Legendary Rock Band Announces Split After 21 Years: Frontman Gears Up for Solo Career Following Final Tour and Album!

AFTER 21 years together, Kodaline are splitting up, but it’s not the last you’ll hear from frontman Steve Garrigan.

In his first major newspaper interview since the Irish band announced they were breaking up, he revealed the group had hit a “natural ­conclusion” — but he is planning on going solo.

Kodaline are splitting up after 21 years Credit: Unknown

Kodaline — whose songs Brand New Day and Perfect World act as the theme tunes on TV’s Gogglebox — will kick off a farewell tour in Belfast on June 17.

It will include dates around the globe until December, with a fifth and final album also on the ­horizon before Steve goes it alone.

He explained: “We’ve played together since we were kids. It’s over 20 years and we’re still relatively young. It’s most of our lives and there’s no animosity there.

“We’ve just come to a point naturally where it just seems like the right time. The guys have other projects that they want to do and are working on.

“We went from busking on Grafton Street in Dublin to ­playing to thousands in Asia and places we’d never even dreamed of going to, let alone Ireland.

“I think it’s only natural to want to explore different things.”

And it’s clear there has been no major feud with his bandmates Mark Prendergast, Vincent May and Jason Boland , given the lads are about to spend seven months on the road together.

On whether they could do the tour if they had fallen out, Steve laughed: “Oh my God, it would be difficult. I think a band is a very dysfunctional family at best.

“We’ve had our disagreements and stuff, but at the end of the day we’re lucky to have people who listen to the music and ­connect to it, and they come to the shows and sing every word — that’s kind of always the main thing, that’s my main focus.”

As for his solo work, Steve explained: “I’d say it would be similar, but different as it’ll be just me without the band.”

Last week the group dropped their first song in six years, the moving We Were Only Young, which reflects on how things have changed for Kodaline and their fans.

Steve said: “We have a loyal base around the world. And the song ties into it being our last tour. There’s a tagline: ‘You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone,’ and that seems to be resonating.”

The track will feature on their upcoming, as-yet-untitled final album, which they have spent the past two years working on.

Steve continued: “I’ve put a lot into it. I wanted it to be great.

“All the music that we have released over the years has done well and our fans have loved it.

“It’s a high bar and I wanted to stay true to that and make sure it felt right, that I could stand behind it. I’m really excited about it.”

They certainly do have a high bar, given their 2013 song All I Want surpassed a billion streams after appearing on screen in The Fault In Our Stars, Grey’s Anatomy and The Vampire Diaries.

He added of the hit: “It’s a massive reason why we even get to do what we do. That song has travelled so far. It’s been in so many movies.”

JESS HITS THE RIGHT NOTE . . .

sounds better than ever on her new album Superbloom, thanks to some singing lessons.

The Ride star, whose new record is at No1 in the midweek charts, has been in the business for 15 years but believes there is always room for improvement.

Jessie Ware sounds better than ever on her new album Superbloom, thanks to some singing lessons Credit: Getty

She admitted: “I got a lot of singing lessons on this record. You have to work hard to maintain your voice and I wanted to improve it, make it stronger and access different areas, so that was quite fun.”

But the album, which she describes as “sensual”, did not turn out how she initially planned.

Jessie told The Pop Pod podcast: “I had this idea that I was making this banging dance record, and it just wasn’t, so I took my time.

“And for an impatient person, that was somewhat frustrating.”

has had two more shows cancelled after being axed from London’s Wireless Festival earlier this month.

Over the weekend, gigs announced in Poland and Switzerland were also called off after he made a string of antisemitic remarks.

The Silesian Stadium in Poland said his show there in June wouldn’t take place “due to formal and legal reasons.”

KYM: GIG PLANS ALL HEAR’SAY

HEAR’SAY fans could be in for a treat after teased the band may re-form to celebrate their 25th anniversary later this year.

The band, consisting of , formed on early ITV talent show Popstars.

Hear’Say fans could be in for a treat after Kym Marsh teased the band may re-form to celebrate their 25th anniversary later this year Credit: Getty

Their debut single Pure And Simple went to No1 in 2001 but a year later, Kym quit and the band split.

But she told Nicky Byrne’s HQ podcast: “I’d like to think at some point we might do a little show.

“I think there’s a part of everybody that would love to have a little go.
I mean, stranger things have happened.”

True that.

Drop Dead gorgeous

joined at Coachella to give the first performance of her new single Drop Dead, which is on course to top the charts on Friday.

