In the midst of an Asian and Australian tour Death Cab For Cutie have managed to line up a handful of U.S. dates. Touring in support of ‘Narrow Stairs‘, which was released earlier this year, frontman Ben Gibbard and co. are set to kick off the tour on October 3 in Boston and will continue through to Wallingford, CT, Atlantic City, NJ, Columbus, OH and a couple more. Prior to their U.S. tour the band will play a slot at this year’s Bumbershoot festival in Seattle on September 1st.

The Kooks are giving their fans a tour of New York City. The band has announce that a day prior their appearance at Summerstage in Central Park on September 10th they will be inviting fans to come along with them on a tour of New York. The sight-seeing tour on an open-bus will take The Kooks and their fans around the Big Apple before dropping them off at the Apple Store in Soho where the band are set for a free acoustic performance.

If you wanna be one of the lucky fans to join the boys on the bus enter via The Kooks website.

Sydney’s The Great Escape festival is the latest in a slew of music festival to cancel due to poor ticket sales. Organizers for the event, which is one of Australia’s biggest summer festivals, have announced that due to poor ticket sales they have decided to cancel the two-day fest. Artists and bands including Conor Oberst, We Are Scientists and Supergrass were set for appearances at festival which was set to take place from October 4-5 at Newington Armory in Sydney.

“Unexpectedly low ticket sales have left festival organizers with no option but to cancel the event,” explained event organizers.

Coming off an acoustic set at the Under the Volcano festival in Vancouver over the weekend (August 10), Tegan And Sara have lineup up a string of North American dates. The duo are set for performances in New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver and four consecutive nights at the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles. The two are also set for a handful of festival appearances including Street Scene, Treasure Island Fest and Austin City Limits.

The Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore is set to take place over the weekend. The two-day festival, which will see performances by Jack Johnson, Wilco, Bloc Party and Iggy Pop just to name a few, has released it’s daily schedule. Opening the festival will be none other than Cat Power with a performance Saturday, August 9. Other notable band’s set to take part include the Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails, Stone Temple Pilots and The Black Keys.

The Virgin fest isn’t the only major music festival taking place over the weekend, the first annual three-day All Points West festival also kicks off this weekend.

Kings Of Leon have announced a North American tour in support of their highly anticipated fourth album ‘Only By The Night‘. The extensive jaunt will officially kick off October 11 in Las Vegas, however the band are set for an intimate show at New Yorks’ Webster Hall on September 23rd to celebrate the release of the album, which is released that day. The Followill boys have recruited We Are Scientists as their main support on all dates except their Webster Hall performance. ‘Sex On Fire‘, the first single from the forthcoming album is currently streaming on the band’s MySpace and will available for purchase September 15.

In other KOL news, the band is set to perform at this weekend’s All Points West Festival in New Jersey. The boys will take the stage on Saturday, August 9th.

Crystal Castles and Simian Mobile Disco are set to headline this year’s Hard Fest in Los Angeles on October 31. The event, which takes place on Halloween at the Shrine Expo Hall, will also feature Soulwax, Boys Noize and LA DJ Steve Aoki with several more acts to be announced. The even will have a haunted-mansion theme and attendees are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes. For more information go to Hardfest.com.

Minus The Bear have announced a tour with The Annuals set for this Fall. The extensive jaunt will kick off October 8th in Spokane, WA and will include stops in several cities including Chicago, Boston, Washington, New York, San Diego and Los Angeles before coming to an end November 19 in San Francisco.

Minus The Bear are also set for an appearance at Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival on September 1.

Crystal Castles have been forced to cancel their forthcoming UK tour due to recording commitments. The good news is that not all shows are canceled. A few dates have been spared including their show at London’s Electric Ballroom on September 18 which is still scheduled as well as their festival appearances at Reading And Leeds, Jersey Live, Hydro Connect and Electric Picnic. The duo is also still set for three warm-up dates the first one at Manchester Academy on August 26th then Leeds Cockpit on the 27th and finally the Birmingham Academy on the 28th.

NME.COM is reporting that the Mystery Jets have been forced to cancel a number of festival performances due to illness. Frontman Blaine Harrison has reportedly fallen ill and is receiving “hospital treatment for ailments on his feet, a recurring injury relating to his Spina Bifida.”

Among the dates the Mystery Jets have canceled were appearances at last Thursday’s (July 31) France Plague de Rock festival, the Standon Calling Festival on August 1st and the Derbyshire Y-Not Festival the following day (August 2). The band has also canceled upcoming appearances at Germany’s Haldern festival on August 7 and Cornwall’s Ripcurl on August 8.