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ALL THE LATEST GIG NEWS

Norwegian Eighties pop band

will be back next year due to popular demand.

With 10 albums and over 40 million record sales under their belt, A-ha will play their 1985 debut album Hunting High And Low during the first half of the show at Arena Birmingham on November 13, 2020.

Songwriter and guitarist Pal Waaktaar said: “We played the full album live once before and that was a great experience. There’s not one song on that album that we’re not looking forward to playing live.”

The tour will coincide with the 35th anniversary of the release of the original version of Take On Me, which topped the UK singles chart.

The words of eco-activist Greta Thunberg and former Birmingham Poet Laureate David Hart have been set to music as part of a concert marking the 30th anniversary of the so-called Peaceful Revolution which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago.

The world premiere of Liz Johnson’s major new cantata

will take place on Tuesday, November 12 (7pm) at The Bradshaw Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where she is a visiting tutor.

The concert, which also includes two cantatas by Bach, will be performed by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir and Baroque Orchestra, playing on period instruments, conducted by Jeffrey Skidmore OBE, with soloists Samantha Lewis (mezzo-soprano) and violinist Lucy Russell.

is one of her generation’s most compelling songwriters, writing hits for Etta James, Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless and George Strait, among others. Hear songs about ‘‘beauty tempered by dread, sorrow buoyed by hope’’ when Gretchen and her band perform at Town Hall, Birmingham, on Saturday, May 16.

is at Arena Birmingham on November 22 on the second leg of her first tour in 15 years. A special deluxe edition of her album Still On My Mind is released next week. It features new tracks plus acoustic versions of hits Thank You and White Flag.

is heading to Katie Fitzpatrick’s in Stourbridge tonight (Friday). The Billy Braggapproved punk/poet has hit the road in support of his tender new release Curate Calm, Create Chaos.

aka San Francisco’s Andy Cabic, plays Birmingham’s Cuban Embassy on December 14. The intimate show is in support of his seventh studio album, Up On High, which has had rave reviews.