It’s kind of funny – The Verve reunion has been so fruitful in terms of gigs in the UK that The Guardian is using them as a case study for the growing homogeneity of the lineups of the British and Irish Summer festival season. In North America, however, they’ve only got a half-dozen dates scheduled starting next week in San Francisco, running through Coachella and finishing up on May 1 here in Toronto. And while you can debate just how popular the Verve were in the US and how much of a draw they’d be almost ten years on from their last visit, it’s probably safe to say that those six gigs, across a continent, aren’t meeting demand.

Perhaps, if and when that fourth album is completed and released they’ll return to visit more of North America but for now, it’s just the limited engagement. Which is why I’m pleased to be able to give away, courtesy of Emerge, a pair of passes to the Verve’s Toronto show on May 1 at the Ricoh Coliseum. Specifically what kind of seats (reserved or floors) I’m finding out but whichever they are, you can be there for the Verve’s return to Toronto – and really, when was their last show? Wasn’t the last time they were in the area actually in Hamilton at Copps, circa 1998? Anyway, to enter shoot me an email at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to pretend it’s 1997 again and see the Verve” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Do this before midnight, April 27 and you could be on your way.

MP3: The Verve – “The Thaw Sessions”
Video: The Verve – “Bittersweet Symphony”
Video: The Verve – “The Drugs Don’t Work”
Video: The Verve – “Lucky Man”
Video: The Verve – “Sonnet”
Video: The Verve – “History”
Video: The Verve – “All In The Mind”
MySpace: The Verve

Another British reunion tour starting off at Coachella is that of Swervedriver, though there’s a month-long gap between that first gig and the start of the tour proper (which hits Lee’s Palace on June 13). Billboard talked to Adam Franklin about how the early rehearsals have gone and also gets some information on Magnetic Morning, his project with Interpol drummer Sam Fogarino. They’re releasing their self-titled EP on Saturday in conjunction with Record Store Day. Black Book talked to Fogarino about the project.

MySpace: Magnetic Morning

And sticking with the old English dudes for a bit longer, The Charlatans may have given away their latest album You Cross My Path for free last month but they’re still giving it a conventional, physical release on May 12. Like many/most/all of you, I forgot about this album a day or two after I downloaded it but if I recall, I thought it sounded pretty decent considering I’d written them off some records ago. Good on them. They’ve made a new video, too.

Album: The Charlatans / You Cross My Path
MP3: The Charlatans – “Oh Vanity”
Video: The Charlatans – “The Misbegotten”

Stereogum has got an interview and exclusive b-side from Frightened Rabbit – I had thought that their excellent new record The Midnight Organ Fight was released this week but according to ye olde Catbirdseat, that was just the digital release – physical object fetishists will have to wait a couple weeks till the 29th to get our hands on a CD.

Some show announcements – Mogwai have a date at the Phoenix on June 30, The Go! Team and CSS will do their damndest to make the Kool Haus a fun place on August 5 and Oneida will strike a venue to be determined on August 15.

The AV Club meets Wye Oak, who just released If Children last week and will play Sneaky Dee’s on May 2 with The Ten Kens, Singer and Cloudland Canyon as part of the Over The Top Fest.

PopMatters asks 20 questions of Jaymay.

The Cleveland Free Times discusses New Pornography with Carl Newman.

The Dallas News talks to Feist.

eye examines the very welcome rise of in-store performances at the various independent record stores in Toronto. And tangentially with regards to the local retail scene… Rotate This will soon be moving down the street to the premises formerly occupied by instrument shop Songbird Music. It’s nice to see, after a rather disturbing number of record shop closures in the downtown over the last while, that one shop is healthy enough to justify a move to bigger digs.