Following on from Blur, Dexys, Shed Seven and Maximo Park's recently-announced pre-festival warm-ups (Blur are still yet to play theirs, of course), Stereophonics have also raced out of the traps with their own similar intent to keep things cosy and intimate before playing to one of their biggest audiences ever. Chosen as one of the big four UK bands to perform at the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics on 27th July, alongside Snow Patrol, Duran Duran and Paolo Nutini, Stereophonics are the perfect choice to lead a good old stadium sing-a-long and keep the crowds bouncing. Tickets are still available for Hyde Park, priced at £66.

However, if you can't make it to London to see them, check this out. Kelly Jones and his boys will be performing a quartet of pre-Olympic intimate warm-ups in not-so-obvious towns and venues. The lucky locations are Venue Cymru in Llandudno on 22nd July, the Assembly Rooms in Derby on 23rd, Brimsby's Auditorium on 24th and finally the Corn Exchange in Cambridge on 25th.

We will have tickets from 9am on Friday 1st June, priced at £28.50. It goes without saying - these are far smaller venues than the band's typical stopovers, but far more exciting and close-up - tickets will sell out very quickly.

If you need reminding about just how huge Stereophonics are, they've previously notched up five straight consecutive #1 albums on the UK Top 100, including "Just Enough Education To Perform" and "Pull The Pin", as well as ten Top 10 hit singles such as "The Bartender and the Thief", "Hurry Up and Wait", "Have a Nice Day" and the #1 smash, "Dakota".