It’s the holiday season and while we all think about what gifts might be waiting for us at the end of the month, there is a gift that showed up in our inboxes and Twitter feeds this morning that should excite all fans of The Afghan Whigs.

The legendary Cincinnati rock band are reuniting for their first live shows in 13 years in 2012 and the masses are acting like a kid on Christmas morning. On the weekend of the 25th-27th May 2012 at Alexandra Palace, London, All Tomorrow’s Parties present the second UK I’ll Be Your Mirror event. Frontman Greg Dulli will also co-curate ATP’s I’ll Be Your Mirror festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey, taking place September 21-23. The Afghan Whigs will headline September 22.

Tickets are on sale now via ATPFestival.com.

In the strange world of Ohio rock though, we see that the band the Whigs are replacing just happens to be Guided By Voices. This sidenote raised the eyebrows of many, so many that the bands PR team jumped in to say that GBV are “not split up”, here is that release.

Guided by Voices have not split up and continue to work on new material together. In addition to the album release of Let’s Go Eat the Factory for January, the band are at work on another album, Class Clown Spots A UFO. Robert Pollard will also be releasing a solo record in March called Mouseman Cloud.

Unfortunately Guided By Voices are canceling their appearances at Primavera and ATP/I’ll Be Your Mirror, due to personal reasons. The band apologizes for any inconvenience and disappointment, and thanks Primavera, ATP and the fans for their longterm support.

So what seemed initially like some bittersweet news is actually just great news. And of course, it fulfills the wishes of our friends from Bicentennial Bear, who did a song for the Very Ohio Christmas album we released last year with the folks at Donewaiting.com. Here is that song, available now as a free download.

Bicentennial Bear – All I Want For Christmas (is an Afghan Whigs reunion)

So, will you be attending either of the shows next year?

About Joe Long

Joe started ENS in 2003 after most people he wanted to talk to about music were worn thin by his ramblings. The outlet this site provided helped out, and somehow is still going 9 years later. After a four year stint as a WOXY DJ, Joe returned to Cincinnati and continues to pioneer ENS. In addition to the overall look and feel of the site, Joe provides regular reviews, and kinda makes sure this whole thing stays afloat.