Tour news: The Waterboys, Mulatu Astatke, Santana, Raggamuffin

The Waterboys. Photo / Supplied

Like this week's TimeOut cover stars the Stone Roses, Scottish band the Waterboys also have a bit of a cosmic aura about them - only with a more folkie and Celtic bent, of course.

The band, formed by Mike Scott in 1983, have also had a far less tumultuous career than the reunited Manchester lads who play New Zealand for the first time in February.

The Waterboys will also visit New Zealand next year, playing Auckland's Civic Theatre on Monday, January 21.

Best known here for their 1985 album This is Sea, which included the hit single The Whole of the Moon, and 1988 follow-up Fisherman's Blues, the Waterboys are more like a collective with numerous musicians playing in the band. Scott has always been its driving force, however, and often refers to his assembled bandmates as his "current travelling musical companions".

He promises the show will be "a killer set of vintage Waterboys" material as well as touching on the band's latest album, An Appointment with Mr Yeats, a set of new songs created from the lyrics of Irish poet W.B. Yeats.

My Live Nation ticket presale (see livenation.co.nz) 12pm, Tuesday, Dec 4. Ticketmaster presale 9am, Thursday, Dec 6. Public sales 9am, December 7 at Ticketmaster.

Meanwhile, returning to New Zealand is Ethiopian music-maker Mulatu Astatke whose fusion of traditional songs and rhythms with jazz, funk and hip-hop has earned him the title Godfather of Ethio-jazz. He plays the Powerstation on March 16.

As with his last show in Auckland earlier this year he will be backed by live band the Black Jesus Experience, an Australian/Ethiopian ensemble.

Tickets on sale now through Ticketmaster.

Also announced this week was the double bill of Santana and the Steve Miller Band who play Christchurch's AMI Stadium, March 17, and at Vector Arena on March 19.

And the Raggamuffin 2013 line-up features Jamaican ska and reggae legends Toots and the Maytals, hip-hop soul diva Lauryn Hill and, fresh from his stint as a judge on NZ's Got Talent, Ali Campbell's UB40 along with top local acts the Black Seeds, Three Houses Down, Herbs, Katchafire and more at Rotorua International Stadium on February 1 and 2.

Tickets on sale now from Ticketmaster. More info at raggamuffin.co.nz.

- TimeOut