Mojo - The Music Magazine

Bob Dylan has announced a European tour this summer. He will play 29 dates in May and July this year, including a number of festival appearances. Dylan’s Never Ending Tour is not currently due to visit Britain.

The dates are:

Reykjavic, Iceland, Egilshollin (May 26)
Odense, Denmark, Fyn Arena (28)
Stavanger, Norway, Viking Stadium (30)
Helsinki, Finland, Hartwall Arena (June 1)
St. Petersburg, Russia, Arena (3)
Tallinn, Estonia, Sakey Hall (4)
Vilnius, Lituania, Siemens Arena (5)
Warsaw, Poland, Stodola (7)
Ostrava, Czech Republic, Cez Arena (9)
Vienna, Austria, Stadhalle (10)
Salzburg, Austria, Arena (11)
Varazdin, Croatia, Radar Festival (13)
Bergamo, Italy, Lazzaretta (16)
Aosta, Italy, Castello Borgia (18)
Grenoble, France, Palais des Sports (19)
Toulouse, France, Zenith (20)
Andorra la Vella, Andorra, Campo de Futbol Muni (22)
Zaragoza, Spain, Feia de Muenstras (24)
Pamplona, Spain, Plaza de Toros (25)
Vigo, Spain, Recinto Ferial (27)
Avilla, Spain, Parque Natural de Gredos (28)
Valencia, Spain, Auditorio Ciudad (July 1)
Cuenca, Spain, tbc (2)
Murcia, Spain, Plaza de Toros (4)
Jaen, Spain, Recinto Ferial (5)
Madrid, Spain, Rock in Rio (6)
Jerez, Spain, Campo de Football Muni (8)
Merida, Spain, Plaza de Toros (10)
Lisbon, Portugal, Optimus Live (11)

Mike Batchelor, Abbey Road Studio's long-serving engineer and renowed innovator, has died. Batchelor began working at the London studio in 1949 and was reponsible for universal tone control,the disk de-clicker, the DDD disk defect detector and the TG12345 mixer - all technical inventions now used in studios across the globe. He worked at Abbey Road until 1987. Ken Townsend, an Abbey Road colleague, paid tribute:"Mike Batchelor was [a] pioneer, to whom everyone owes a debt of gratitude for the sheer brilliance of his work particularly in the field of mixing consoles, limiters, compressors, curve benders and a host of similar devices".

A new Sex Pistols DVD is on the way. The band's 2007 reunion gig at the Brixton Academy was filmed by Filth & Fury director Julien Temple and will appear on disc as The Sex Pistols: There'll Always Be An England. The package will also include a new documentary called The Knowledge, which will show each Pistol revisiting their childhood neighbourhood.

Radiohead, The Raconteurs, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against The Machine, Girl Talk, Cat Power, The Black Keys, Broken Social Scene, Bloc Party, Wilco, Battles and Stephen Malkmus are all rumoured to be on the bill for this year's Lollapalooza Festival. Stay tuned for official confirmation.

Supergrass have been added to the Hop Farm Festival bill. The one-day event, which will take place on July 6 in Kent, will be headlined by Neil Young and Primal Scream. More acts are to be announced soon.

REM are sitting pretty at number one in the album chart. They knocked pop starlet Duffy off the top spot after four weeks yesterday. Accelerate, their latest album, is their 14th studio album and their first for four years. The band are due to headline Oxygen and T In The Park, and will round off the summer by playing a 4-date British Stadium tour in August:

Manchester Lancashire County Cricket Club (24)
Cardiff Millennium Stadium (25)
Southampton Rose Bowl (27)
London Twickenham Stadium (30)

Radiohead have unveiled their own social networking website: Waste-central.com . Fans can interact, swap photos and details, look at tour dates and watch videos. In a posted message the band said: “We’ll be adding plenty more bits and pieces in the coming weeks and ironing out any wrinkles or annoyances the best we can. Hope you find something interesting to play with.”

And finally…Happy Birthday Billie Holiday! The strange fruit would have hit the ripe old age of 93 today.