With festival news starting to filter through, how could we not start our Friday round-up with on-sale details for three of the biggest weekends next year? There are also some big name tours getting readied for early next year, with the onus on getting in early for tickets. Check this lot out!

Tickets on-sale Friday at 9am unless stated. For ticket availability, click on the images below, on or after the on-sale date and time. Prices quoted are not inclusive of booking fees.

Reading Festival 2011

Stuck for that ideal Christmas gift for your teenage kids, partner or mates? How about buying them a ticket to next year's Reading and/or Leeds Festival 2011 at pre-VAT and 2010 prices? That's right - eight months ahead of its start time during the August Bank Holiday, you can buy limited Early Bird tickets from this Friday at 9am until the end of December. No line-up announced yet - but you KNOW how good last year was, right?

Download 2011 will take place at Donington Park on 10th-12th June and already promises to be a very special weekend, with the announcement that System of a Down will come out of hiatus and take to the stage at some point. The second act confirmed for 'Doni' is the massively-popular Avenged Sevenfold. Weekend tickets minus camping cost £145, with 3 days camping £170 and 5 days camping £180. Other options include camper van, disabled and family camping.

Global Gathering 2011

The mammoth dance-festival hasn't announced a line-up as yet, but tickets will still fly out especially with the option of a ticket deposit and instalment system (prices are from £50). The festival in Stratford-Upon-Avon runs from 29th-30th July and as soon as the line-up is announced, we'll let you know. Also available from Friday are tickets for Escape Into The Park 2011, based in Swansea on Saturday 11th June.

Bestival 2011

The 2010 event sold-out months before kick-off, and the 2011 event looks like it will do the same with the stellar line-up just announced, including: The Cure (their only European festival performance for 2011), 'Screamadelica' by Primal Scream, Brian Wilson, Magnetic Man, Robyn, DJ Shadow, Norman Jay and many more. Tickets have been on sale for a while now, costing £160 for adult weekend tickets.

Chase and Status

Their new album "No More Idols" is due in 2011 with a single, "Blind Faith" due on 24th Jan. Their next tour hits the UK in March, starting with Southampton on the 9th and continuing around the country, including a Roundhouse gig on the 11th, until Manchester on the 19th. Tickets are priced at £15-£16.50.

Simple Minds

The band follows in the footsteps of Simply Red and Keane by playing this Forestry Commission-endorsed stint, opting for the great outdoors rather than faceless arenas. The Greatest Hits Forest Tour dates begin on 10th June in Kent at the Bedgebury Pinetum, followed by 11th June (Thetford), 17th June (Tetbury), 18th June (Notts), 24th June (North Yorks), 25th June (Cannock) and finally Delamere Forest on 3rd July. Support for all dates comes from Starsailor's James Walsh.

Jamiroquai

With a new single set for release in the New Year, entitled "Lifeline", Jamiroquai are preparing to ramp up activity for 2011 with four special arena dates during April next year, beginning with the O2 Arena, London on the 15th and followed by Birmingham on the 17th, Manchester (19th) and finally Glasgow (20th).

Fran Healy

Fran the Travis man has a one-off date booked for 31st January at Camden's Dingwalls venue. After canoodling with Paul McCartney on the recent solo debut album "Wreckorder", he is keen to take a break from Travis and play intimate dates to plug it. Tickets are £16. Another songwriter playing a one-off in London next year is Nerina Pallot, who will appear at the Bloomsbury on 20th April (£19.50).

My Chemical Romance

The New Jersey quartet has just issued its 4th studio-album in the shape of "Danger Days" (review will come soon), but it's the February UK tour that is sure to have fans champing at the bit. It starts at Wembley Arena on the 12th and continues until the 22nd in Newcastle. Tickets are £26.50-£27.50.

Rumer

You certainly know when a singer has reached bigger audiences when they announce a venue like the Royal Festival Hall, but the sultry-voiced Rumer has done just that as part of her Spring UK tour next year which runs from 21st March (Bristol) to 3rd April (Manchester) - £23.50-£25.

The Lighthouse Family

If the album "Ocean Drive" by this pairing brings back happy memories from the mid-90s, then their reformation should have you reaching for the credit card. No new album as yet, but the tour covers most of the UK from Belfast (1st March) to Bristol (12th March) - tickets will cost £25.

The Specials

The legendary 2-Tone outfit has announced a mammoth UK tour during next autumn, 30 years after "Ghost Town" first topped the charts. The tour starts in Wolverhampton on 11th October, continues via Manchester, Hull, Plymouth and, of course, home-town Coventry before hitting London's Alexandra Palace on 3rd November (with several more stops in-between). Tickets will cost around £35 with support acts still to be announced.

NME Awards Show

Two more acts from different eras have been added to the various London shows planned for next February - the hugely-influential post-punk act Gang Of Four have been confirmed for Heaven on the 2nd, while newbies Sleigh Bells will appear at the same venue on the 14th. Tickets are £11.60-£15.60.

Alan Carr

Here comes the shy-and-retiring mouse that is the Spexy Beast with national dates for his upcoming 2011 UK tour next year, which begins in Brighton for four nights (11th- 14th September 2011), followed by two nights in Manchester, Wembley, Bournemouth, Nottingham, Glasgow, Aberdeen (1 night only so far), plus the Wembley and O2 dates already announced (and available).

David Sedaris

The American Grammy award-nominated comedian, author and radio broadcaster has announced a two night residency in London's rather nice Cadogan Hall on Friday 27th and Saturday 28th May. Tickets for 'An evening with David Sedaris' will cost £30.

On sale Saturday-onwards

McFly

After earning some modest praise for their new album "Above The Noise", the boy-band that isn't a boy-band has added Northern Ireland to the forthcoming March tour which starts in Nottingham (12th) and ends at Wembley Arena on 1st April. Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 9am.

Romeo and Juliet

There are a few versions of this classic Shakespeare love-story due to do the rounds, the latest being one by the Royal Ballet due to take place at the O2 Arena next summer, featuring an all-star cast including: Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo, Alina Cojocaru, Johan Kobborg, Edward Watson and Mara Galeazzi. From 17th to 19th June, you can witness this stunning production in this unlikely setting. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 9am.

Million Dollar Quartet

This is a show dedicated to the time when Elvis, Cash, Lewis and Perkins gathered together for a landmark one-off rock n roll session and created incredible music and a story of divided loyalties and jealousy along the way. Compulsive watching, tickets for the Noel Coward Theatre production (from 8th Feb to 1st Oct) go on sale from 9am on Saturday.

Sister Act - The Musical

After the successful West-End run for this joyously fun musical, due in part to a certain Whoopi Goldberg in the starring role, Sister Act-the Musical will now be touring the country at the end of 2011 with short residencies in Manchester, Edinburgh and Sunderland. Tickets go on sale Monday at 9am - please note, it is very unlikely Whoopi will be performing.

Just Added This Week

Mercury Rev

The dream-rock ensemble from the US will tackle their fourth album, "Deserter's Songs", considered by many critics and fans alike as their most important release when it appeared in 1998. Mercury Rev will perform this album in its entirety at four gigs planned for May next year, starting at the Dublin Vicar St venue (18th), then Edinburgh's Queen's Hall (19th), Manchester's Bridgewater Hall (20th) and finally to the Roundhouse in London on the 21st (£25).

British Sea Power

Just made available this week is the long-awaited tour from the Brighton bird-watchers, in support of their forthcoming new album "Valhalla Dancehall". The first night is in Cardiff on 7th February 2011, followed by Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham etc until the band returns to the capital on 27th. Tickets cost £13.50 regionally and £15 for London.

Gallows

The Watford punksters rock up to Camden on the 17th December to play two gigs on one day - the first stop is a matinee gig (beginning at 2.30pm) at Dingwalls by Camden Lock, with the gig set to feature the 2006 album "Orchestra of Wolves". Then it's a mad dash (and a quick pint on the way) down the road to the Electric Ballroom for a 6.30pm start and a complete run-through of 2009's "Grey Britain". Tickets are £15.

Kylie Minogue

Ticket-sales are gathering pace for Kylie Minogue's 'Aphrodite-Les Folies' tour next year, with more new dates announced this week, including the first confirmed night for Cardiff on 25th March, plus extras in Glasgow, Manchester and London with prices will starting at £65, rising to £85 - all currently still available.

Fela!

If you missed the chance to see the production at the Olivier Theatre during its current run, you'll be glad to learn that the run has been extended well into the New Year, with another seven shows set to run from 11th to 23rd January 2011. Tickets have now been released for the performances, priced between £24 and £44.

Season's Greetings

Comedy actress Catherine Tate makes her West End stage-debut in a play about Christmas with the family. Alan Ayckbourn's hilarious farce shows just how ill-behaved the adults can be, let alone the kids! The Lyttleton Theatre will host the production from 21st Dec until 13th March, with tickets on sale now from £44 upwards. Note that the initial run is now almost completely sold-out, but the second run from 15th Jan onwards has tickets available.