My ideal festival line up would be:

The Boomtown Rats (Headliners natch)

XTC

The Only Ones

Echo and the Bunnymen

Scott Walker

Captain Beefheart (though inspirational lead singer/songwriter Don Van Vleit is dead!)

Magazine

ArrGee wrote:

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noelindublin wrote:

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• XTC
• The Only Ones
• Echo and the Bunnymen
• Scott Walker
• Captain Beefheart (though inspirational lead singer/songwriter Don Van Vleit is dead!)
• Magazine

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Are any of them bar Echo & The Bunnymen playing these days?   

XTC stopped touring many years because Andy Partridge has stage fright and Scott Walker is a bit of a recluse who is also known to not like performing live.   

I'm not really sure what songs XTC would perform nor if they could do them justice live.  Nor if any of them have the slightest interest in performing at all. 

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 The Only Ones reforded a few years ago and played all over the Uk and in Dublin, at Whelans, though I missed the gig as I didn't know it was on! For me Only Ones singer Peter Perrett is a genuine musical genius, a great drawly voice and brilliant ambiguous songs which could be about love or drugs. Nobody does doomed romance better than  Peter Perrett- sadly they seem known for only one 'hit' Another Girl Another Planet. Worth checking out on Spotify and looking up the lyrics to see how proper lyrics should be written. 

Magazine also reformed a few years back, with Howard Devoto back at the helm.

Andy Partridge has played live, albeit  only in radio studios. I don't think Partridge and Colin Moulding are on speaking terms at the moment, the 'fell out' a few years ago and the insults were flying, to say the least. Makes you glad all turned out well with the Rats. If you really like a band it can be quite traumatic, even from a fans point of view, to hear that former band mates don't get on.

Johnny Marr did an interview on BBC 5 LIVE a few months back when Morrissey's autobiography came out, and was pretty insistent that he would definitely be purchasing Mozz's tome. Can't remember his exact quote, but when the guy asked the question there was a distinct long pause and sense of incredulity what the question had even been posed.

ArrGee wrote:

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noelindublin wrote:

Johnny Marr did an interview on BBC 5 LIVE a few months back when Morrissey's autobiography came out, and was pretty insistent that he would definitely be purchasing Mozz's tome.

Well, that's one sale, but I'd have thought Marr wouldn't have bought it. Mike Joyce ain't.

Smith's Mike Joyce shuns Morrissey memoir

I'd buy any book I got mentioned in.  Just couldn't resist.

Not a band I'd really be too worried about seeing, but I can't see The Smiths reforming. 

I haven't done an interview with a British music magazine since 2007, so the process doesn't drill through my head anymore. As an entity, I have no interest in The Smiths, so as long as I'm not asked about The Smiths, I won't slip into permanent unconsciousness. And that's a promise. - Morrissey

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Sorry I meant Marr would definitely not be purchasing the book. Nor me either.