There's absolutely no surprise at this afternoon's announcement, bearing in mind the current global situation thanks to the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic - Record Store Day (RSD) 2020 will unfortunately no longer be taking place on June 20th.

It always felt to us an optimistic aim to delay the normal April date to just two month's later, and the organisers have made the decision to move the releases again, and do things in a different format to previously. As it stands, the titles on the RSD 2020 official list will be available from independent record shops on one of the three following RSD "Drop" Dates: Saturday August 29th, Saturday September 26th and Saturday October 24th.

A new version of "The List" with assigned release dates will be launched on June 1st and updates will be found on RecordStoreDay.co.uk, RecordStoreDay.com, and the RSD social media accounts. These sites also include details of the participating record stores. This year, RSD is due to bring four items of interest to BD visitors: the 7" single of Arnold Layne, recorded live at the Syd Barrett tribute held at the Barbican, Roger Waters Live In Berlin 1990 on 2LP clear vinyl, the Guy Pratt/David Gilmour collaboration on the Hackers soundtrack 2LP, and the 12" Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets single (or indeed five items if you include the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy album!). 

Record Store Day 2020 - originally scheduled for April 18 - was bound to look and feel different from any of the previous twelve. Prior events have been as much about the gatherings, parties, concerts and "group hang" element of a celebration as the financial bonus for, and more importantly raised awareness of, the independent record shops.

However, in this unprecedented situation, the focus of these three RSD Drop dates is on supporting the stores, as well as the artists, labels, distribution and every other business behind the scenes making record stores work. 

Record Store Day organisers have looked at numerous possible dates and various ways to re-work an event that takes place at thousands of record stores around the world, taking into consideration the varying circumstances and situations they and their customers might find themselves in at any point this year.

This current RSD 2020 plan to spread the spotlight and the support over three months, was made with as much available information as possible, and gives the largest number of stores a chance to participate globally in the strangest Record Store Day ever. RSD will be using the guidance of government and scientific experts to ensure these RSD Drop dates are as socially responsible and safe for all involved as possible. Don't necessarily expect all the normal in-store celebrations and events as these changes have been made to allow customers to get the RSD product safely in a socially distanced world. The RSD online rules will be adapted in due course in line with retail developments.

To clarify, this year online rules have changed so that shops in the UK can sell online from 6pm. Selling online is a shop by shop decision and will be dependent on the status of the pandemic at the time of these three dates. This is new to the RSD organisers and to the shops. They are still figuring how to best make this work in the safest and fairest way. They will communicate how they intend to sell these records closer to the time as this is a fast-moving and ever-changing situation.

Finally, plans are already in place for a hopefully much more normal 2021 celebration, to be held on April 17th 2021. RSD Black Friday is still being planned and is scheduled to take place on November 27th (another date for your diary, but again subject to change!).

We've got an update on the forthcoming 2020 UK tour of Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets, which was unsurprisingly postponed due to the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in all public events being moved or cancelled.

The remaining UK show to be rescheduled was the date at Southampton's Mayflower Theatre, due to be held on Monday, May 4th. This has now moved to sit with the other Saucers' dates, and will now take place on Sunday, October 18th.

For those with tickets already, these will remain valid for the new date, and will not require changing. You do not need to contact the venue, or take any other action.

The Dublin gig, which was due to take place next week on April 29th, has been postponed as well (obviously) but as yet, the revised date has not been confirmed. The same applies to the European dates which were to follow the UK and Ireland performances. It must be a really difficult job to reschedule a tour to new dates, fitting in with potentially pre-existing bookings for the venues in question, whilst also keeping the travel schedule for the band, crew and equipment to as sensible a route as is possible.

A couple of established, and well respected, UK music magazines have just been published, and include interviews with Nick Mason and his Saucerful Of Secrets. With the unexpected postponement of the release of Live At The Roundhouse (originally due to appear on April 17th, but moved to September 18th), magazines and their advanced deadlines have resulted in these articles appearing now, despite the release being five months later. Still, it gives us something to read and enjoy during the lockdown so many of us are experiencing at present!

