It seems a tad pointless mentioning our top tip for November seeing as this show sold out in under 60 seconds. However, if you can or did manage to get your mitts on tickets for Royal Blood at the Cambridge Junction on the 8th then you’re in for a treat as the duo’s primal rock ’n’ roll thrill is one hell of a live show.
November seems to be the month of sold-out shows with Robert Plant and his new band The Sensational Space Shifters’ gig at the Corn Exchange on the 20th and Sam Smith on the 3rd at the same venue both selling out months ago. Intrigue is at the heart of Marika Hackman’s music but there’s something gloriously attainable about her as an artist and her commitment to touring and meeting with a receptive audience who are searching for the very same antidotes to the challenges of modern life. After releasing a series of hugely revered singles and EPs over the last year, Marika Hackman releases her debut full-length album, We Slept At Last, in February 2015. However before then Hackman undertakes her biggest headline tour yet this November, including a return to The Portland Arms on the 19th.
The rearranged Grandmaster Flash show at Cambridge Junction takes place on 7 November, whilst psychedelic pop wonders and Cambridge locals Violet Woods release their debut LP and play an album launch at The Portland on the same day. Violet Woods formed in Cambridge in 2011, stemming from the desire to explore sounds of 60s London psychedelia and Nuggets compilations.
Formed in 1975 in Dublin, The Boomtown Rats played their first UK shows with the Ramones and Talking Heads and fought the punk wars alongside the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam and The Stranglers. They made history as the first Irish band to have a UK number one hit with Rat Trap, and play Cambridge Junction on 3 November.
Indie pop royalty The Lovely Eggs at The Portland on the 20th is definitely a highlight this month. The Lovely Eggs are a pop band from Lancaster – husband and wife Holly Ross and David Blackwell (Ross was formerly the lead singer and guitarist in the girl band Angelica). The duo’s style takes in the tweest of 80s twee-pop and merges it with their warped take on indie.
Always popular in Cambridge, Simone Felice plays The Portland Arms on the 22nd. Simone Felice is a founding member (lyricist, vocalist, drummer and guitarist) of internationally acclaimed artists The Felice Brothers and The Duke & The King. In the past he has toured and worked with the likes of The Band’s Levon Helm, Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, The Lumineers, Mumford & Sons, Rick Rubin, The Avett Brothers and Old Crow Medicine Show.
Manchester legends James kick off their latest UK tour in Cambridge at the Corn Exchange on the 11th. James are behind some of the biggest hits of the last 30 years and have sold over 12 million albums worldwide. Their latest album La Petite Mort came out in June bringing with it more hits to add to the collection.
The Kooks released their eagerly anticipated new album Listen in September and now the band are hitting the road, including a show here at the Corn Exchange on the 18th. And having released their fourth album and headlined the second stage at the Reading festival earlier this year, Courteeners return to Cambridge Junction on the 18th.
