ThePensmith

Four extra dates already added and much of the tour already sold out! I got first Cardiff show in presale and the second London O2 when that got added: The NTAs performance on Wednesday was awesome as well. The intro made me quite emotional! Q4zRGXFC4Uc His episode of Who Do You Think You Are is on this week on BBC One at 9pm on Thursday.

I saw him at Cardiff on the last tour. Good venue that one! Will probably do that again and maybe The O2 cause I've not done a tour of his there in ages.

Streaming coming in didn't help. But if I'm honest, looking back it was that compounded with the absolute hammering he and Caroline Flack had at the hands of the press after they hosted X Factor the year before in 2015 - some of whom were the very same journalists writing sincere eulogies about Caroline when she passed away, yet they were culpable in leading her to those circumstances (one in particular who's since been rightly blacklisted) - that had a negative effect. I feel like the press were always gunning for him from that moment on and it was detrimental to how people viewed him as an artist outside his fanbase and that in turn, plus him being over 30, meant Radio 1 stopped playlisting his singles etc. I fully believe he'll have a second wind at some point and be in favour with all the "trendy" stations etc again but I also believe he might not be in the position he is now if things had been different.

True. But then Will Young managed to get a greatest hits out for his 20th anniversary with the singles he did whilst with Sony licensed to it.

Honestly it was not really his best album for me. I've mentioned before why but it was a combination of working with the same producers across a whole album, two really poorly chosen singles that did nothing at even Radio 2 and one of which ended up in a media storm ("I Hate You When You're Drunk"), and a label that basically didn't put anything behind it or promote it the way he normally does beyond or even before week one. When you look at some other album campaigns in recent years by acts who have been going for years, some even longer than Olly - Steps, Kylie Minogue etc - and how flawlessly they were done, the difference was vast. I just know he's deserving of better - even if his single success is long behind him - because he puts in the work and is capable of smashing it the whole way round. I sometimes wonder if one of his songs got a "Saltburn" moment like Sophie Ellis-Bextor or Natasha Bedingfield had at the start of the year what that would do.

New interview with The S*n which confirms the tour is 16 dates next April and May, starting in Plymouth on 25th April (his wife Amelia's hometown) and finishing at The O2 in London on 17th May. Other bits confirmed in there: - Tickets on sale next Friday (13th September) - Blue will be supporting him on all the dates of the tour - He's started work on a new album for next year and is looking at a new label - As mentioned above he'll perform at The National Television Awards next Wednesday - He's hoping to have surprise appearances on the different dates from previous people he's worked with like Rizzle Kicks, Travie McCoy, Paul Weller I'm surprised there isn't a new greatest hits for this to all hang off of - especially cause You Know I Know was a bit of a poorly executed mess in hindsight - but then I can also understand it, given there's been just one new album since then (not that the singles off it were any good, mind, but that's another issue) Just hope that A) it's a label like BMG he goes for and B) he returns to working with some of his OG producers - Claude Kelly, Steve Robson, Ed Drewett etc.

More news coming at 10am tomorrow morning but it would appear to be a tour in celebration of 15 years since his debut around the UK and Ireland in May next year:

It would appear that he is on the verge of announcing a live album from the Madison Square Garden date of the US tour...

I'm most looking forward to Sarah, Shayne and JB. Although I do hold a degree of scepticism as to how the latter will fare (not because he's not up to it) but given the treatment Aston received at the hands of certain judges on his series when he did it. Once bitten, twice shy as they say...

The final four confirmed celebrities were: - Montell Douglas (Fire from Gladiators) - Nick Knowles (DIY SOS) - Paul Merson (Former Arsenal player and footie pundit) - Sam Quek (Former Team GB Olympic field hockey player / TV presenter)

Watched this last night, all excited to see this and the Tangled Up Tour again... And I'll be bluntly honest. I was so disappointed. It was terrible. It was so poorly edited and compiled. Zooming out of songs before they were finished. The on screen info for each song, some of the "facts" weren't even true ('They didn't record Wicked Game'? Er yeah they did). The clips weren't even in chronological order, jumping from Sound of the Underground on Top of the Pops to Love Machine and Long Hot Summer(?) The use of the videos for See The Day, Wake Me Up AND Jump when we know full well that they performed those on BBC shows? Especially for Wake Me Up? (The bikes on TOTP? Need I say more) And then to add insult to injury, NONE of the performances of "Something New" to finish on and they played "Mahbaybehmahbaybehmahbaybeh" over the end credits? Are they freaking trolling us? Whoever compiled and edited this show was quite clearly not a fan or couldn't be bothered to do their research. I could have done a better job. Half the hardcore fanbase could have done a better job. I'm actually of a mind to complain to the BBC because it actually ruined my enjoyment of watching the Tangled Up Tour again because I was in such a grump about the hatchet job that had been done. They deserved better.

Olympic Team GB swimmer Tom Dean and EastEnders' Jamie Borthwick (Jay Brown) are now confirmed as well.

Series 7 confirmed to start on Saturday 17th August at 6:20pm on BBC One: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022677

I know right! What-I-call such fun 😁

He has just confirmed on Lorraine that he's doing it! Also confirmed: - Toyah Willcox (80s pop icon, Brum / Teletubbies narrator, actress and presenter) - Wynne Evans (the GoCompare dude) - Pete Wicks (TOWIE) - Sarah Hadland (Stevie in Miranda) - Tasha Ghouri (Love Island) - Dr Punam Krishnan (BBC Morning Live)

First couple of names announced today: JB Gill from JLS and the stand up comedian Chris McCausland.

I think it's safe to say that it'll be a while before they do anything again. Especially considering how much of this last 18 months since they first announced it as a seven has been a total rollercoaster of emotions. I'm just happy I got to see them and make 12 year old me super happy. If they do anything else beyond this that will be lovely but I'm under no illusion there absolutely will be.

They did add an O2 London show after all - which I have booked for! One other thing of interest is that they've slowly been reuploading their old videos as HD remasters. The latest one uploaded today has been that for "Give Me A Reason", which of course was single off the album after this one (In Blue). They've said they've got more vinyl news coming soon so maybe it's all their albums that are about to get reissues? Let's hope so!

I did see a couple of camera crews milling around outside and in the foyer at The O2 last week. Hopefully we get the actual full show for posterity as well, even if it's not on a DVD like in the past!

It's publication day today! As well as The One Show she was also on Lorraine yesterday, and Heart FM with Jamie Theakston and Woman's Hour on Radio 4 today: 7iCJZCBRKSs C1dclm2YmfU

She's on The One Show tonight talking about the book: @1803023799194943523

https://simonneedsyou.com/ - Auditions at the end of July. The show - being produced by Syco with some independent company - doesn't yet have a name but there's a lot of talk about this on social media. And it's largely going down - rightly so - like a cup of cold sick. This thread in particular basically one red flag: @1798140290634862773 Every fibre of my being is hoping that this flops (it probably will anyway) but yeah. The world doesn't need boybands if Simon's involved.

Book signing at Waterstones at Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex confirmed for 25th June: https://www.waterstones.com/events/meet-rac...tevens/lakeside

Tough call here but I went for "Wake Me Up" in the end as that was the point I became a mega fan! Do we have any idea which of these is closest to being certified next?