Verve in Belgium

The Verve will play Rock Werchter, a music festival in the village of Werchter, Belgium on 4th July.

Verve in Japan

Verve are headed to the Summer Sonic Festival in Japan. Summer Sonic is an annual two-day music festival held between Chiba (on the outskirts of the Tokyo Metropolis, amongst large motorways and high-rise buildings) and Osaka. The majority of the bands playing in Osaka the first day go to Tokyo the following day and vice versa. The line-up contains many Japanese rock musicians from both major and indie record companies, and also international acts. This year's festival will take place on August 9 (Saturday) and 10 (Sunday).

US tour confirmation

Confirmation of US tour dates by NME. No official mention of Toronto even though tickets are on sale.

The Verve have announced a handful of dates in the US, kicking off at Coachella on April 25. The band will then head for Las Vegas to perform at the Palms before crossing the country to the east coast for two shows at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Richard Ashcroft plays Nintendo

Here's a useless piece of information. According to Kotaku, the gossip, news, and leaks website for obsessive gamers, Richard Ashcroft was seen in London's Uxbridge Road purchasing Twilight Princess for his Wii. The game has been out for well over a year, but can he be blamed? According to the gossip, "he's been making a new Verve album and doing drugs and other stuff." Not sure about the drugs, but the full article can be found here; though I've pretty much summed it up. I wonder if he has Mario Galaxy?

Vegas and NYC...INSANE

Canada has now been confirmed. Not only that, but the band will be heading to Las Vegas for a night at the Pearl Concert Theater (at the Palms Casino Resort) on April 26. Ticket prices range from $53.00 and $78.00, plus any additional service fees and go on-sale Saturday, March 1st. Visit any Ticketmaster location, call 702-474-4000, or visit www.ticketmaster.com to purchase tickets. Verve are also scheduled to play WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on April 28 and 29.

Verve in Canada?

According to this page, Verve may be heading to Canada sometime at the beginning of May. Looking at their tour schedule, this seems plausible, but until official sources report on this, we can only speculate (and hope in some cases). I happen to be not-too-far from Toronto, at least for another year. Thanks to the reader who pointed this out. The post can also be found on AOL Music Canada.

Verve will appear at festivals in Ireland and Germany

Verve are scheduled to appear at this years Oxegen Festival in Ireland. Verve are also confirmed at the German festival, Rock-Am-Ring, in June 2008. More information here.

UNKLE set final live dates

The electro/rock crossover act UNKLE, led by James Lavelle, are set to perform a career-spanning gig featuring a vocalist from each of their albums. UNKLE are to play the following UK dates:

Bristol Academy (February 27)
Sheffield Plug (28)
Portsmouth Pyramid Centre (29)
London Brixton Academy (March 1)

Will Richard Ashcroft join them on stage to perform "Lonely Soul" from 1998's Psyence Fiction? No official word yet but one can only assume.

Vervecroft songs that sound like other songs and possible inspirations

Are You Ready (Richard Ashcroft)

The Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil"

Music is Power (Richard Ashcroft)

Walter Jackson "It's All Over"

Make it 'til Monday

The Rolling Stones "Moonlight Mile"

C'mon People (We're Making it Now)

The Four Tops' 1966 hit "Reach Out I'll Be There" may have been the inspiration for the several verses of "C'mon People (We're Making it Now)."

This Is Music

Randy California's Downer, released in 1972, may have been the inspiration for the line "been on the shelf too long" in "This Is Music."

Dance On Your Bones

In 1973, British singer/songwriter David Essex released "Rock On," a soulful, slow-tempo, and bass-driven tune about the early days of rock 'n' roll. The tune was a major hit in the United Kingdom and even reached No. 5 on the American charts in 1974.

The Verve connection came along in June 1995 on the release of On Your Own (single) with b-side "Dance On Your Bones." The b-side bears a striking resemblance to the driving melody found in Essex's "Rock On" however, Verve's version (lyrically) shows a much darker image of the band with specific references to guns, the devil, and drugs.

The Rolling People

The similarities here are close (note the beginning of Funkadelic's track below).   

Funkadelic "I Got a Thing, You Got a Thing, Everybody's Got a Thing."

Aphrodite's Child - "The Four Horsemen" (note bass, and also the ending)

On March 6, 2008, a Verve fan sent in the following email:

I read your article about the intro to 'The Rolling People' sounding almost identical to that Funkadelic song. I read an earlier guitar magazine article on another site that McCabe does in fact state he is a big fan of the guitarist of Funkadelic.

Here's a little of what I read:

NM: "When I was 14 or so I listened to a lot of Joy Division, I loved the textures of their records, but now it's more John Martyn, his '70s albums in particular; that's where my textured guitar playing comes from, honestly. I had Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd forced on me when I was younger, and although I tend not to listen to that sort of thing now, I guess it's lodged in my brain. I won't say that bands like the Cocteau Twins were not an influence, but that's not the sort of stuff I really like. I like Vini Reilly (from The Durutti Column) because he could be flashy, but he was really simple about it. I also like Funkadelic's Eddie Hazel who, to me, condensed the best bits of Jimi Hendrix. You can probably hear all my influences in what I play, whether it's recent stuff or old blues."

Last updated 6/17/2018

T in the Park confirmed

Verve are set to headline the main stage at the T in the Park festival in Scotland, Friday, 11 July. Tickets go on sale tomorrow and will be available at Ticketmaster.

Additions to the festival run

Verve are now confirmed performers at this years Pinkpop, an annual rock festival held at Landgraaf, Netherlands. Pinkpop is a three day festival, from Saturday to Monday, and visited by approximately 60,000 people with performances on 3 separate stages. Verve are scheduled for Saturday, 31 May 2008. More information can be found here.

