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Bands performing live at this week's Brit Awards can expect to see an explosion in their album sales, it was revealed today.   Research has shown that acts that perform live can sell a massive 270 percent more albums in the two weeks after the awards. The 2006 bash, to be held on Wednesday, will see artists such as Coldplay, James Blunt, Gorillaz and Kaiser Chiefs play.   The sales date collated by Tesco over the last three years show that last year's British Female Solo Artist winner Joss Stone

Best Songs Of 2005:   Hung Up by Madonna Wake Up by Arcade Fire Takk by SigurRos B.Y.O.B. by System Of A Down Out of Control by 50 Cent and Mobb Deep   Best Moment of 2005 For You?   Playing three nights at Earls Court in London.   Chris said: "I know it's going to sound a bit cliched, but it's just so nice to have made it back home and have everybody coming out to listen to us. There's a feeling like we absolutely love going out travelling somewhere, but the best is to go home and play fo

Wednesday night I dutifully tuned in to (most of) the Grammy Awards in my yearly attempt to understand that crazy music the kids are dancing to these days. Well, I don't think I'm going to run out and buy How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (I'd rather not know how to do that, actually...) However, I have come up with an excellent idea for future Grammy broadcasts... more on that later. First, a few observations:   I think I like Madonna's Farrah Fawcett hairdo and Jane Fonda Workout-ish wardrobe sh

It has been an emotional few years for Gwyneth Paltrow. Her producer father Bruce died suddenly in 2002, she married Coldplay star Chris Martin in 2003, then gave birth to baby Apple in May 2004. But, while still grieving over the father to whom she’d been devoted, Gwyneth took on the role of a daughter whose dad, played by Anthony Hopkins, is slowly dying, in her new film Proof.   Here, Gwyneth, 33 - who is expecting her second baby later this year - tells The Ticket about her life as a working

Here we go again: A young four-piece rock band has sprung seemingly unbidden from some nowhere English town, grabbed its native land by the lapels and is poised to invade these shores.   This time they're called the Arctic Monkeys, a brashly thrilling outfit in the mold of recent angular punk imports such as the Kaiser Chiefs and the Futureheads. Their debut album, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not," already a huge seller in the United Kingdom, will be released here Feb. 21 on Domi

Commentary on the Grammys: Bruce Springsteen was awesome. It was cool to see Sly, but the blond mohawk should be part of the family of banned.   Chris Martin's ability to duckwalk would've impressed an Airborne instructor at Fort Benning, Ga., even if the Coldplay frontman's singing didn't.   Keith Urban may have taken over for Vince Gill as the finest axman in country music, but I'd still cheerfully fork over $2 of my own money to watch a three-way faceoff that includes Brad Paisley. More? OK,

The cast for the forthcoming biopic movie about Joy Division's Ian Curtis has been confirmed.   The film, "Control", is based on "Touching From A Distance", the 1995 book by Deborah Curtis, Ian's wife.   It was today announced that Sam Riley, a relative unknown, will play the part of Curtis, while German actress Alexandra Maria Lara will star as his lover Annik Honore. The movie is directed by renowned music photographer and promo direcor Anton Corbijn, who is famed for his work with U2, Nirvana

Chris Martin   Title: The Nice Storm   Tagline: Don’t get mad, get even-tempered.   The Pitch: Chris Martin [Macaulay Culkin] has it all - successful band, a beautiful wife [Kirsten Dunst], a baby named after a fruit and he’s even been voted the World’s Sexiest Vegetarian by PETA. if that isn’t enough, what is? Oliver Stone’s nine-hour epic strikes at the heart of what drives this remarkable man, whether it be campaigning for Fair Trade, drawing on his hand in felt-tip, combing his hair forward

Next week, the music industry will gather to pay homage to Paul Weller as he receives a Lifetime Achievement award at the Brits.   Hailed as the voice of a generation, the former frontman of The Jam is one musician who can rightfully claim to have made an "outstanding contribution" to music.   Bands, from Oasis to the Ordinary Boys, have cited Weller as a legend while The Jam's influence is obvious on groups like the Kaiser Chiefs. Band of the moment, Arctic Monkeys, have also been compared to W

Early signs of a glorious Ashcroft comeback are apparent. A sell-out UK tour in the pipeline, a fabulous Live 8 reception and performance, and mass praise from heavy-weights such as Coldplay seem set to help connect him back on the fast-track to success.   Keys to the World is evidence that Ashcroft has managed to re-enter the zones of his song-writing brilliance the world woke up to with Urban Hymns. Pilot single, Break the Night With Colour, has re-introduced the charts to his mellow late-nin

Richard Boote, owner and managing director of Strongroom recording studios today announces the purchase of AIR Studios, the world class recording facilities established and chaired by legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin, from Chrysalis Group PLC and Pioneer GB Limited.   Artists who have recently recorded in AIR's music studios include Coldplay, U2, Robbie Williams, Blackeyed Peas, George Michael and Sir Paul McCartney.   Sir George Martin established AIR Studios in Central London in 19

I never thought I'd say it — as a diehard crank who will rant and rail about nasty tickets who push ahead in movie queues, frosty boutique bimbos, and sullen baristas — but Coldplay's Chris Martin is too nice.   Exhibit one: Late in the band's show at Oakland Arena on Jan. 31, Martin thanked the makers of his pants. The designers, who call themselves — get this — the Nice Collective, were in the audience, and they apparently rated a shout-out — along with the Guerilla News Network, Johnny Cash

