SPANDAU BALLET have reformed their original line-up for a world tour which will start in the UK in October. The band announced the reformation at a press conference aboard the HMS Belfast in London this week and today added a second show at London's O2 Arena after tickets for their first show at the venue sold out in less than half an hour. See GIGS for the UK and Irish dates announced so far.

ULTRAVOX will headline The Big Top stage on the Saturday night of this year's Isle Of Wight Festival on June 13th.

DEPECHE MODE have announced more UK dates - in Glasgow, Birmingham, London, and Manchester - in December, as well as an Irish show in Dublin. See GIGS for all the dates.

The new single... released on April 6, 2009

RICK ASTLEY will headline a Portugese HERE AND NOW show at Lisbon's Pavilhão Atlântico on May 29th. KIM WILDE, BELINDA CARLISLE, ABC, NIK KERSHAW and CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT will also appear on the bill.

DURAN DURAN will play a show at Edinburgh Castle in July, one of what has been described as a 'handful' of dates the band will be playing this year, see NEWS for more information. Meanwhile the band have been joined in the studio - where they are working on a new album - by Kaiser Chiefs' Nick Hodgson who is reported to be writing with the band. The album's producer Mark Ronson is responsible for the pairing and based on work so far has said that at least two of the songs from the partnership will make it onto the next Duran Duran album.

A-HA have announced three UK shows for November, the dates - in Birmingham, Manchester and London - will be part of the band's European tour in support of a new studio album... see GIGS for all the dates.

BONNIE TYLER's epic single 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' is SingStar's most downloaded karaoke track according to a recent report which also sees CYNDI LAUPER's 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' at number six.

NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS are to reissue four of their catalogue albums 'From Her To Eternity', 'The Firstborn Is Dead', 'Kicking Against The Pricks' and 'Your Funeral??? My Trial' - the first releases in a reissues series that will eventually see the band's entire catalogue remastered and released in expanded collectors editions - on April 27th. See NEWS for more details and the full tracklistings.

MANDY SMITH's album 'Mandy' and PRINCESS's album 'Princess' will both be reissued by Cherry Pop on May 12th in remastered expanded editions featuring remixes, demos and previously unreleased material. See NEWS for the full tracklisting of both albums.

HAPPY MONDAYS have been confirmed as the headline act for the Sunday bill of this year's Guilfest, alongside previously announced headliners MOTORHEAD and The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson.

TOM TOM CLUB, PAUL WELLER and KID CREOLE AND THE COCONUTS will all play live sets as part of Island Records' forthcoming series of 'Island Life' gigs celebrating the label's 50th anniversary. All the concerts will take place at London's Shepherds Bush Empire, see NEWS for more details.

GRACE JONES, PET SHOP BOYS and NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS will headline this year's Latitude Festival which will take place in Southwold, Suffolk in July. See NEWS for more details.

ERASURE singer ANDY BELL will play a free DJ set at Hollywood's Amoeba store at 6.30pm on April 9th in support of the US release of Erasure's 'Total Pop!' boxset.

ELVIS COSTELLO will release a new album on June 1st. Entitled 'Secret, Profane And Sugarcane' the album is largely acoustic and features a number of respected country and bluegrass musicians. See NEWS on the website for the full tracklisting.

With thanks to: www.remembertheeighties.com - "The eighties... up to date!"