Absolute Radio celebrates 1st Birthday

15Sep

On September 29th it will be one year since Absolute Radio took to the airwaves with the promise to help listeners to discover real music.

Since then we’ve launched the NO REPEAT GUARANTEEE and a poll for the SONG OF THE DECADE, won four Sony Awards, hosted more than 100 live music sessions, broadcast live from the Isle of Wight, Hard Rock Calling and V Festivals and brought listeners entire stage sets from Kings of Leon in Birmingham, Coldplay in Munich and Blur in Hyde Park. Oh yes, and David Cameron made a twit of himself on THE CHRISTIAN O CONNELL BREAKFAST SHOW.

To celebrate, we’re throwing a birthday bash to remember so come join the month-long party and leave all your responsibilities at the door. We won’t be playing The Piano Man but here’s what you can look forward to:

MUSE

Feature-length interview with Ben Jones.
W/c Monday 14th September – each night from 8pm

Its 10 years since their debut album and ‘the biggest band in Teignmouth’ are now widely regarded as one of the best live draws in the world. Matt and Dom from Muse join Ben Jones across a week’s worth of interviews to talk in detail about their 5th studio album ‘The Resistance’. Plus we’ll catch up with some of the Absolute Radio prizewinners lucky enough to see the band kick off their world tour with a secret gig in New York on the eve of the album release.

ELBOW

Backstage at the M.E.N – Geoff Lloyd’s Hometime show from Manchester.
Friday 18th September, 5-7pm

Geoff Lloyd returns to his spiritual homeland to visit fellow Mancunians Elbow, as they prepare to take to the stage at Manchester’s MEN arena. Its also a homecoming for the band: the final show of a campaign which has seen them play 150 gigs in the last 18 months. Geoff will be talking to the band backstage as they look back on an amazing year that has seen them voted Mercury winners and ‘Best Band’ at the 2009 Brits.

The Elbow at the M.E.N. concert will be broadcast in full on Absolute Radio on the 1st of November, along with a very special hour-long documentary featuring all 5 band members telling the Elbow story for the first time – their first impressions of each other and the highs and lows of their career so far. Both the concert and documentary will be made available to stream on-demand at Absoluteradio.co.uk and there will be a series of uncut podcasts for fans to delve even deeper into the story of Elbow.

MADNESS

Live in London – concert for Absolute Radio.
Sunday 27th September, from 6-9pm

Absolute Radio stops the traffic on London’s busiest shopping street to bring you Madness live from Regent Street. Hear the whole concert as it happens from 6pm, including sets from Newton Faulkner and further guests to be announced. As well as celebrating our first birthday as Absolute Radio, the event will also mark 10 years of the Regent Street Festival and 30 of Madness too. Tickets for the exclusive gig will be given away free to Absolute Radio listeners via an on air text message competition so tune in or visit www.absoluteradio.co.uk/birthday for details of how to be part of the action.

FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE

Secret Gig – performance on Geoff Lloyd’s Hometime show.
Monday 5th October, 7-8pm

He backed her before they she was famous, now Geoff Lloyd catches up with Florence and the Machine as she performs a top-secret gig at a London venue, exclusively for Absolute Radio. A Brit Award winner and Mercury Prize nominee in 2009, Florence will be talking to Geoff about whether the past year has been as crazy for her as it has for us.

BON JOVI

Interview with Ben Jones
Wednesday 23rd September, 8-10pm

Ben Jones catches up with rock superstar Jon Bon Jovi ahead of the band’s 11th studio album ‘The Circle’, to talk about a 25 year career that has seen over 120 million album sales and the band perform over 2,500 concerts in over 50 countries to an audience of more than 30 million fans.

FRANK SKINNER

Every Saturday morning, 8-10am

Liven up your tea and toast with the funniest new show on the radio. Upcoming studio guests include: Ross Noble (19th Sept), Cerys Matthews (26th Sept) and David Essex (3rd of Oct).

DAVE GORMAN

Brand new show: Sunday mornings from 11th October, 10am-midday

We are delighted to announce that the BAFTA-award-winning comic, currently on a cycle powered stand-up tour of Britain, will be joining the Absolute Radio family in October. Following the Frank Skinner show, this will be Absolute Radio’s second commission from production hot-house Avalon, who are also responsible for Harry Hill’s TV Burp and Al Murray’s Happy Hour. Sunday mornings will never be the same again.

IAIN LEE

New slot: Monday to Thursday nights from 12th October, 11pm-1am

Iain Lee’s hugely popular Absolute Radio show goes 4-nights weekly in October, with weeknights the new home of Iain’s unique and wonderful style of broadcasting.

A WEEK OF LIVE CONCERTS

To celebrate Absolute Radio’s 1st birthday on the 29th of September:
A week of stunning live concerts, each night from 8pm.

STEREOPHONICS IN CONCERT

Mon 28/09/09 from 8-9pm
Recorded at the Isle of Wight festival on Sat 13th of June 2009. An awesome greatest hits set from a band who’ve never sounded better.

BLUR IN HYDE PARK

Tues 29/09/09 from 8-10pm
Recorded on a balmy evening in London on Friday 3rd of July 2009. This was the 1st Blur date that went on sale when the band announced their temporary reunion. Hear the Britpop legends smash it up for probably the final time,as the sun set over Hyde Park, in one of the most memorable music nights of the year.

