Ed’s… Highlights, Apr ’12

In the most chocolaty of months, research has been made, the sweetest place to be is The Glee. Club. Honestly, save yourself some time. Just reserve a chair and stay put.

Kicking off are Minnesota ‘slowcore’ trio Low (2nd Apr), a term both hated and aptly descriptive, followed a week later by one of the Felice brothers, Simone, fronting his cunningly titled solo project – The Simone Felice Group (9th Apr).

Just enough time to shower, shit, shave, and it’s The Futureheads (10th Apr); in Brum on their A Cappella and Acoustic Tour. Another clue in the title.

Then the welcome return of Charlene Soraia (Apr 15th); one woman, one stage, one guitar, no talking, before local… erm… well known man, Simon Fowler (Apr 17th), comes back to Brum on his tod. Wonder what he’s up to these days? There’s a very misleading blog out there…

A week later and there’s Jazz all over The Glee Club, festive, in the shape of the Kyle Eastwood Band (24th Apr) – playing the first date of their European tour.

Then the truly excellent Karima Francis (26th Apr) comes to town, showing us what happens if you clone Joan Armatrading, Toni Braxton and the Cat from Red Dwarf. If you do nothing else this month, Google her name. Also worth a look are The Staves (Apr 29th), an acoustic vocal harmony trio from Watford **WARNING – May contain Folk**.

Elsewhere, the HMV Institute has Emeli Sande (14th Apr), and one of my most pleasant surprises, Delilah (18th Apr). Two excellently produced artists but let’s see how they translate on stage.

And if you’re not too tired after Googling Karima Francis, job one for the month, visit http://www.delilahofficial.co.uk I’ll make it worth your while (and by ‘I’, I mean ‘they’. Free downloads).

Others to look out for; Lotte Mullen – supporting Ben Montague (O2 Academy / 10th Apr), Sham 69 (BBallroom / 14th Apr), Ellen & The Escapades (Hare & Hounds / 19th Apr), Tony Christie (Town Hall / 23rd Apr) and New Order (BBallroom / 29th Apr).

And seeing as this month hosts both April Fool’s Day and Friday the 13th, the LG Arena present NKOTBSB (27th Apr) – the bastard hybrid of New Kids On The Block and The Backseat Boys. Now all we need is a cross, a cave and a really big boulder.

You can follow Ed King at www.twitter.com/edking2210