Progressive art-rockers The Pineapple Thief are set to release their new studio album ‘Far and Wide’ on the 9th October 2026. With just under a month to go, the band are please to reveal the anthemic new single ‘God Knows’. Watch the video, directed by longtime collaborator George Laycock, here:
Bruce Soord comments: “The reckoning. Lying there, with my infinite stare. Through the shadows. I guess it’s autobiographical. We all have regrets. I certainly do. I’ve made mistakes, did people wrong. The (metaphorical) god knows. And those ghosts are coming out…”
Founded in 1999 by Bruce Soord, the band has long been one of the genre’s most successful and accomplished outfits, releasing 16 studio albums and touring worldwide. The band consisting of Soord (vocals, guitars), Jon Sykes (bass), Steve Kitch (keyboards), and Gavin Harrison (drums).
The band recently announced a UK & European headline tour for 2027. See the full list of dates below:
4th March – The Garage, Glasgow, UK
5th March – O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, UK
6th March – O2 Academy, Sheffield, UK
7th March – The 1865, Southampton, UK
9th March – Antipode, Rennes, France
10th March – Metronum, Toulouse, France
12th March – Sala Apolo, Barcelona, Spain
13th March – Teatro Eslava, Madrid, Spain
14th March – Republica de Musica, Lisbon, Portugal
16th March – Casa de Musica, Porto, Portugal
17th March – Santana 27, Bilbao, Spain
19th March – La Rayonne, Lyon, France
20th March – Le Trianon, Paris, France
21st March – Rockhal, Esc-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
1st April – Batschkapp, Frankfurt, Germany
2nd April – Markthalle, Hamburg, Germany
3rd April – Carlswerk Victoria, Cologne, Germany
4th April – Metropol, Berlin, Germany
6th April – Stary Manez, Gdansk, Poland
7th April – Palladium, Warsaw, Poland
9th April – Klub Studio, Krakow, Poland
10th April – Alter Schlachthof, Dresden, Germany
11th April – Roxy Hall, Prague, Czech Republic
13th April – W.U.K., Vienna, Austria
14th April – Muffathalle, Munich, Germany
15th April – Boogaloo, Zagreb, Croatia
17th April – Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy
18th April – Alcatraz, Milan, Italy
20th April – Dynamo, Zurich, Switzerland
22nd April – La Laiterie, Strasbourg, France
23rd April – La Madeleine, Brussels, Belgium
24th April – O13, Tilburg, Netherlands
21st May – Posten, Odense, Denmark
22nd May – Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Denmark
23rd May – Train, Aarhus, Denmark
25th May – USF Sardinen, Bergen, Norway
26th May – Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway
28th May – Pustervik, Gothenburg, Sweden
29th May – Nya Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden
31st May – Logomo Teatro, Turku, Finland
1st June – Tavastia, Helsinki, Finland
2nd June -Tavara-Asema, Tampere, Finland
The band will also hit the road in North America in November 2026. Find the full list of upcoming shows here: https://www.pineapplethief.com/tour/
Saturday Night Live UK returned for its second series on September 12, bringing its live comedy format back to Sky and NOW. New episodes air Saturdays at 10 p.m., with each installment pairing a celebrity host with a musical guest.
Topical sketches, live music performances and a British take on “Weekend Update” continue to shape each broadcast.
Series 2 opened with Jeff Goldblum hosting and CMAT handling the musical performances, while Royal Blood and Rachel Chinouriri are booked for upcoming episodes.
Six episodes make up the opening 2026 run, with additional shows planned for early 2027.
Royal Blood Join Jamie Demetriou on September 19
Royal Blood’s appearance comes shortly before the planned November release of Dead Company.
Jamie Demetriou takes over hosting duties on September 19, joined by Royal Blood as musical guests.
Demetriou is a four-time BAFTA-winning comedy writer and actor best known for Stath Lets Flats and The Moment.
Royal Blood will bring a heavier rock presence to the second episode of the series. Brighton duo Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher are also preparing to release their new album Dead Company in November, placing their SNL UK performance shortly ahead of that release.
Booking Royal Blood continues SNL UK’s approach of placing live music at the center of each weekly broadcast rather than treating it as a minor addition to the comedy.
SNL UK Season 2 So Far
Jeff Goldblum and CMAT launched Series 2 on September 12. Goldblum became the first host of the new run, while CMAT performed as the episode’s musical guest.
