POP’S BIGGEST NAMES ARE GEARING UP FOR A THRILLING YEAR OF COMEBACKS, REUNIONS AND ANNIVERSARIES

MARK LINDORES

©Anton Corbijn

It’s that time of the year when we look back over the past 12 months in music and see what, if anything, 2022 has taught us. If we’ve learned anything from this year, it’s to expect the unexpected. Who, for example, could have forecast that 2022’s biggest, record-breaking success story – at least until professional overachiever Taylor Swift showed up, anyway – would be Kate Bush, thanks to the use of a 37-year-old single being featured in a TV series?

Because of this, we’re not making any wild assumptions for the year ahead, but we are looking forward to new material and tours from Depeche Mode, Kylie, OMD and The Killers plus the delightful surprise that Everything But The Girl have a new album ready for the spring.

Speaking of incredible duos recreating their old magic, will a rumoured Eurythmics reunion in 2023 come to fruition following Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart’s triumphant recent appearance at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? We’ll keep our fingers crossed.

We’re also looking forward to studio album number 15 from Madonna as well as her back catalogue finally getting the super deluxe treatment it deserves, plus the next instalment in the Prince series of reissues and Whitney Houston’s canon re-emerging on vinyl.

On stage, pop’s big-hitters will be out in force in 2023, with venues still struggling to clear the backlog of the lockdown years. Finally, we’re holding out hope that those long-awaited, almost-fabled new albums from the likes of Janet Jackson, The Cure, Grace Jones, Rihanna and Sade will see the light of day in 2023. As we said earlier, stranger things have happened…

©Anton Corbijn

DEPECHE MODE

The appearance of Martin Gore and Dave Gahan in Berlin in October to announce the Memento Mori album and tour was indeed a bittersweet moment. New Depeche Mode material is always welcome but the first real visualisation of the band without Andy Fletcher was a hard pill to swallow. The band have been working on the album for two years, at first remotely but coming together in the studio early this summer to finish it. Produced by James Ford, the LP is currently in its final stages, being mixed and mastered, readying it for a release next spring when Depeche will also embark on a world tour. Kicking off in March, the live shows will take in North America before reaching Europe next summer, stopping off at Twickenham on 17 June.