Franz Ferdinand and Dizzee Rascal coming to Auckland

Two of the hottest acts in British music are due in Auckland for concert dates in July.

Franz Ferdinand, the Glasgow-bred art-rock band who have become critical darlings upon the release of their self-titled debut album, are to play at the Regent St James on Monday, July 26.

Teenage rapper Dizzee Rascal, whose debut album last year, Boy in Da Corner, won Britain's prestigious Mercury Prize, plays at the same venue the following night.

Franz Ferdinand have been acclaimed as saviours of brainy British rock in a period where the bands of the 90s Britpop era have faded and rock's pendulum of cool has swung towards the American likes of the White Stripes and the Strokes.

As well as making headlines last year for his Mercury Prize win - with its £20,000 ($57,700) prizemoney - Dizzee Rascal made the news last year when he was stabbed three times in the chest by mystery assailants on Ayia Napa, the Cyprus playground of the British "garage" scene he has ties to.

Born Dylan Mills in Bow, east London, the rapper's debut album delivered cynical views on street and tenement life in his idiosyncratic raps.

Tickets for the shows go on sale tomorrow (Dizzee Rascal) and Monday (Franz Ferdinand).