Bloc Party hit big in US

Bloc Party, whose second album A Weekend In The City narrowly missed out topping the UK charts this week (it entered at No.2 behind Mika) also hit the charts at No.2 in Japan, Australia and Ireland. The album charted top 5 in Germany and Belgium, top 10 in France, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong, top 20 in Holland, Sweden, Norway and Austria and top 30 in Denmark and Italy.

On top of that the band also achieved a massive breakthrough in the US with a No.12 debut on the album chart! A Weekend In The City has already shipped in excess of half a million copies worldwide, confirming Bloc Party as one of the UK's most successful international exports of recent years.

The band, who are currently in the middle of a sell out UK tour, celebrate the album's success by announcing their biggest UK shows to date. The six-date UK tour starts in Glasgow on the 14th April and culminates with two shows at Brixton Academy on the 19th and 20th April.

To coincide with the tour the band release a new single, the follow-up to the UK Top 5 smash The Prayer, entitled I Still Remember through Wichita Recordings on Monday April 9th.

The full tour dates are:

April
Sat 14th Glasgow Academy 0870 169 0100
Sun 15th Wolverhampton Civic Hall 0870 320 7000
Mon 16th Plymouth Pavilions 0845 146 1460
Wed 18th Blackpool Empress Ballroom 01253 292 029
Thu 19th London Brixton Academy 0870 771 2000
Fri 20th London Brixton Academy 0870 771 2000

Tickets priced £16.50 (£17.50 in London) plus booking fee go on sale at 9:00am on Friday 16th February and are available from 24 hour credit card hotline: 0871 220 0260 or online: www.gigsandtours.com.

Special guests for the tour are Biffy Clyro (except Glasgow), Mahogany (all dates) and The Maccabees (Glasgow only).

Bloc Party's debut album Silent Alarm was released in February 2005 and quickly catapulted the band into the global spotlight, gathering worldwide fans and critical acclaim, with the NME voting Silent Alarm "Album of the Year". They have gone on to sell over a million copies of the album worldwide.

Bloc Party are currently on a sold out tour of the UK. The remaining dates are:

February
Wed 14th Manchester Academy SOLD OUT
Thu 15th Dublin Ambassador SOLD OUT
Sat 17th Glasgow Barrowlands SOLD OUT
Sun 18th Aberdeen Music Hall SOLD OUT
Tue 20th Edinburgh Usher Hall SOLD OUT
Wed 21st Newcastle Academy SOLD OUT
Thu 22nd Sheffield Octagon SOLD OUTdocument.write(unescape("