Possible album tracklisting

Verve get a mention in the new issue of Mojo magazine. Most of it concerns the band's reformation and McCabe confirms that Ashcroft has plans to continue his solo career. It seems the reunion came along when Ashcroft heard that Salisbury had contacted McCabe about another project (which never materialized). When Ashcroft found out about the conversation, he suggested putting the band back together. See the article here.

Below is a tentative list of song names that have been floating around, with a few names added with the recent Mojo article. Nothing is official yet; the album is due this coming Spring so I would think an announcement will be made in the next couple of months. Only "Mover" and "Let The Damage Begin"are familiar tunes, but I'm hopeful that "Blue Pacific Ocean" may be a call-back to early Verve's "South Pacific."

1. Rather Be
2. Sit And Wonder
3. Applachian Springs
4. Mover
5. Judas
6. Mona Lisa
7. Blue Pacific Ocean
8. Colombo
9. Bauhaus
10. Spy Movie
11. Future Trip
12. Let The Damage Begin
13. Why Can't I Cry?

*Note: Thanks to Jason for pointing out the previously mentioned track "Why Can't I Cry?" (12/Feb/08)

Verve on Glastonbury

"Playing Glastonbury's a great opportunity to bring yet another aspect of The Verve full circle. We played twice in the early '90s which was great -- we felt there was a uniqueness in those performances. We're really looking forward to playing at night at Glastonbury for the first time when you can witness the full twinkling makeshift city experience at its fucked-up best, the new tunes particularly are perfectly suited to that environment, make of that what you will. See you in the Krishna tent on Monday morning then."

the author of this statement is unknown...

Glastonbury coming up

The Verve will headline this June’s Glastonbury festival along with Jay-Z and Kings of Leon. According to Q magazine - the event's media partner - Kings of Leon will headline the Pyramid Stage on the Friday night of the festival (June 27), with Jay-Z performing on the Saturday (June 28) and The Verve closing the festival on the Sunday (June 29).

Speaking to NME.COM co-organiser Emily Eavis declared: "We are over the moon about these acts playing, all of which bring something completely different to Glastonbury. Kings of Leon have played at Glastonbury several times, from starting in the new bands tent a few years back. They are one of the most exciting live bands around, and this feels like their moment to finally headline the pyramid. We see the Kings of Leon as part of the great heritage of Friday night headliners Radiohead, Coldplay, The White Stripes. They're ready to make that leap as well.

"The Verve are an all-time classic Glastonbury band. I saw them recently at The Roundhouse (in north London) and they were amazing. Jay-Z is gonna be historical, and we feel honored that he is coming all the way over to play our show." Other acts already confirmed to play include Leonard Cohen, Hot Chip, Neil Diamond and British Sea Power.

Fans can currently register for tickets on the official Glastonbury website, after which they will be eligible to buy tickets on April 6.

Source: NME

Haven't a clue about this mystery film...

A mysterious film-maker who is producing a documentary about indie-rock superstars The Verve has been filming in Wigan.

The documentary maker, known only as Mark, claims to be putting together a film about the band and their origins to be screened on Channel Four, although programme developers there claim to know nothing about it.

He approached John Purnell (pictured above), landlord of The Honeysuckle Pub in Poolstock, the venue of the band's now legendary first gig, and asked if the pub could feature in the film.

John said: "He contacted me out of the blue and said he was making a film about Richard Ashcroft and The Verve. "He turned up one morning when we were having a cup of coffee and started filming outside, then he came in and introduced himself. He photographed the outside and the inside of the pub and asked me to have a little talk with him."

Having only taken over as landlord two-years-ago, John, who is from St. Helens, was not around to witness the fabled gig, but he has heard plenty about it from his regular customers. He said: "I couldn't give him too many answers about The Verve because I wasn't here, but everybody still talks about it and how it was a great night."

But, despite indulging the mystery director, John is not holding his breath while he waits for the film to be screened, and did not even bother to take his contact details, saying he is happy to wait and see if anything comes of the visit. John said: "If something comes from it then great, but if it doesn't then I'm not going to worry about it. "He said he'd let me know and send me a copy on DVD when it was finished."

Until then, John hopes that his weekly music night, Jam, will keep the spirit of The Verve alive and maybe even unearth a new band of chart-toppers. John said: "We've got a lot of good up-and-coming bands playing here at the moment so, hopefully, one of them can do as well as The Verve did." Jam takes place every Wednesday at The Honeysuckle, Pool Street, Poolstock, from 9pm, with a band night and acoustic night alternating each week.

Article by: Chris Wilkinson, Wigan Evening Post

Urban Hymns XFM 10th Anniversary update (revisiting old yet unposted news)

Thanks to James for this information. It isn't "new" news, but I haven't yet posted it and its the first I've heard of it; therefore, I post it here for all to read.

.......the podcast appeared on UK iTunes just before Christmas last year, and towards the end of it someone mentions that they currently have 15 new tunes as contenders for the new album. Its Jazz Summers that mentions it, he says 'They've done....They've put down 15 tracks, so yeah there will be a new record.' Ashcroft ends by saying 'Some of the new stuff is sounding pretty wild. We want to re-visit our heavier groove stuff and take it somewhere else, you know, it might be time to do something pretty out there and I think we are all happy to do that, do you know what I mean?'

To answer the question: YES.

Bare in mind that this podcast was up on iTunes on 26/11/07, so its unsure what stage in the album process they might be at, at present, possibly mixing or even considering the artwork, news seems quite thin on the ground at the minute, bar the EMI walk out and cut back stuff. I hope it sees the light of day sooner rather than later personally.