News round-up - Justice, Linkin Park, Crowded House, Boredoms, more

by thawking on Jul 30 2010, 03:30PM

The week’s big tour rumour is the return of cross-wielding French dancefloor icons and Ed Banger flag-bearers Justice. They’re apparently heading back to Australia for New Year’s Eve, although no official announcement has been made as yet as to exactly where they’ll be playing. We’re going to guess that they may be playing a festival. Just, y’know, putting it out there.

Also not officially announced but apparently reliable is talk of Linkin Park touring here in December. A Melbourne radio station reported that the band will be here “in December... right in the middle of Bon Jovi[’s tour]. This will be an arena tour so it will be Rod Laver Arena [in Melbourne].” You may wish to laugh uncontrollably at the use of Bon Jovi’s tour as a reference point. Because obviously everyone knows when that is.

One tour that’s definitely happening is Crowded House - the re-formed version of the group (with Matt Sherrod occupying the drum stool that once belonged to the sadly deceased Paul Hester) will play a string of dates in November. They play Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Friday 5 November, Hordern Pavilion in Sydney on Saturday 6 November, the Convention Centre in Brisbane on Tuesday 9 November, Peter Lehmann Winery in the Barossa Valley on Saturday 13 November, Sandalford Estate in the Swan Valley on Sunday 14 November and the Entertainment Centre in Wollongong on Tuesday 16 November.

Also, drummer-heavy Japanese avant garde avatars of awesomeness Boredoms were recently announced for the Melbourne Festival - they play the Forum on Saturday 9 October - and they've also confirmed a Sydney show on Monday 11 October at the Metro. We can't urge you strongly enough to go and see this.

Also, you may remember that we got kinda excited about the upcoming A Tribe Called Quest tour. Supports were announced this week: both shows will feature sets from Maseo of De La Soul, and the Sydney show at the Hordern Pavilion on Wednesday 11 August will also feature Horrorshow and Thundamentals, while the Melbourne show at Festival Hall the night after will see Kool Keith and DJ Flagrant warming up the crowd. Nice.

And finally, we are devastated to hear that apparently Belgian singer Plastic Bertrand - or Roger Jouret, as his birth certificate says - has admitted to not having actually sung his international 1977 megahit ‘Ça Plane Pour Moi’ (which was at one point the most played track in The Vine’s iTunes library - honestly). The admission is the outcome of a court case that’s been dragging on for three years, and featured an accent specialist comparing the vocals on the track to Jouret’s voice. He eventually admitted as such, but blamed the man who sued him, producer and actual vocalist Lou Deprijk: "I'm the victim. I wanted to sing, but he would not let me access the studio."

We’re pretty sure it’s Jouret singing here, although on reflections, his vocals do sound a bit weak. *sigh*. One more illusion shattered. Where will it end?