Billy Bragg has announced a UK and Ireland tour for this time in 2021. It feels like a long time away, but Bragg has no doubt recognised that the best way to guarantee something these days is to put it far in the future and really look forward to it. And many of you will have something to look forward to, as Bragg is headed everywhere, from Oxford’s New Theatre to Folkestone’s Leas Cliffs Hall. All the usual suspects are also there, and Bragg will wind up for a final celebratory night in the Roundhouse, in Camden. You can see the full string of tour dates below.
Speaking about the tour in his statement, Bragg wrote: “In these challenging times, we all need something to hang on to. Like everyone else, my plans for 2020 have been disrupted by the pandemic, but today I’m announcing an extensive UK & Irish tour for this time next year to give me something tangible to work towards.”
He also said the following, as you can see in the tweet below: “My hope is that, by then, we’ll be able to get together again and enjoy the uplift that live music brings, to audience and performer alike.”
Today I’m announcing an extensive UK & Irish tour for this time next year. My hope is that, by then, we’ll be able to get together again and enjoy the uplift that live music brings, to audience and performer alike.
Tickets go on sale 10am Fri 16th Oct via https://t.co/W3HC5Fjluv pic.twitter.com/RRBYEZ1S4Q
— Billy Bragg (@billybragg) October 8, 2020
We know by now that musicians have responded to the lockdown situation and the lack of live music in a number of creative and rewarding ways. Bragg has turned to Twitter, where he is vocal about a number of things, not least UK and American politics, and the upcoming election (we would expect nothing less).
In addition, he has recorded a number of covers and fragments of songs for his own contribution to Clap for Carers, including We’ll Meet Again, an acoustic version of Blake’s Jerusalem, and a short, energetic burst of his own song, The Milkman of Human Kindness. The image of Bragg on the top of a hill, his electric guitar all wired up, is excellent.
To add to this eclectic selection of covers and entertainment, he asked his followers to vote between Taylor Swift’s Only the Young and Jackson Browne’s Before the Deluge, and Swift won by a tiny margin. Bragg, of course, is in his element with a good protest song, and Only the Young is Swift’s take on one, exclusive to her documentary Miss Americana. Unsurprisingly, he gives his cover a bit of Billy Bragg realism, working in a series of contemporary political declarations. You can listen to it here.
Swift and Bragg are perhaps the most unlikely pairing on the surface, but anyone who knows anything about either will easily recognise what their similarities really are. Speaking about co-presenting an award at the NME awards (way back – before all of this), Bragg wrote “I have a lot of respect for her and the stand she has taken on equality and artist’s rights. Needless to say we got on like a house on fire.”
Unfortunately there is no sign of Taylor Swift coming on stage to help Bragg sell out all these venues. Despite this, Bragg is right that we need things to look forward to, and this is a great way to go about it. Tickets will be on sale here on October 16.
21/10/21 – Sage Gateshead – Gateshead
22/10 – Fat Sam’s – Dundee
23/10 – Barrowland Ballroom – Glasgow
26/10 – Philharmonic Hall – Liverpool
27/10 – New Theatre – Oxford
28/10 – Symphony Hall – Birmingham
30/10 – St David’s Hall – Cardiff
31/10 – O2 Guildhall – Southampton
02/11 – Ulster Hall – Belfast
04/11 – Vicar Street – Dublin
06/11 – Black Box Theatre – Galway
10/11 – Hexagon – Reading
11/11 – University Great Hall – Exeter
12/11 – O2 Academy – Bristol
16/11 – G Live – Guildford
18/11 – Corn Exchange – Cambridge
19/11 – Rock City – Nottingham
20/11 – Albert Hall – Manchester
21/11 – City Hall – Sheffield
23/11 – Dome – Brighton
25/11 – Cliffs Pavilion – Southend-On-Sea
26/11 – Leas Cliff Hall – