Tour news: Linkin Park, Grimes, Robyn, Muse

Muse front man Matt Bellamy says his band will tour New Zealand in 2013. Photo / Supplied

Los Angeles six-piece rockers Linkin Park will play Vector Arena early next year.

They may have emerged as the biggest band of the nu-metal/rap rock era of the late 90s and early 2000s but, as guitarist Brad Delson tells TimeOut, the secret to their longevity has been to change things up along the way.

"The only way to stay relevant is to push the envelope and take those risks and fortunately for us they have paid off," he says.

The band best-known for mega-selling debut Hybrid Theory but who released fifth album Living Things earlier this year, play Vector on February 21 off the back of their headlining slot at Australia's Soundwave Festival.

The last time they played here in 2007, in support of third album Minutes To Midnight, it was a sell-out at Vector.

Tickets go on sale Friday, September 7 at 9am from Ticketmaster.com. My Live Nation presale starts midday, Friday, August 31 until September 4. See livenation.com.au for details.

Meanwhile, Canadian synth-pop pixie and electronic maverick Grimes, who tours New Zealand for the first time at the end of the year, really knows how to suffer for her art.

During the recording of her latest album, Visions, her third full-length release in just two years, she put herself in self-imposed exile, during which time she did not see daylight.

"The creative process for me is a quest for the ultimate sensual, mystical and cathartic experience and the vehicle for my psychic purging," says Grimes (real name Claire Boucher).

Right then, it should be quite a live show when she plays Wellington's San Francisco Bath House on December 13 and Auckland's Kings Arms on December 14.

After making a name for herself and developing the concept of Grimes in Montreal's DIY music and arts scene, she broke through with the release of Visions this year, which brings together everything from sonic whimsy and clanging industrial beats to dreamy dance pop and futuristic glitch.

Tickets on sale today from undertheradar.co.nz.

Another eccentric pop singer, Robyn, will perform at the Powerstation on October 4.

The Swedish sensation, whose hits include Dancing on My Own and Handle Me, announced the show on her Facebook page today.

Pre-sale tickets begin on August 28 at 9am. General release begins August 30.

And Muse will tour here in the first part of next year, according to front man Matt Bellamy who TimeOut interviewed last week for the band's new album, The 2nd Law (out September 27).

Having had a listen to it, with intense record company security measures in place, we can tell you it's a typically grand, over-the-top opus about "the second law of thermodynamics".

Which roughly translates to the slow, festering end of the world as we know it. Essential listening then.

- TimeOut