[tweetmeme]Matt Johnson continues to slowly expand The The’s highly anticipated return to the concert stage this year, announcing two more concerts this summer: a July 6 date in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and a Sept. 3 show in Newcastle, England. Tickets for both shows are on sale now.

The reunited Belly — Tanya Donelly’s post-Throwing Muses, post-Breeders alt-rock outlet — will release its first album in 23 years this May, an 11-song collection that’s being previewed by first single “Shiny One” and will be supported by U.S. and U.K. tours later this year. Full details right here.

Marc Almond today announced he’s reuniting with Dave Ball for the first time in 15 years to commemorate Soft Cell’s 40th anniversary with one final farewell concert — dubbed, naturally, “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” — at London’s O2 Arena on Sept. 30. Tickets go on sale later this week.

[tweetmeme]Reactivated 2 Tone ska legends The Specials will return to the U.S. this summer for at least three concerts in California. According to its Facebook page, the band will perform in Oakland, Pomona and San Diego in late June. It’s not known yet whether more shows are in the offing. Full dates here.

Matt Johnson continues the slow roll-out of The The’s highly anticipated return to the concert state, announcing four more U.K. concerts this September around the newly resurrected band’s appearance at Festival No. 6. The band is now slated to play 14 shows this year. See the band’s full dates here.

After successfully crowdfunding its return to the stage for the first time in a quarter-century last year, Shriekback is now setting its sights on America. Looking to mount a rare U.S. tour this summer, the band — led by Barry Andrews and Carl Marsh — is again turning to its fans to help fund the trek.

Matt Johnson will now open The The’s highly anticipated return with a trio of “very low-key warm-up shows” in the U.K. this May prior to a headlining performance at a Denmark festival and what’s being called the “London Trilogy” of sold-out concerts this summer. See the band’s full dates here.

In a trainwreck that just keeps getting worse, Mike Joyce today announced that he, too, will not take part in the Classically Smiths live shows he began teasing last week, saying he’d been barred from revealing Andy Rourke wouldn’t be taking part when the project was announced Monday.

After cryptic hints Friday, the cat’s now out of the bag: The Smiths’ Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, plus “fifth member” Craig Gannon, will perform the band’s beloved songs backed by a full orchestra in the U.K. this summer, the Manchester Evening News reported today. No dates have yet been announced.

It appears that Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke, the rhythm section of The Smiths, are planning something — a concert? a full tour? — this year with Craig Gannon, the onetime Aztec Camera member who toured with The Smiths as a second guitarist toward the end of the band’s life.

Three-quarters of R.E.M. — Peter Buck, Mike Mills and drummer-turned-farmer Bill Berry — reunited onstage tonight in Portland, Ore., at the second of two benefit concerts for Scott McCaughey, the longtime R.E.M. sideman who suffered a stroke in November. See video from the reunion performances here.

The Stray Cats, the high-octane rockabilly trio that became an unlikely New Wave-era breakout in the early 1980s, will reunite for the first time in nine years this April to perform at the Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend, guitarist/frontman Brian Setzer announced this week. The band will play on April 21.

As promised, Paisley Underground-era rockers The Dream Syndicate last night reunited onstage in Los Angeles with former bandmate Kendra Smith, who left the group after playing bass and singing on its acclaimed 1982 debut The Days of Wine and Roses. Watch the decades-in-the-making performance here.