This year has been pretty special for music tours, with the likes of Adele, Coldplay, Justin Bieber and Rihanna all taking to the stage at various venues in the UK, and 2017 is looking big too. Once again, some of the most successful international stars are crossing the Atlantic to perform for their UK fans, but there’s also some of our home-grown favourites hitting the road too, and even one artist who’s promoting his first No. 1 album in 16 years. It was tough, but we’ve made our decisions. These are the tours you should check out next year…
Black Sabbath’s The End Tour
Dates: January 22 (Manchester) – February 4 (Birmingham)
London gigs: January 29 and 31 at The O2
Support: Rival Sons
After almost 50 years together, heavy metal band Black Sabbath return home for their last ever tour. The legendary group, made up of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, has been building up to their UK return since the farewell tour kicked off earlier this year in North America, and has since visited New Zealand, Australia, Europe and South America. The UK-leg culminates with what is expected to be two spectacular shows in the band’s hometown of Birmingham. During their career they’ve sold over 75 million albums worldwide, won two GRAMMY Awards for Best Metal Performance and been inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame. Rock band Rival Sons, from Long Beach, California, say they felt ‘blessed’ to be supporting the band on tour.
Drake’s The Boy Meets World Tour
Dates: January 25 (Glasgow) – February 23 (Birmingham)
London gigs: January 28, 30, February 1, 2, 4-5, 14-15 at The O2
Support: TBC
Canada’s biggest rapper is set to perform a staggering eight shows at The O2 from January. Although he’s crossed the shores before, for Wireless Festival in 2012 and 2015, the Hotline Bling hitmaker has never headlined a UK tour. His highly-anticipated fourth studio album Views was released in April this year, the only one so far to hit the top of the UK Albums Chart. There’s no word on support acts yet, but with Drake signing to Boy Better Know earlier this year, we could see the likes of Skepta, JME and Wiley joining him on stage. We’re also hoping that Drake will call Kyla for a special performance of One Dance, undoubtedly one of 2016’s most popular hits, which she features on in the sampled Do You Mind by UK producer, Crazy Cousinz.
Olly Murs
Dates: March 3 (Glasgow) – April 1 (London)
London gigs: March 30 – April 1 at The O2
Support: TBC
It’s been seven years since Olly Murs appeared on the sixth series of The X Factor UK. Since then, he’s released five albums (four of them reaching No.1 in the Official UK Albums Charts), two books, and supported One Direction and Robbie Williams on tour. This series of gigs promotes his latest LP, 24 HRS, which features the infectious track, You Don’t Know Love, which you might have heard during The X Factor’s TalkTalk adverts. Speaking about the success of the title, which he has openly said was inspired by his break-up with ex-girlfriend Francesca Thomas, he told OfficialCharts.com, ‘It’s the most personal album I’ve ever made, and I’m really proud of it. It’s an amazing achievement for me to have had four Number 1 Albums in a row so thanks to my fans for continuing to support me!’ To date, he is the most successful solo artist ever to come from The X Factor.
Craig David’s Following My Intuition Tour
Dates: March 16 (Cardiff) – April 7 (Dublin)
London gigs: March 25 and 26 at The O2
Support: Lauren Faith and Big Narstie
2016 has definitely been a whirlwind year for Craig David. He stormed back into the UK music scene with his hit song When The Bassline Drops (featuring MC Big Narstie), and has since enjoyed phenomenal success. He signed a record contract with Insanity Records – a joint venture with Sony Music UK – via independent company Speakerbox, at the beginning of the year, and went on to release a number of collaborations with the likes of Sigala (Ain’t Giving Up On You) and Blonde (Nothing Like This). He also snapped up a summer residency at popular hotel/music venue Ibiza Rocks, and performed two sold-out shows at O2 Brixton Academy and Manchester Academy. This 16-date tour promotes his latest album, Following My Intuition, which became his first No. 1 album in 16 years, in October this year. He described its success as ‘surreal’, saying that it felt ‘amazing’ for his fans from 1999 and recent fans to connect via the same music. Fellow JEM Artists singer Lauren Faith supports Craig alongside Big Narstie, who names her musical influences as Pharrell, Erykah Badu and India Arie, among others. She features on Following My Intuition’s Got It Good, which also stars Haitian-Canadian DJ, Kaytranada.
