Next year’s Shockwaves NME Awards tour will be headlined by the Maccabees.

The Brighton indie-rockers garnered heaps of critical acclaim for their second album Wall Of Arms and this announcement confirms their current status as darlings of the music press.

Bombay Bicycle Club, the Big Pink and the Drums will join the Maccabees on the tour, which starts in Newcastle on February 4.

The Maccabees’ guitarist Felix White said: “We understand the legacy of this tour….The old NME tours years ago, if I missed one I’d think shit, I’m never going to see that again. So that’s a nice thing to be a part of. It looks like a good tour to me… we’re as lucky as anyone to be on it. As far as upping our game, we understand the kind of bands who have headlined before. The kind of calibre those groups are, we’ve got to reach that.”

The tour is the first to be organised by new NME Editor Krissi Murison.

Those dates in full:

FEBRUARY
4   Newcastle, O2 Academy
5   Glasgow, Barrowland
6   Manchester, Academy
7   Leeds, O2 Academy
9   Nottingham, Rock City
10 Norwich, UEA
11  Birmingham, O2 Academy
13  Cardiff, University
14  Bristol, O2  Academy
15  Brighton, Dome
16  Bournemouth, O2 Academy
18  Portsmouth, Pyramid
19  Cambridge, Corn Exchange
20  Brixton, O2  Academy

The Maccabees and Bombay Bicycle Club are both nominated for TMM’s Album of the Year Award.

Tickets for the gigs go on sale Friday (November 13) at 9am and will cost £15.50 (£18.10 London).