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Tickets on sale for Lightyears in Spring City USA

Tickets are now on sale for our show at Chaplin’s in Spring City, USA, on Friday 31 July. Buy yours now by clicking here.

This year’s whirlwind US tour will be taking us to three states – New York City, New Jersey and Pennsylvania – over a jam-packed week that is in danger of ripping a massive hole in the rock-time continuum.

Chaplin’s Music Cafe in Spring City, just outside Phoenixville, is famous for hosting the man himself, Mr Charlie Chaplin, as part of a travelling revue back in 1916. Little did he know that his big-trousered antics would later manifest themselves in popular youth culture in the guise of MC Hammer. Had he known, would he have continued? Would he have simply worn smaller trousers? We simply can’t say.

If you’re a New Yorker, you can catch us for free on Thursday 30 July headlining Union Square’s “Music In The Square” summer season. Fans in Philly can also catch us at Milkboy Coffee on Saturday 1 August and Burlington Amphitheatre on Sunday 2 August.

For full details, click here to visit the gigs page.

As for you Londoners, don’t forget we’re playing The Troubadour on Friday 24 July. Demand for tickets has been high and it’s advisable to buy in advance to avoid disappointment. Click here to buy yours.

Anybody who comes to the gigs in both London and New York (bear in mind that they’re within the same week) gets five free copies of our album, a signed poster and a big kiss.*

*Tony, that doesn’t include you.

Lightyears hit South Korea

We’re heading back East this week for our fourth consecutive year headlining at The Queen’s Birthday Ball in Seoul, South Korea. 

The QBB, which takes place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Mount Namsan, is one of the foremost nights on Seoul’s social calendar and regularly attracts over 500 guests. Last year the event raised in excess of 160 million KRW (over £80,000) for Korean charities.

As usual we’ll be taking Johnny Lightyear with us to fill in on bass duties, along with our trusty sound-engineer Danny Morriss who’ll be working his magic on the mixing desk.

Click here to read up on our 2008 adventures in South Korea’s capital.

See you when we get back! 

“The Lightyears – back by popular demand…”
THE SEOUL TIMES, SOUTH KOREA 

“The Lightyears are a bloody good band! They are excellent ambassadors for Britain…”
SIR WARWICK MORRIS, HIS MAJESTY’S AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA�

Rising demand for Lightyears tickets

The first batch of tickets for our next gig sold out in just a couple of days – but never fear, the promoters have released a load more so all you folks can get your grubby hands on one.

We’ll be at The Troubadour on Friday 24 July, a gig which heralds our return to the London scene.

Click here to purchase your ticket.

Historically we tend to sell out this venue so it’s advisable to buy in advance. It should be a rocking night!  

In other news, beardy crooner Mr Ben Scriven has just been added to the bill – all the more reason to grace us with your presence. Also appearing are Matt Adey, The Beatroots and T Mandrake.

The Lightyears – Friday 24 July – The Troubadour, Earls Court, London. Doors 8pm; LYs onstage 9pm.

Off. The. Hook.

Click here for full gig details.

Buy tickets for LYs at The Troubadour

That’s right folks, we’re back on the London scene! Tickets are now on sale for our homecoming gig at The Troubadour on Friday 24 July. 

We realise we’ve been neglecting you Londoners for a little while now, swanning off to South Africa, USA and the like and generally failing to appear onstage anywhere inside the M25. “Yes,” we’ve heard you all cry, “stadium gigs are all very well and everything but what about your loyal fans in The Big Smoke? Don’t we get a look-in?”.

Well, yes – you certainly do. Many of you will have seen us play at The Troubadour in Earls Court before and so you’ll know it to be a rocking little venue. Historically we tend to sell the place out so be sure to get in early and buy your tickets in advance! 

It’ll be a busy bill on the 24th and we’ve only been allocated a small number of advance tickets – so if you want to be sure of your place in the sun, click here to book your ticket now.

Look forward to seeing all you dudes there…!

New date added to US tour

On 31 July this year we’ll be playing a stage in Pennsylvania once graced by Charlie Chaplin! The aptly-named Chaplin’s in Spring City, PA, is the latest addition to our 2009 USA Tour, joining dates in Burlington, Ardmore and New York City.

Chaplin’s Music Cafe is just a few miles from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The venue is famous for playing host to the big-trousered movie legend as part of a travelling revue in 1916 and these days features performances from national and international recording artists every Friday and Saturday night.

For full details, click here to visit the GIGS page.

To read about our last tour to the USA, click here to visit the TOUR DIARY page. 

To see photos from the last tour, click here to visit the GALLERY page.

Stadium gig this Saturday

We’ve just been invited back to London Road Stadium to play in front of a sell-out crowd of 12,000 people this Saturday afternoon before the Peterborough United Vs Swindon match. 

Peterborough United, who were promoted last May from League Two, have just achieved a consecutive promotion and so next season will be playing in the Championship. They wanted a party atmosphere and so they called on us! And we shall deliver.