She wore a bra top and jeans to sing at the festival’s second and final weekend in California, as a guest in her pop pal’s set.

Olivia Rodrigo joined Addison Rae at Coachella, pictured with Maddie Ziegler also Credit: Getty Justin Bieber and BIllie Eilish took to the stage Credit: Youtube/Coachella Zara Larsson gets the crowd going Credit: Getty

Addison, who wowed the crowd in red lingerie, was also joined by dancer and actress .

It was a weekend full of surprises, after on Friday night.

On Saturday, was joined by SZA during his set before the arrival of superfan , who he serenaded with a rendition of One Less Lonely Girl.

Judging by her smile, she won’t forget that in a hurry.

dressed up as Shrek, the movie ogre he voices, as he paid tribute to his co-star , who lends his vocals to Donkey in the films.

The comic painted his face green and added ears in a jokey costume for the 51st AFI Life Achievement Award gala in the US, where stars came out to celebrate Eddie, who got emotional as he accepted the gong.     

Mike Myers dressed up as Shrek, the movie ogre he voices, as he paid tribute to his co-star Eddie Murphy, who lends his vocals to Donkey in the films Credit: Getty

Eddie told the audience: “Looking out seeing all of my family, all my kids, my beautiful wife, and seeing all the different people I worked with. I’m just really filled up. This is a special moment.”

SO IS DISS CHARLI’S MOMENT?

dealt quite the blow to when she dropped the song Actually Romantic in October, which made a series of barbed digs at the Brit singer.

I can reveal Charli was in the studio in Paris when she heard the track for the first time, which could mean we get to hear her response on her upcoming eighth album.

Taylor Swift dealt quite the blow to Charli XCX when she dropped the song Actually Romantic in October Credit: PA

Last week, the Brat star revealed she had spent ten days holed up in the Rue Boyer Studios in the French capital last year, with those sessions believed to have contributed to the bulk of her new rock album.

Funnily enough, that’s the same studio where Taylor recorded parts of 2024’s Tortured Poets Department and 2023’s Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).

A music insider told me: “Charli was in the middle of writing and recording this album when she heard Actually Romantic for the first time, so everyone is expecting some of her reaction to seep into the music.

“She isn’t the type to write a diss track – that’s not her style. But how it made her feel may well be reflected in the lyrics.”

The bust-up between the two stars started when Charli released the 2024 song Sympathy Is A Knife, in which she admitted she felt insecure around another woman who she couldn’t compete with.

But Taylor took it as a dig, and on The Life Of A Showgirl album, she responded by dealing a series of blows and even suggested that Charli is obsessed with hating her.

Something tells me this war of words will run and run.

THINGS couldn’t get more dire for my beloved right now.

But modern Mystic Megs Nik and Eva Speakman think they can save us from relegation. The husband-and-wife celebrity ­therapists want to get into the dressing room to put the team back on track.

Nik told me: “They have to go back to the time when they played amazingly and pull that apart – then start practising that model. There’s a bit more to it than just going into the dressing room for a chat.”

Eva added: “We could give them a bit of help.”

has hinted her upcoming eighth album will be inspired by hardship. In a video of herself in the studio, shared on Instagram, she asked fans: “Are you excited?”

She added the record is “something full of life, and growing through the cracks of something cold, hard and challenging”.

Ariana Grande has hinted her upcoming eighth album will be inspired by hardship Credit: Getty

THERON’S DUNE ON TIM

looked carefree as he hung out in Miami, but little did he know that fellow Hollywood star was about to badmouth him.

got in trouble earlier this year when he said he hoped cinemas stay popular so movies don’t become like “ballet or opera” where artists “keep this thing alive” even though “no one cares” about it.

Timothee Chalamet looked carefree as he hung out in Miami, but little did he know that fellow Hollywood star Charlize Theron was about to badmouth him Credit: Getty Charlize has had a dig, suggesting Timothee could be replaced by AI, but the same would never apply to ballet Credit: Getty

Now Charlize has had a dig, suggesting Timothee could be replaced by AI, but the same would never apply to ballet.

She ranted: “Oh, boy, I hope I run into him one day. That was a very reckless comment on an art form – two art forms – that we need to lift up constantly because, yes, they do have a hard time.

“In ten years, AI is going to be able to do Timothee’s job, but it will not be able to replace a person on a stage dancing live.”

I’d really love to be there the next time these two come face to face.