Apple on Tuesday announced the iTunes Music Store Billion Songs Countdown, a thank you offering to its music fans in 21 countries around the globe that have combined to purchase nearly one billion songs from the iTunes Music Store.   As the company marks its way to the one billion, the iTunes shopper who download every 100,000th song will receive a prize package featuring a black 4GB iPod nano and a $100 iTunes Music Card, the company said.   One lucky grand-prize winner who downloads the billio

John Mayer says his next Columbia album, "Continuum," won't have the "pop sweetness" of current radio hits. "It's a really tricky thing making music that can appeal to everybody without certain ingredients that have proven themselves as being very effective in appealing to people," he says.   On his 2005 album "Try" with the John Mayer Trio, the singer/songwriter shifted gears from pop music to blues. Mayer said he hopes to continue that trend with his upcoming third solo album, promising no "po

“Don’t touch it!”   “Well, I wasn’t going to touch it. I was just pointing at it.”   “Well…don’t point! It can’t be played.”   So goes a famous scene from This Is Spinal Tap, the satirical 1984 “rockumentary” of “one of England’s loudest bands,” in which lead guitarist Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) tours his collection with filmmaker Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner). While Tufnel’s overzealousness may come across as a bit extreme, it’s not hard to imagine in a profession populated by lightning-fing

Slated by some critics as a joke band after their first album of retro-rock, The Darkness stormed into Belfast's Odyssey Arena to prove that the fun is back in the rock.   While contemporaries Coldplay prefer the understated approach, Justin Hawkins' crew fly right over-the-top and right over the top of the crowd - literally.   Opener Loving Arms saw the ever outrageous Hawkins being hefted aloft atop a pair of massively over-sized breasts; before returning to the stage to launch into the first

The work is hardly finished in the wake of hurricane Katrina.   New Orleans is just beginning the rebuild process and when everyone has moved on to current events, Michael Stipe teams up with Chris Martin (Coldplay) to splash cold water in our faces to drive us back to reality.   Stipe decided to cover the anthemic ballad "In The Sun" as his premiere awareness method. When it came time to recruit talent to work with him, Chris Martin was first in line on a celebrity filled roster.   "In The Sun"

Yes, the halftime show has grown to the point of having critics.   “From giant puppets to rousing tributes to Sept. 11, from Phil Collins to Paul McCartney, the halftime show remains as stodgy as an episode of ‘The Price is Right,’” says Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor and past president of the International Popular Culture Association. “Even Janet Jackson’s performance, though it caused much hand wringing, was just another pop star trotted onto the field.”   Maybe, but hundreds

I know I'm going to like Christian O'Connell. "You don't have to sit in with us," he says to the PR man at Virgin Radio's headquarters in Soho (I immediately warm to anyone who doesn't need the security of a publicist). "I promise I won't say anything bad."   "Yeah, get out," I say, emboldened by O'Connell's jokey banter. He does.   O'Connell, Virgin's new breakfast show presenter, is the man being talked about in radio circles as the new Chris Evans. Yesterday it was announced that since he le

Edinburgh'S biggest nightclub has sparked a row by planning to give itself a name similar to one of its main rivals.   The former Revolution nightclub on Lothian Road has unveiled plans to reopen as a club called Liquid, to the annoyance of the operators of the Liquid Room on Victoria Street. The troubled nightspot had been re-launched as a live music venue - Gig- in October, but this is understood to have flopped, despite hopes it would attract high-profile acts.   Now the club's owner, Lumin

When Primal Scream scooped the first ever Mercury Music Prize with their groundbreaking debut, Screamadelica, way back in 1992, they unwittingly set a precedent.   Not by famously managing to lose the awarded 20 grand cheque before they even left the building. No, because Bobby Gillespie's Creation-singed crew beat major label heavyweights like U2 by making what the judges considered to be the best album of the year. In hindsight, this was a sign of things to come - since then, the Mercury Prize

What can one make of Domino records, the unassuming home to two of Britain's most exciting groups, Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys?   If Franz were celebrated for bringing a level of artistry and intelligent design to pop music (all of it based on the formulation "music for girls to dance to") Arctic Monkeys are a bona fide phenomenon.   A week after the release of their first album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, Billboard magazine was reporting that it had sold more than 120

Celebrities have it all when it comes to living in this material world: beauty, fame and money. However, there are those who choose to use success for a greater good, and those who live their lives solely to lavish themselves in extravagance.   Although celebrities don’t have the authority to do anything about poverty or social injustice, they have ways of reaching people, like myself, who would normally be unaware.   It all began when a friend asked me if I wanted to sign up to go to the Coldp

Nobody wants to get old. Unfortunately I have reached the ripe old age of 23 and, already, I can feel its effect. Namely, there is a lot of new music out there that I just don’t get.   Not because I can’t, but because I just don’t want to. I am, of course, talking about emo music. Emo music is what people in the business refer to as their “bread and butter.” I, however, refer to it as what it should be called — “Wuss-core.”   I am not, however, quick to judge. I have felt some of the same fire g

There was a time, not so long ago, when Green Day weren't seen as daring punk-rock provocateurs. As recently as 2003, they were pretty much considered done, washed-up.   Then they dropped American Idiot on us.   "I turned to Billie Joe and told him, 'This is your Coldplay song. It's like nothing you've ever made before,' " Cavallo laughed. "I loved it from the first day I heard it. Just the nature of it and the tempo and the way he sang the opening part. When I heard Billie Joe sing, 'I walk the