JOHN BARNES' REPRISE, JOHN FOXX'S REUNION, WOLFMOTHER'S REPEAL AND N-DUBZ RELEVATION

JOHN Barnes, what have you done? Why agree to reprise your “rap” from New Order’s 1990 World Cup song World in Motion – for a Mars ad?

It wasn’t great the first time, and it just sounds like a lifetime of chocolate has made it even more laboured. I’m fond of you Barnesy, but are you sure this was wise? It is funny though. Can’t we just stick to Kasabian being the unofficial football soundtrack for the year?

• New Finsbury Park pop-up club The Silver Bullet’s already got the power to attract the big names. They’re holding the Rage Against the Machine after-party with Gallows and Eddy Temple-Morris DJing. Visit www.thesilverbullet.co.uk

• There’s something of a reunion happening at the Roundhouse’s electronic festival, Short Circuit 2010 (June 5). John Foxx, original frontman of pioneering UK synth-rock act Ultravox, reunites with guitarist Robin Simon, following DJ sets from Gary Numan and Jori Hulkkonen. Foxx and special guests will assemble on stage for the first time with the machines he used on debut solo album Metamatic in 1980 to perform material from past and present.

• The Egg club in King’s Cross has reopened and is attracting an incredible list of international DJs. Watch this space or visit www.egg-london.net

• Sad to hear Wolfmother have cancelled their appearance at Hard Rock Calling due to illness – one I was looking forward to.

• How much higher can these guys go? N-Dubz are sharing the bill with Usher at Camden’s Koko tomorrow (Friday). They’ve kept this one quiet. 

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE'S X-FACTOR REBELLION TUCKED IN BED BY 11PM

MY jewellery collection is a graveyard of single earrings, separated from their partners once lost to the many Rage Against the Machine-inspired moshpits of days gone by.

So the plan – when they play their free Finsbury Park gig on Sunday – is to either stand safely at the back, or leave the earrings at home.

The BBC weatherman predicts temperatures of 25 degrees so it should be a joyful day, if a relatively early night.

In 1992, their eponymous debut album served a great purpose. 

It was an outlet for teenagers everywhere to let off steam within the safe confines of the nearest indie/metal club or locked away in their bedrooms.

Singles Bombtrack, Killing in the Name and Bullet in the Head were anthems for our angst.

And it felt good when we managed to convince the DJ to play these 'provocative', political tracks at the school disco. But then we grew up and, apart from keeping a nostalgic admiration for these standout tracks, oft revived on road trips, many of us forgot about Rage altogether.
That's not to say they haven't maintained a loyal following.

I can’t say I’m familiar with much subsequent work, though this doesn’t make the prospect of seeing them live at Finsbury Park any less attractive.

It’s odd to think that the only reason Rage are coming to Finsbury Park at all is thanks to X-Factor.

Perhaps it's fitting that this eccentric event – a thanks to the thousands that helped screw with the man by subverting the Christmas number one, and dashing the hopes of the latest forgettable X-Factor finalist at the same time – is finishing at the tame old time of 10.30pm.

Will there be riots down Blackstock Road as the park gates shut? Or will the 30-something Rage fans hop into their cars and return home to bed before 11pm, basking in the glow of a nicely controlled bit of reactionary revelry?

Support comes from gypsy punk group Gogol Bordello, rapper Roots Manuva and punk band Gallows.