IT may still be months away, but 2009 is already gearing up to be the year of the boyband reunion tour.

With New Kids On The Block already pencilled in for January and Take That currently working on their latest LP with a tour surely set to follow, nineties boyband Boyzone have announced another string of shows.

THE flutter of hearts and piercing screams will fill the M.E.N. Arena in January after New Kids On The Block confirmed they are to follow in the dancing steps of  Take That, East 17 and Boyzone by returning to the live arena.

The American quintet shot to fame with a string of hit singles and albums in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

GO on admit it… you’re struggle to dislodge the The Ting Tings’ infectious brand of indie-pop from your head too.

So it's no wonder the Salford-based duo are set to follow two Academy 1 dates at the start of October by jumping up into the big league next February, with a date at the Apollo.

THE Enemy will aim to swagger into ‘difficult second album’ territory next year, when they release the follow-up to their critically and commercially well-received debut, We’ll Live And Die In These Towns.

The Coventry Brit-rock trio whose anthemic array of singles singled them out as The Jam for the noughties generation, have announced a UK tour to coincide with the spring release of the as-yet-untitled sophomore LP.

IMPRESSIONABLE, your reviewer. In preparation for the Bon Iver gig he has shot, skinned and gralloched (look it up) a fallow deer.

He has also transported a freight of his own personal bearded heartache (they confiscated the restorative Jack Daniels on the door) to Academy 2.

Bon Iver, as has been much publicised, took a backwoodsman approach to recording his (very) solo first album, For Emma, Forever Ago, by retreating to a hunting cabin in wintry Wisconsin. In between, sourcing his own venison, he laid down some very wintry tracks.

AS In the City rapidly approaches, when the eyes of the music industry turn to Manchester, line-ups are busily being stitched together for the three-day extravaganza.

One of the first one-off events comes from respected independent record label Heavenly Social, which is in the throws of celebrating its 18th birthday.

JARVIS Cocker has announced details of a five-date UK tour, including a winter date in Manchester.

The charismatic former Pulp frontman will hit the road in conjunction with Cocker's record label, Rough Trade.

The label, established in the 1970s by Geoff Travis, will provide support acts for the jaunt arriving at Academy 1 on November 30.

GOOD news for Arctic Monkeys fans. After success with The Last Shadow Puppets, Alex Turner’s attentions appear to be slowly returning to his day job.

The band are reportedly regrouping this month to begin work on their third studio LP and to heighten expectations are set to release a DVD of a Manchester tour date as well to whet the appetite.

RISING UK solo star and  in demand producer Taio Cruz has announced a string of UK dates, including one in Manchester.

The R’n’B star’s debut LP, Departure, hit the shops earlier this year and has already spawned the chart hits Come On Girl, Like a Star and I Can Be.

MERCURY Music Prize victors Elbow have revealed plans to write new material with The Last Shadow Puppets.

The two-piece may have lost out to the Bury band at Tuesday’s ceremony, but Alex Turner and Miles Kane will soon be in sweet harmony with Elbow’s frontman Guy Garvey and keyboardist Craig Potter.

OASIS’ guitarist Noel Gallagher has spoken out after being assaulted onstage during a gig in Toronto earlier this week.

WHILE Noel Gallagher has rebuked any suggestions that his band should follow in the footsteps of Radiohead and The Charlatans and give away their new LP for free, Oasis have come up with an novel way of rewarding their fan base and pushing the record to boot as well.

Their seventh LP, Dig Out Your Soul, comes out on October 6 and fans are about to get an exclusive preview thanks to a groundbreaking partnership.

A FREE man once more after his latest spell in jail, former Libertine and current Babyshambles main man Pete Doherty will play another solo show in the city on October 3, it has been announced.

Last here in May as part of the 02 Weekender series – the hellraiser will play The Ritz.

IT'S time to dust off that leather jacket and dig out that studded belt as 80's post-punk anthem merchants Spear of Destiny are heading to Manchester.

Formed around front man Kurt Brandon out of the remains of Theatre of Hate, Spear of Destiny achieved iconic status with their 1984 album, Liberator, and are set to take to the stage at the Academy on 25th September.

INFLUENTIAL MANC punk outfit Magazine are to reform for just two concerts, it has been confirmed.

Original members Howard Devoto, Dave Formula, Barry Adamson and John Doyle will be joined by an as yet unnamed guest guitarist, to replace the departed, and sadly missed, John McGeoch, at two gigs – including one at the Academy – in February.

FOLLOWING a spell-binding run here earlier this year, revered singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen has now announced a huge winter date.

The veteran Canadian will play the M.E.N. Arena on November 30.

MADCHESTER veterans The Happy Mondays are just one of a host of stellar acts and DJs confirmed to play the latest run of Warehouse Project nights.

One of the clubbing success stories of the last couple of years - the Warehouse Project will return in the autumn for a 12-week run and Shaun Ryder, Bez and other remaining original member Gaz Whelan will headline a Hacienda reunion night on December 28.

FORMER Take That guru Nigel Martin-Smith has scoured the region for the last two years looking for young lads with enough charisma and talent to make up the members of new five-piece band ASBRO.

The four members already have a major record deal, and have been secretly rehearsing at Nigel’s city centre studios for the past six months. Now the hunt is on for the fifth member.

THE first inkling of new material from Mike Skinner and Co can be heard thanks to free download, The Escapist.

Out now and a showcase track for their fourth LP, Everything Is Borrowed (out on September 15), it features a video made by Mike’s Beat Stevie cohort Ted Mayhem,  and it sees Mike walking across France.

FEISTY pop felines the Pussycat Dolls return with a new single on September 8.

When I Grow Up is taken from their new album, Doll Domination, out on September 15.

THERE’s an admirable school of thought, which states singles collections, best ofs, greatest hits – whatever you want to call them – are the antithesis of what recorded music is all about.

With arguments put forward that a band’s output should just be about the art form and a body of work, which showcases their combine efforts in the studio over a concentrated period of time, rather than the (sometimes) sporadically picked highlights of a band’s entire career to date.

PHEW! Steamy or what? Even Caleb Followill the band's charming frontman admits he's a little nervous about singing this one live.