The Vote for Change collective will tour in October

The collective - including Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and REM - are all taking part in the Vote For Change tour from 1-10 October.

They will play around 34 concerts, in 28 cities across nine US states.

President Bush will be officially declared a candidate at the Republican Party Convention on 30 August.

Cities toured by the Vote for Change collective will include Pittsburgh, Orlando, St Louis, Detroit, Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Miami.

Mike Mills, of REM, said: "REM is very happy to be a part of the Vote For Change tour.

"This unprecedented coming together of musicians underscores the depth of the desire for change in our country's direction, and it feels right to use some of the freedoms granted to us in a democracy to try and effect that change."

Political books

Meanwhile, as the countdown to the US presidential election continues, dozens of new books criticising President George Bush are about to hit the shops.

Among those tipped to do well are What We've Lost: America Under the Bush Administration, by the editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair magazine, Graydon Carteris, and Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib, by Seymour Hersh.

Hersh, a journalist, broke the story of the abuses committed by US soldiers at an Iraqi prison.

Brad Miner, former literary editor of The National Review, said: "I suspect many will be bought by people who never intended to vote for Bush."

Two books backing President Bush -A Matter of Character and Thank You President Bush - will also be in shops in time for the Republican Party Convention in New York.

John Kerry, the Democratic presidential hopeful, has similarly been the target of criticism in books.

They include The Many Faces of John Kerry and How to Talk to a Liberal - If You Must.