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Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Billy Bragg announces three night residency tour
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 6 February 2019
Billy Bragg has announced UK and Ireland tour dates for later this year, which will see him take up residency in various venues for three nights at a time.
The tour’s called ‘One Step Forward, Two Steps Back’, which kind of sounds like a promise of declining quality each night. It’s not though! Oh no, not at all. Basically, the first night will see Bragg perform his current live set, with songs new and old. Then over the next two nights he’ll hone in on his back catalogue.
On the second night of each residency he’ll perform songs from his first three albums, ‘Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy’, ‘Brewing Up With Billy Bragg’ and ‘Talking With The Taxman About Poetry’. Then on the final night, he’ll explore three more classics: ‘Workers Playtime’, ‘Don’t Try This At Home and ‘William Bloke’.
“After more than three decades of travelling around the world in a van, or spending all day flying vast distances to play a gig, I’m looking forward to having some time to explore cities that I usually only get to see between the soundcheck and the show”, says Bragg. “And this three night stand format is a way of keeping things interesting, both for me and the audience. I tried it out in Auckland recently and had a lot of fun revisiting my back pages”.
Here are the dates:
5- 7 Jul: Portsmouth, The Wedgewood Rooms
10- 12 Jul: Bristol, Fiddlers
29-31 Jul: Dublin, Whelan’s
6-8 Nov: Glasgow, St Luke’s
11-13 Nov: Manchester, Academy 2
16-18 Nov: Sheffield, The Leadmill
21-23 Nov: London, Islington Assembly Hall
26-28 Nov: Cambridge, The Junction
1-3 Dec: Birmingham, Institute 2