Current scheduling confirms six episodes in the opening batch:
Date
Host
Musical Guest
September 12
Jeff Goldblum
CMAT
September 19
Jamie Demetriou
Royal Blood
September 26
Amelia Dimoldenberg
Rachel Chinouriri
October 10
To be announced
To be announced
October 17
To be announced
To be announced
October 24
To be announced
To be announced
Additional episodes are planned for early 2027. Sky previously commissioned 12 episodes for the second series, split between autumn 2026 and early 2027.
SNL UK originally launched in March 2026, with Tina Fey hosting its debut and Wet Leg performing.
Jamie Dornan, Riz Ahmed and Nicola Coughlan later appeared as hosts, while Kasabian and Foo Fighters were among the musical guests booked during the first series.
Fans checking SNL UK schedules or entertainment updates while using public Wi-Fi in airports, hotels, cafés, or other shared spaces can use a VPN to encrypt their internet connection and add another layer of privacy on unsecured networks.
Rachel Chinouriri Performs With Amelia Dimoldenberg Hosting
Rachel Chinouriri adds indie pop to a season already spanning several distinct musical styles.
Amelia Dimoldenberg will host the September 26 episode, with Rachel Chinouriri booked as musical guest.
Dimoldenberg is the award-winning host, writer and producer behind Chicken Shop Date, a series known for deliberately awkward celebrity interviews and dry comedy.
Chinouriri arrives at SNL UK after announcing her new album I Think I Spoke Too Soon.
Her booking brings indie pop into a run that moves quickly between very different styles, following CMAT and Royal Blood during the first three episodes.
Pairing Dimoldenberg with Chinouriri also keeps the focus on current British entertainment figures rather than relying only on established television and film names.
Hammed Animashaun, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring, George Fouracres, Ania Magliano, Annabel Marlow, Al Nash, Jack Shep, Emma Sidi and Paddy Young have returned.
Freddie Meredith joins them as the new cast addition. His credits include Such Brave Girls and Big Boys, while his Edinburgh Fringe show Need a Light? earned a Best Newcomer Award nomination.
Live sketches, recurring characters, topical comedy and “Weekend Update” continue to give the ensemble a major role alongside each week’s visiting host.
U.S. SNL Adds Turnstile, Rosalía, KATSEYE and Gracie Abrams
Both the UK and U.S. editions are placing prominent contemporary artists at the center of their new seasons.
SNL UK’s new music bookings arrive as the original American Saturday Night Live prepares for its 52nd season, which begins September 26.
KATSEYE has been announced for the season premiere, while Turnstile, Rosalía and Gracie Abrams are also among the musical guests confirmed for early episodes.
Music therefore has a major presence across both versions of the program as their new seasons get underway.
British viewers are getting CMAT, Royal Blood and Rachel Chinouriri during SNL UK’s first three episodes, while the U.S. show is opening its own run with several prominent pop and alternative acts.
SNL UK Builds Season 2 Around Comedy and Live Music
Series 2 is continuing the structure established during SNL UK’s first run, pairing recognizable hosts with artists active across several corners of contemporary music.
Royal Blood bring British rock to the September 19 broadcast, while Rachel Chinouriri brings indie pop a week later. CMAT’s opening-night performance gives the first three episodes distinct musical identities rather than repeating a single style.
Hosts and musical guests for October 10, October 17 and October 24 have yet to be announced, leaving several major bookings still open as SNL UK continues its second series.
Royal Blood and Rachel Chinouriri Show the Range of SNL UK’s Music Bookings
Royal Blood and Rachel Chinouriri give consecutive episodes very different musical identities.
Royal Blood bring a heavier rock sound on September 19, while Chinouriri follows with indie pop on September 26.
Booking both artists also shows how SNL UK is using its music slots to cover several corners of current British music.
CMAT opened Series 2, followed by Royal Blood and Chinouriri, giving each of the first three broadcasts a distinct sound.
More SNL UK Hosts and Musical Guests Are Still Coming
October will bring another group of SNL UK episodes, with broadcasts scheduled for October 10, October 17 and October 24.
Hosts and musical guests for those dates have not yet been announced.
More episodes are also planned for early 2027 as part of the second series.
New announcements will expand a lineup that already includes Jeff Goldblum, Jamie Demetriou, Amelia Dimoldenberg, CMAT, Royal Blood and Rachel Chinouriri.
Summary
Season 2 gives SNL UK another chance to build its identity through live comedy, topical sketches and strong musical bookings.
Royal Blood and Rachel Chinouriri bring contrasting sounds to the next episodes, while CMAT helped set the tone for the season premiere.
