David Bowie confirms new album, Blackstar

The last couple of days have been full of rumours about a new release, and David Bowie finally took to his official Facebook page to confirm that there is a new album on the horizon.

Blackstar is set to be released on January 8th 2016 (which will also be the pop icon's 69th birthday), with the title track being available to excited fans on November 20th.

The track was originally shared as the theme tune for Sky Atlantic's The Last Panthers which stars Samantha Morton and John Hurt.

Bowie is really busy with other projects too, as the new album hasn't got anything to do with the music for Lazarus, the musical based on the singer's 1976 film The Man Who Fell To Earth. He's also working on a new song for the upcoming SpongeBob SquarePants musical.

The last release from Bowie was The Next Day in 2013- this topped the UK charts and peaked at Number 2 in the US, leaving high hopes for Blackstar.

Listen to a snippet from David Bowie's upcoming new single 'Blackstar' in the opening credits of The Last Panthers below:

Fall Out Boy at the SSE Wembley Arena, 11/10/15

It's hard to believe that I bought Fall Out Boy tickets for my boyfriend and I nine months ago, and on Sunday night the concert was finally here. It was the first time I'd seen Fall Out Boy play live which made me even more excited, and knowing that they'd play songs from their new album as well as some older classics made those nine months feel even longer. But the day had come, and as it got closer to 6:30pm I was bouncing with happiness and excitement.

The first port of call was obviously the merch stand where, like loads of other fans, I bought a shirt with the tour dates on; this has definitely become a standard for me given that I own shirts from the most of the concerts I've been to. It was then time to head inside Wembley Arena and find the all important seats.

Hundreds of fans were all queuing to get inside at the same time, and all around me I could hear people singing and talking about which songs they wanted the band to play- this bit of any concert is what makes the atmosphere perfect, as you look around and see loads of people all dressed like you who love the same things as you, all eager for the show to start. It might sound strange, but it feels like you're one very large family.

Our seats gave us a pretty perfect view- we were in the higher tier on the right hand side about half way back from the stage. Fans were flooding in to the standing area and the seats were soon full, and as the lights went out for the first artist everyone knew it was going to be an amazing night.
First up was Charley Marley, a singer songwriter from London who has just been singed by Pete Wentz's record label DCD2. Happy, upbeat and sounding a little bit like Rizzle Kicks, Charley Marley got the audience jumping and dancing to his debut single 'Bad Things With Jamaicans' as well as some of his other songs. His set felt too short and I can't wait to hear more things from him. 

A quick set change and on came Matt and Kim. I was a bit apprehensive about them because they're a boyfriend-girlfriend band and I originally thought they would be a bit cheesy, but I was so wrong. Matt and Kim are from New York and having Kim as their drummer automatically makes them awesome. One of my favourite songs is 'Now', which reminds me a little of early blink-182. They had an amazing set full of bouncy positive songs, balloons and innuendos, and I'm so glad I got to see them play.


The set change for Professor Green took a little longer, probably because of the giant green 'P' and 'G' lights on stage (which made me laugh because it looked like the PG Tips logo). I'll admit, when Fall Out Boy announced that Professor Green would be one of the support acts I wasn't overly enthusiastic, but it seemed I was wrong about that too. He had longer set than the acts before him and played through the songs you'd expect him to, including 'Just Be Good To Green', 'Monster' and 'Read All About It' accompanied by two backing vocalists and a DJ. This is where the crowd really started to get into the night, with everyone singing along and dancing. An odd addition to the line up but one that made the show incredible, getting everyone ready for the main event.
The set change was painfully long and blocked with a huge screen, and you could feel the excitement rising in the building. After what seemed like hours but was only really a few minutes, the lights went out. I don't think I've heard a crowd scream and cheer so loudly, everyone was ready and the nine months of patient waiting had all come down to this.

The screen that was blocking the set change now had a video about punks which was used on the last tour, and then it happened. Fall Out Boy were there blasting 'Sugar We're Goin' Down' full pelt. They were as amazing as I'd imagined, and they used the most amount of fire and fireworks I've ever seen on stage. Their setlist was a mixture of their older songs, like 'This Ain't A Scene', 'Dance, Dance' and 'A Little Less Sixteen Candles', as well as songs from their post-hiatus albums. They even played 'Thriller' and 'I Slept With Someone From Fall Out Boy And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me'. I missed their last tour, so I was so happy that they played 'The Phoenix' this time around.

There were so many highlights from their set that it's hard to narrow them down. One of my favourite songs from the American Beauty/American Psycho album is 'The Kids Aren't Alright', and it was beautiful to hear the whole crowd singing the chorus back to the band. But the definite show stopper moment for me was when Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz and Joe Trohman walked through the standing crowd and onto the platform in the middle to play acoustic versions of 'Immortals' and 'Young Volcanoes'. The songs are brilliant normally, but hearing them stripped down made them even more special.
Fall Out Boy's set blew my mind and the whole night was magical. Even two days later my throat feels like it's on fire from singing/screaming my heart out, and now I'm ready for their next tour, whenever that will be.