Tour news: Summer rumours, Regina Spektor, Mnozil Brass ensemble

Regina Spektor. Photo / Supplied

This week continued the rush of concert tour announcements - and over the next few weeks more big-name acts will announce plans for New Zealand shows.

TimeOut cannot reveal any details at this stage, except to say one is from the pop realm and the other a mainstream rock band. And there are also likely to be more Big Day Out bands following the Red Hot Chili Peppers' lead and announcing New Zealand side-shows off the back of the Australian Big Day Out.

The most likely candidates include the Killers, who have a new album out later this year, and of the smaller acts, noise merchants Sleigh Bells and fiery blues rockers Alabama Shakes are also a possibility. So watch this space.

Meanwhile, also announced is an Auckland Town Hall show by New York singer-songwriter Regina Spektor on December 3.

She will be supported by fellow New Yorker Only Son, the solo project of guitarist Jack Dishel from lo-fi rockers the Moldy Peaches.

Elsewhere, the all-singing brass-playing Mnozil Brass ensemble from Austria will blow you away.

These seven chaps sing, act up and, of course, play the best trombones, trumpets, and tuba around - and they're heading to New Zealand for two concerts in Auckland and Wellington in September.

Formed 20 years ago, they take their name from Josef Mnozil's small tavern in Vienna where they started out, and their motto goes something like this: "We play applied brass music for people from all walks of life. No tone is too high for us, no lip is too hot and no music is too inferior."

You can check out their cheeky yet deft nine-minute version of Bohemian Rhapsody on YouTube.

Mnozil Brass play Wellington's St James on September 23, as part of the inaugural New Zealand Brass Festival, and at Auckland's ASB Theatre on September 24. Tickets to the Auckland show on sale from buytickets.co.nz or 0800 289 842 and for Wellington from Ticketek. For more info go to mnozilbrass.at.

- TimeOut