SNOW PATROL AT ‘V’

Wed 30/09/09 from 8-9.30pm
Recorded at the V Festival in Chelmsford on Sunday 23rd August 2009. Snow Patrol stepped in dramatically for headliners Oasis at short notice. Hear how they pulled it off – the headline set in full, including those Gallagher cover versions.

SIMPLE MINDS AT THE ISLE OF WIGHT

Thu 01/10/09 from 8-9pm
Recorded at the Isle of Wight festival on Sun 14th of June 2009. The biggest Scottish band of their era recently celebrated 30 years touring. Hear their festival set in full, including all the great ’80s hits.

BRAND NEW ZOO SESSIONS

MUMFORD & SONS: Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Tue 15/09/09 from 7pm.

COSMO JARVIS: Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Wed 16/09/09 from 7pm.

OMD: 80s icons’ Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Thu 17/09/09 from 7pm.

JACK PENATE: Zoo session for Geoff Lloyd, Mon 21/09/09 from 7pm.

BAND OF SKULLS: Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Tue 22/09/09 from 7pm.

REVEREND & THE MAKERS: Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Wed 23/09/09 from 7pm.

ALBERTA CROSS: Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Thu 24/09/09 from 7pm.

THE RAVEONETTES: Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Wed 07/10/09 from 7pm.

SONDRE LECHE: Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Thu 08/10/09 from 7pm.

TEMPER TRAP: Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Tue 13/10/09 from 7pm.

NOUVELLE VAGUE: Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Mon 19/10/09 from 7pm.

BIFFY CLYRO: Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Tue 27/10/09 from 7pm.

FRANK TURNER: Zoo session and interview for Geoff Lloyd, Thu 29/10/09 from 7pm.

At Absoluteradio.co.uk – dozens of Zoo sessions available to watch in HD and hear again on-demand

BEATLEMANIA

The Absolute Album playbacks continue:

Magical Mystery Tour – album playback… Tue 15/09/09 from 11pm-midnight
The White Album part 1 – album playback… Wed 16/09/09 from 11pm-midnight
The White Album part 2 – album playback… Thu 17/09/09 from 11pm-midnight
Yellow Submarine – album playback… Mon 21/09/09 from 11pm-midnight
Abbey Road – album playback… Tue 22/09/09 from 11pm-midnight
Let It Be – album playback Wed.. 23/09/09 from 11pm-midnight
Beatles Past Masters – album playback… Thu 24/09/09 from 11pm-midnight

At Absoluteradio.co.uk – win the back catalogue in The Beatles Mega Quiz, discover Beatles Rock Pilgrimages and stream archive interviews with Sir Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono.

MORE FREE LIVE MUSIC

Absolute Radio has teamed up with Guinness to celebrate ‘Arthur’s Day’ on Thurs 24/09/09.

Join the party from 8pm with live performances from KASABIAN, RAZORLIGHT, DAVID GRAY, THE KOOKS and more to be announced.

Further highlights over the next month from Absolute Radio’s 1st year on air include:

GREEN DAY: live performance from the T4 secret gig in March 2009: hear it Wed 16/09/09 from 9pm

COLDPLAY LIVE IN CONCERT: recorded in Munich, Sept. 2008, hear the Sony Award-winning performance in full: Thu 17/09/09 from 8-10pm

PAUL WELLER: Zoo session from Dec. 2008, hear it: Mon 21/09/09 from 8pm

KEANE: live performance from Abbey Road Studios, Feb 2009, hear it: Tue 22/09/09 from 8pm

LILY ALLEN ACOUSTIC: intimate Zoo session from Jan.2009, hear it: Wed 23/09/09 from 8pm

KINGS OF LEON LIVE: concert recorded in Birmingham, Dec. 2008, hear the highlights: Tue 06/10/09 from 7pm

THE SCRIPT: live at the Isle of Wight, June 2009, hear the highlights: Tues 06/10/09 from 8pm

THE KILLERS: live at Hard Rock Calling, June 2009, hear the highlights: Wed 07/10/09 from 8pm

KASABIAN ACOUSTIC: classic Zoo session from May 2009: hear it on Thu 08/10/09 from 8pm

Categories: Absolute Radio Events Music
Post a comment
Posted by carrie on September 15, 2009

Comments (3)

  1. Marty from new yawk @ September 15, 2009 at 2:50 pm | Permalink

    That’s it? :)

    This past year as a listener I’ve had the privilege of partaking in the considerable fare that the station has offered up.

    I look forward to listening (and emailing) for many, many years to come.

    Congratulations on a successful year!

  2. Alistair MacPherson @ September 21, 2009 at 1:10 pm | Permalink

    Hey marty, you had a mention in Rocque’s leaving video!!!

    And top of the list should have been me interviewing the boss on the day the name changed? :-) Maybe I should come back and interview him again about what he achieved (and didn’t achieve) a year on… but a little bit shorter this time :-)

  3. Marty from new yawk @ September 23, 2009 at 10:02 pm | Permalink

    Alistair, I think you should do a follow-up interview exactly as you suggest. You are the voice of the listener.
    Perhaps, you can do it in the Zoo and have other listeners in the audience watching the proceedings. A videocast should be available on the website. It can be called “Live with Clive”, “Clive Alive” ,”Clive Jive” or something much better.

    My mention in the video has continued to make me laugh out loud even after viewing it 375 times. I am very grateful to be immortalized.

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