We have an interesting history with PUFC, A.K.A. “The Posh”, with whom we released a charity single last year in aid of local organisation Free Kicks, which sets up days out in sport for sick and disadvantaged the children. The single raised a ton of cash and even reached #45 in the iTunes Plus Top 100. We were then invited to perform at the closing match of the season and, subsequently, at a pre-season friendly against Manchester United a few months later. Click here to read up on our adventures at Posh on the Tour Diary page.

We are already in talks with the club with regard to playing in the stadium more regularly during the ’09-’10 season. Watch this space for updates…

And congratulations to the Posh for a second promotion in a row!

LYs to tour East Coast USA

This summer we will be returning to America to play three states – New York City, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

On Thursday 30 July we’ll be playing the “Summer In The Square” series in Union Square, Manhattan. This will be followed on Saturday 1 August by a headline show at Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and an afternoon performance at Burlington Amphitheatre in New Jersey on Sunday 2 August. For full details visit the GIGS page.

Whilst in the USA we are also hoping to secure a slot on WXPN radio’s legendary “Free At Noon” broadcast at the World Cafe in Philadelphia. This is an incredibly prestigious show – recent performers include Gomez, Damien Rice and Adele and the broadcast goes out to a national audience of several million people. We performed live on Matt Reilly’s WXPN show back in 2007 and so the next step up is to be part of the station’s weekly live concert. Here’s the fun though – YOU can help us secure the slot by visiting the WXPN website and requesting our track “Sleepless” for airplay on the station. Click here to visit the WXPN website and request “Sleepless”! It’ll totally rock our world if you do, we promise.

This will be our fourth visit to the USA and we’re excited to be seeing our US fans again. Click here to read my tour diary from our last Stateside visit.

Rare LYs track used on Philadelphia compilation

An extremely rare live version of Lightyears track “Inside Job” has been included on a compilation album released this week in Philadelphia, USA.

The album is called “Milkboy Live Vol. 1” and comprises eleven live tracks recorded over the last two years at the Milkboy Coffee venue in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Milkboy was one of the first venues we sold out on the East Coast and has featured in every single one of our American tours since. Click here to visit my USA tour diaries and read up on our past adventures at Milkboy.

The release also feaures The Brakes, Jim Boggia and the late Robert Hazard, the Philadelphia legend who wrote Cyndi Lauper’s hit single “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, in one of his last recorded live performances.

The Milkboy website says of The Lightyears involvement in the project: “We were glad to include these British lads. They came to us all the way from England, where they were voted best pop/rock band at the first ever UK INDY Awards in 2007. They have great elements of pop in their quirky style of rock and roll. They come complete with 3-part harmonies and a drummer that stands up to play. What’s great about this tune is that you won’t catch them playing this anywhere else. After selecting the song, we found out from the band that this is an early version of a song that went on to become something completely different. The Lightyears agreed after a listen that the tune was rocking. Thanks to the guys for giving us the exclusive track, ‘Inside Job’.”

In fact, “Inside Job” was a re-working of “We Keep The Beat Alive” from our 2005 album Mission Creep. It eventually became the track “That Was Us”, which features on our 2009 album London, England (click here to visit the LYs shop where both albums are available now priced £4 and £5 respectively).

“Milkboy Live Vol. 1” is available now for $7 (around £4.80) from the Milkboy website – click here to visit the store. You can also purchase it as a download from iTunes.

The Lightyears on Wikipedia

The Lightyears now have a page on Wikipedia – which is great, ‘cos it means we now officially exist.

Click here to visit The Lightyears’ Wikipedia page.

Wikipedia is a collaborative, user-generated, multilingual online encyclopedia – or, in other words, a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. This means that you can add information to our page if you so desire.

Do bear in mind though that additions to any Wikipedia page have to be “notable” in some way, as well as being verifiable by a reliable internet source. This means that, whilst the time you had a pint with us in The Eagle was lovely and everything, it probably doesn’t belong on our Wikipedia page. However, the time we headlined Shea Stadium with The B-52s should be included (it’s an oversight that it’s not on there already, come to think of it).

Lightyears invited back to South Korea

Following the news that we’ve been invited back to South Africa next year to headline at the international rugby Tens Tournament in Cape Town, we’ve also been asked out to South Korea this June to perform at The Queen’s Birthday Ball in Seoul. 

The QBB is an annual fund-raising venture that takes place at The Grand Hyatt Hotel and consistently raises huge amounts of money for Korean charities. The theme for the event changes every year, with past themes including the Chelsea Flower Show, Phantom Of The Opera and Harry Potter.   

This will be our fourth consecutive year performing at the QBB and we’re honoured to be invited back. Last year’s trip to Korea figured in my Top 50 Moments Of 2008 so we’re hoping to have an equally successful trip this time round!

Click here to read my Korea 2008 tour diary.

“The Lightyears – back once again by popular demand”
THE SEOUL TIMES, SOUTH KOREA

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