Tour news: Broods, Jethro Tull

The Broods have announced a tour.

Local brother-sister alt-pop duo Broods, who have been making a name for themselves around the world since releasing their debut EP Bridges at the end of January, have announced a homecoming tour ahead of the release of their debut album.

Having so far toured across Britain and Europe with Californian sister band Haim, Broods played a 20-plus date headlining tour of North America, and last week supported Brit-pop star Ellie Goulding on her tour of Australia and New Zealand.

They will finally play to their fellow Kiwis in August, performing at the Powerstation in Auckland on Thursday, August 21 (all ages show), the James Cabaret in Wellington on Friday, August 22 (R18), and The Bedford in Christchurch on Saturday, August 23 (R18).

Known as Caleb and Georgia Nott to their parents, the siblings, originally from Nelson, have recorded their EP and upcoming album with Lorde's producer Joel Little. They will be announcing their next single and an album release date shortly. Tickets for all concerts will be on sale through Ticketmaster next Thursday.

Meanwhile, Jethro Tull, one of Britain's most enduring 1970s prog-rock acts, is returning to New Zealand at the end of the year for a three-date tour.

The opening show of the tour will be the first gig to be staged at Christchurch's rebuilt Isaac Theatre Royal.

The New Zealand concerts are billed as "The Best of Jethro Tull with Ian Anderson" and will include the band playing songs from Tull's classic album Thick as a Brick, even though singer-flautist Anderson has recently been touring his new album Homo Erraticus.

"I thought chances are we won't be [coming to New Zealand] again, so we'll focus the first part of the show on Thick as a Brick as it was written and recorded in '72, then toss in some things from Thick as a Brick 2 [released in 2012]," Anderson told TimeOut.

"The second half of the show is, broadly speaking, the best of Jethro Tull for an hour and 15 minutes.

"We missed out the Thick as a Brick production because we didn't come to New Zealand on the last couple of tours, so I thought it would be a good thing to do since we when came to New Zealand in 1972 that was a Thick as a Brick tour, and one of the relatively few tours where we played all of Thick as a Brick.

"The whole show is about two hours and 20, with a 20-minute intermission. So my advice is, bring a cushion and sandwiches."

Anderson and the current line-up of Tull start out in Christchurch on December 18, then play Wellington's St James Theatre on December 19 and Auckland's Civic on December 20. Tickets are on sale on Monday.

- TimeOut