First off is issue 108 of Prog Magazine, which has a detailed, four-page interview with Nick. He talks extensively and candidly about the early days of the band, and about Syd Barrett. He also of course talks about his current project, the Saucers, and has him pondering on future tours - he points out that there is plenty of early material that they've yet to explore "that will keep us going for a while". When asked if there was an urge to do new music, he noted that there "[wasn't] particularly. That might be something to look at one day, but for the moment there's a lot to be done with this [the Saucers]". For us, this is great news, and a very positive note suggesting that the project is still in its early stages.

Elsewhere in the magazine they celebrate 50 years of prog legends Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Carl Palmer reflects on the band's career and announces some amazing plans to resurrect the band for their Golden Anniversary. Plus there's exclusive new interviews with Trevor Rabin, Alan Parsons Project, The Orb and loads more. With few stores open, you'll be pleased to hear you can order it online, for delivery worldwide, through this direct link at MyFavouriteMagazines.co.uk.

Issue 20 of Planet Rock magazine is the other one of note that has just appeared on the shelves of the few stockists still open in the UK, but also available to purchase online. It features an eight-page interview with Nick, conducted by biographer Mark Blake, who talks about the early days of the Floyd, and brings the story up to date with the Saucers, of whom Nick says "I never expected this to happen. We're like an ageing start-up." He also speculates on what might have happened had Rick Wright still been with us, when the Saucers came together - and what they might have been called...

The interview is typically fascinating, propelled by Mark Blake's questions (he wrote the excellent Pigs Might Fly, you may recall), covering Nick's views on Pink Floyd, the genesis of the Saucers, and touring plans for the band (pandemics, of course, permitting).

The magazine's review pages include a five-star review of Live At The Roundhouse, calling it a "vital testament to all that was remarkable about early Floyd", calling it an "aural trip" and a "thrilling...joyous and monumental recording". Elsewhere in the magazine is a huge feature on 50 years of Judas Priest, and features on Kiss, Manowar and Iron Maiden, amongst others. You can order Classic Rock magazine online, for delivery worldwide, through this direct link at GreatMagazines.co.uk.

LIVE AT THE ROUNDHOUSE ORDERING INFORMATION:
For those who are yet to do so, here's a reminder that you can order the various editions through the following direct links, taking advantage of Amazon's pre-order price guarantee so you will automatically pay the lowest asking price between placing your order, and release, whilst giving Brain Damage much needed help with running costs without costing you any extra. We really appreciate it too! It also gives you something to look forward to when hopefully the global situation has eased and returned to some sense of normality.

Some of you will have had tickets for launch events to mark the release of Polly Samson's new book, A Theatre For Dreamers, which were scheduled for this week in Manchester, Birmingham and London. 

Due to the current pandemic, understandably these events (which were to feature, alongside Polly, David Gilmour and guests performing some music, including a new song) have moved to September.

However, Polly and David both still wished to mark the book's release on its publication date, and so have decided to host a live stream via David's official Facebook page tomorrow evening.

As yet, there are no details of what the stream will include, although a video has been shared of them getting ready for this in a studio space. Apart from Polly reading passages from the book, to give watchers a flavour of it, chances are also that at the very least an acoustic guitar might be picked up by David, to accompany her.

Make sure you tune in tomorrow (Thursday, April 2nd) at 8pm BST/3pm EST at www.facebook.com/DavidGilmour to see what occurs. The stream may well also be available to watch on demand after the event.

UPDATE, 2nd APRIL: due to the weekly public applause from windows and doorways in the UK for NHS and other care workers, which takes place at 8pm on a Thursday, the stream has been changed to 8:30pm BST/3:30pm EST. Further update: it can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE47uvIF5Zc

FURTHER UPDATE, 9th APRIL: Due to the popularity of the first event, further Thursday evening streams are taking place (thanks in part to the family being in lockdown) at 8:30pm BST, over at David's or Polly's Facebook pages, and available online on demand after the event. There's also the occasional rehearsal clip or revised (higher quality) versions posted after the event.