My Bloody Valentine to play Electric Picnic

Hot Press has learned that My Bloody Valentine will be playing at this year’s Electric Picnic festival, which takes place in County Laois from August 29 to 31.

While yet to be confirmed by the promoters, a UK source reveals: "They’ve looked at the various Irish festival options open to them, and decided that the Picnic is the best fit. The clincher was Primal Scream and The Jesus & Mary Chain raving about how much fun they had playing there last year."

Diehards will also want to put these other new dates in their shoegazing diary: Roskilde, Denmark (July 5); Zenith, Paris (9); Oya Festival, Norway (August 8); and Benicássim, Madrid (18 & 19, day of appearance to be confirmed). As previously reported in Hot Press, the band’s comeback tour commences on June 24 with a sold-out five-night run in the London Roundhouse.

A new studio album from the pioneering band is also in the works, with frontman Kevin Shields revealing in a recent interview that much of the new record will be comprised of material written around the time the band broke up in 1995. "It sounds like what we sounded like - different, but not radically different." he said. "People will go, "yeah, it sounds like My Bloody Valentine."