More Verve album release details

Metacritic has the new Verve album listed as a June release. Billboard is reporting the same.

Thom Yorke Remixes Classical Music For New Album

Thom Yorke and members of The Verve have remixed classical music for a new album by John Mathias and Nick Ryans.

The Radiohead front man has recorded a track called 'Cortical Songs', which is described as "classical music in an unexpected and refreshing way" and will be released via the Nonclassical label.

Set for a May release, the album also includes remixes provided by John Maclean (The Beta Band, The Aliens), Simon Tong, Gabriel Prokofiev and The Verve's Simon Jones and Nick McCabe.

John Mathias has worked with Radiohead in the past - he appeared on The Bends, playing viola and violin.

Star Sail & Virtual World

These have been hidden for a while...enjoy!

Major news blast update

Five articles total, keep scrolling down...I've been on vacation. Dates also added in San Francisco, Luxembourg, and Mexico.

The sound guys in the background

Verve FOH engineer Ian Loughton with the Midas XL8

Verve monitor engineer Tristan Farrow with the Midas XL8

The Verve tour, which rolled out across the UK in late 2007, featured a Midas XL8 dual system, with consoles at front of house and on stage provided by Britannia Row Productions.

Front of house engineer Ian Laughton has worked with the band since they formed in 1992. He began the Verve tour with the XL8 after arriving back from a Razorlight tour the day before, having had just a brief demo at Britrow.

"It seemed pretty self evident to me really," he says. "After 18 years of being a sound engineer you either know something is right or not, and as soon as you look at the XL8 you know they've got it right. It's got some amazing features, such as the POP (population) group, it's so quick. The sound quality of course is absolutely fantastic. With other consoles I've had to use so many plug-ins and EQing to get it eventually sounding good, but with this desk I walked up to it, pushed a fader up and it sounded like it was in the ballpark, put some gain on it, did a bit of EQing and it sounds fantastic. It's as easy as that, it's a Midas and we all love Midas."

Monitor engineer Tristan Farrow, another Midas fan, was also keen to get his hands on the XL8. "The H3000 has long been my desk of choice, but when I was offered the chance to use the XL8 for this tour, I thought it was time to give it a shot," he says. "I'd worked with lots of digital consoles in the past and had been disappointed by the sound quality; you could never really get the full body that the H3000 gives you. I was keen to see if the XL8 could provide that, and so far it more than lives up to it. It's also been easy to get to grips with, and it's doing everything I want it to while allowing me to work pretty much in the same way as if I'd been using an H3000."

Both engineers are keen to emphasis that the XL8 retains the analogue, echoey sound qualities which characterise the Verve's live shows. For this reason, H3000s were used on earlier dates in November, but, as Loughton puts it, "There was always the XL8 lingering in the background. As they're a four-piece rock band we don't really need lots of fancy stuff, but there are so many great little tools which make your life easier.

"As this was a short tour I didn't use the automation, but I can really see it coming into its own when on a world tour. We've used the XL8 now and there's no going back..."

Possible release date?

News from a trusted source:

Just found this article with regards to a possible release date.

Not sure quite how reliable this is as Kerrang is more of a metal mag, but its titled as a 'leaked release date'? The track names are right though. Here is the article.

http://www.kerrangradio.co.uk/article.asp?id=575058&spid=9255

There seems to be some conflicting ideas though, as I have read elsewhere that they are currently 'writing only'. I hope that both of these pieces of information are properly sourced from the 'relevant places' but who knows. Here is the other info.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/48974-the-verve-schedule-more-us-dates-work-on-new-lp

Either way, I reckon that the album is finished and is going through the 'record company processes' at present, such as artwork being made up, track-listing finalization, album name, and also printing and pressing of the discs-otherwise it would be a bit daft to be prematurely playing all the festivals. I am also guessing that no one knows details of this bar the record company Verve will be releasing it with and the Verve themselves, I would imagine that this would be to massively counteract the illegal downloading/leaking of the album, so that it does as well as is deserved as it is quite a highly anticipated record.

North America to get a taste

Verve's North American tour will preview material from their forthcoming album.

V Festival, possible broadcast?

V Festival should be televised on UK TV channel 4 around the time of the event. Given that the band are headliners, the chances are high. More info here.

Evidence of pro-shot gigs: March 8, 2008

There was a short program on UK television, channel 4, about the upcoming V Festival. It included some pro-shot video from the reunion gigs like ‘This is Music,’ and ‘History’ from what looked like one of the Roundhouse shows, and also a clip of ‘Lucky Man’ from the o2 arena. So it appears at least those shows were pro-shot.

New date at the Warfield

San Francisco has been added to the tour for Wednesday, April 23. Tickets can be found here.

Legacy of Verve

2“Manchester Based film makers Soup Collective are currently working on a film documenting the recent tours as well as looking at the legacy created by The Verve. As part of this, they are looking for stories past and present from fans as well as phone-Videoclips of the gigs from both the November and December ’07 tours.

If you are interested in submitting a story, they are looking for moments in your life past and present that hold some connection with The Verve, whether it’s a song that pinpoints a specific moment in time, or a memory from a gig.

Also, given that these gigs have came almost a decade after their previous performance, if you were fortunate enough to see them back then and also recently, what has changed in your life in between? How does hearing the songs again sit with memories of hearing them first time round?

Please send all video content to: thevervetv@googlemail.com

Parts of the reunion tour were recorded

According to a fellow contributor, there was a program on UK tv channel 4 about V festival, which included some blinding and pro-shot video from the reunion gigs. It included 'This is Music' and 'History' from what looked like one of the Roundhouse shows, and also a clip of 'Lucky Man' from the O2 Arena. So it seems some of the concerts were pro-shot, which is good news if a live DVD is ever released. If anyone manages to find the segment on youtube, drop me a line and I'll post the link. Had no luck.

Site update

The 'about' section of the site has been given a boost. In addition, all the latest tour information can be found on the site's 'tour' section. Relevant links can be found on individual posts. This week TVL clocked 1689 visitors. Thanks for passing by.

More festivals this summer

Verve have added a number of festivals to the summer tour:

• Summercase Festival: a two day festival held simultaneously in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. The dates are 18 July (Madrid) and 19 July (Barcelona).
• Nova Rock Festival: held in Austria. The dates are 13 to 15 June.
• V Festival: rumored for several weeks, it is now confirmed. The festival is held simultaneously at Hylands Park in Chelmsford and Weston Park in Stafford, England from 16 to 17 August.