Buy Tickets Now: Midlake @ ABC, 15 Feb

Post-Yuletide blues? Struggling to raise yourself for the never-ending misery of January mornings? Well, listen up, because Midlake are like an aural hot water bottle: warm, soothing, cosy and gentle. Astonishingly, it has been three and a half years since the sweet harmonies of The Trials of Van Occupanther slowly but surely buried themselves into the consciousness of anyone who heard it. Progress reports have reflected on a directional change on album number three, The Courage of Others, commenting on a nod to British folk of the 60s. Everything’s crossed that they can scale the heights of 2006, making winter a little more bearable. [Finbarr Bermingham]