With several October guests still unannounced and more episodes planned for early 2027, plenty of major names could still join the lineup.
I’m sometimes amazed by the extent to which a youthful interest can lay the foundation for a lifetime of passionate involvement in something. Such is the case with Los Angeles artist Paula Fong. Her fascination with music began with summertime explorations of Brittany as a child being exposed to Celtic songs, and Breton folk in […]
Evil Invaders have just released a brand new single/video, “Dreamstate”. The latter was produced by Evil Invaders and Francesco Paoli. Mixed by Koen Keijers and Evil Invaders. Mastered by Brad Blackwood. Read more…
Bachman-Turner Overdrive is taking the No Speed Limit tour global in 2027, adding six dates across Australia and New Zealand after their U.S. run. Continue reading…
The Metallica‘s ‘M72 World Tour’ is making its way across North America next year with newly announced 12 shows, featuring Limp Bizkit and Avatar as support. Tickets go on sale Friday, September 25. Read more…
Rammstein – Live In Mexico City will arrive in cinemas worldwide on 4 November 2026 for a limited time, capturing the German band’s monumental stadium production on the big screen.
The feature-length concert film documents Rammstein’s three-night stand at Mexico City’s 65,000-capacity Foro Sol stadium on 1, 2 and 4 October 2022. Nearly 200,000 fans attended the shows, which brought the band’s first North American stadium tour to a spectacular close.
Filmed in 4K, Rammstein – Live In Mexico City features stadium-sized performances of songs from across the band’s career, including Armee der Tristen, Deutschland, Du Riechst So Gut, Sonne, Du Hast and a rare performance of Te Quiero Puta!.
The film was directed by Paul Dugdale, whose previous credits include projects with The Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Elton John and Adele.
Rammstein Live In Mexico City Concert Film Heads To Cinemas
The Mexico City concerts formed part of Rammstein’s 2019-2024 global stadium tour. For the 2022 North American leg, seven Boeing 747 aircraft and almost 210 crew members transported the band’s vast pyro-theatrical production across the continent for 12 open-air dates.
Rammstein – Live In Mexico City will screen worldwide from 4 November, with the exception of France, where it opens on 6 November, and Japan, where screenings take place on 5 and 18 November. The film is distributed internationally by Trafalgar Releasing, with Filmwelt Distribution handling Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Alto Adige and Luxembourg.
A live album will follow on physical and digital formats on 20 November.
Tickets go on sale on 23 September, when full cinema listings will be published at rammsteinmexico.live.
Steven Wilson will release his ninth studio album, Requiem For A Village, through Fiction Records on 6 November 2026. The title track is available now alongside a live Village Session video. Where Wilson’s eighth album, The Overview, explored the scale and isolation of deep space, Requiem For A Village turns towards a tiny, unknown corner of the British Isles. Its story leaves the modern world behind for a village existing beyond a defined time and place.
Wilson adopted an equally unconventional recording process. Avoiding AI and corrective studio technology, he used organic instrumentation, analogue synthesisers and the unexpected results of imperfect performances.
The album was recorded with regular collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Randy McStine, drummer Russell Holzman and vocalist Katherine Priddy. It also features narration written by Andy Partridge of XTC and voiced by David Tennant.
“I wanted to get back to a kind of music where you can hear the metaphorical thumbprints,” Steven Wilson said. “Doubling down on the human gestures and flaws in the music, stuff that can’t be created using software.”
He added that the approach led him to play instruments he did not fully know. “For example, using only analogue synths with all their unpredictability, or not having instruments perfectly in tune. But it also led to me picking up the violin, the oboe, or trying my hand on the drums, playing things I don’t really know how to play but getting something out of them that inspired me in ways I didn’t expect.
“Approaching the music with a sense of innocence and seeing where it took me. And where it took me was to the village.”
The title track introduces this lost corner of Britain through flying drums, a driving bassline and scratchy guitars before opening into what the release describes as the soundtrack to an approaching apocalypse.
Requiem For A Village Track Listing
Swirl In A Lark’s Eye
Requiem For A Village
The Same River Twice
Now Departing
Hiraeth
On Chapel Slope
Murmuration
Curcus Fingerprint
A Basket Of Bees
Great Green Map
Wheel
The Old God Is Buried
Requiem For A Village will be available on CD, Blu-ray, 140g double black vinyl, double oxblood-coloured vinyl and as a box set containing two CDs and a Blu-ray disc in a 96-page hardback book. Limited signed CDs will be offered through Amazon, while HMV will carry a CD edition with exclusive packaging. Pre-order the album.
Wilson will preview the album’s influences with a DJ set titled Songs From The Village at The Social in London on 22 September. Proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to charity. He will also play two sold-out Royal Albert Hall concerts on 28 and 29 October with his band, the Parallax Orchestra and the Sansara choir.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ILLUSIONS PLAY AND CURSED IN ETERNITY UNITE FOR BLEAK TWO-TRACK SPLIT EP DOOMED
Istanbul and Ankara’s dark metal forces trade musical and vocal roles across a haunting collaboration of doom, death, black metal and DSBM
Streaming here: https://band.link/2026doomed
Two of Türkiye’s underground metal acts, Istanbul-based Illusions Play and Ankara-based Cursed in Eternity , have joined forces for Doomed , a two-track split EP that brings together atmospheric doom/death, black metal, melodic death metal and depressive suicidal black metal in a deliberately unconventional collaboration.
Released September 4, 2026, Doomed features two tracks, “Ashen Sky” and “Ash Beneath the Sun,” with each band contributing equally to the project. Rather than simply appearing alongside one another on a traditional split, Illusions Play and Cursed in Eternity created an intentional exchange of roles, with one band providing the music while the other takes on the lyrical and vocal performance. The roles are then reversed for the second track.
The result is a release where two distinct identities become intertwined, creating a bleak and immersive journey through despair, isolation, melancholy and inner decay.
ILLUSIONS PLAY
Formed in Istanbul in 2011, Illusions Play has developed a sound rooted in atmospheric doom/death metal while incorporating elements of black metal, haunting melodies and crushing heaviness. The band’s music shifts between deep growls, piercing screams and ethereal vocal passages, creating an atmosphere steeped in darkness and emotional weight.
Following their second full-length album, Empire of Desolation , released in 2024, Illusions Play continued to push toward an increasingly dark and atmospheric direction.
The band has shared stages with acts including Shape of Despair, October Tide and Psychonaut 4 , while also appearing at Portals Metal Fest and Doom Over Tbilisi .
For Doomed , Illusions Play enters into a creative exchange with Cursed in Eternity, contributing one half of a collaboration built around musical and vocal role reversal.
CURSED IN ETERNITY
Formed in Ankara in 2019 , Cursed in Eternity is a doom-based DSBM project blending bleak atmospheres and melancholic songwriting with lyrics performed in both Turkish and English.
After a period of silence, the band returned with their latest studio album, Rise of Silence , released in February 2026. The album marked a new chapter for Cursed in Eternity, leading directly into the band’s collaboration with Illusions Play on Doomed .
The split features “Ashen Sky” and “Ash Beneath the Sun,” continuing Cursed in Eternity’s exploration of darkness, despair and emotional isolation while introducing a new collaborative dimension to their sound.
The band is also scheduled to return to the stage on October 3, 2026 , alongside October Tide and Illusions Play .
A TRUE 50/50 COLLABORATION
At its core, Doomed is a genuine 50/50 collaboration between Illusions Play and Cursed in Eternity , not a conventional guest feature.
Each band contributed equally, with the project’s defining concept built around an exchange of creative roles. One band creates the music while the other handles the lyrics and vocals, before the process is reversed on the second track.
That exchange allows both groups to step outside their familiar boundaries while retaining the character of their respective sounds. The result is a two-song release that feels connected by atmosphere and intent while giving each band a distinct presence.
From the crushing weight of doom/death to the bleak atmosphere of black metal and DSBM, Doomed brings together two sides of Türkiye’s underground metal landscape for a release built around darkness, collaboration and creative reciprocity.
Tracklist:
Ashen Sky
Ash Beneath the Sun
Artists: Illusions Play × Cursed in Eternity Release: Doomed Format: Two-Track Split EP Release Date: September 4, 2026 Country: Türkiye Cities: Istanbul / Ankara Genres: Atmospheric Doom/Death • Black Metal • Melodic Death Metal • DSBM
For Fans Of: Swallow the Sun, Shining, Thy Light, Paradise Lost, Psychonaut 4
Doomed by Illusions Play, Cursed In Eternity
Connect:
https://linktr.ee/illusionsplay
Official Contact: Vitaliy Petrenko (Can Aydin) illusionsplayband@gmail.com
A week ago, it might’ve been surprising to go see Hayley Williams and to hear Macklemore and Lukas Graham on the pre-show playlist. Now, it looks like a righteous statement of solidarity.
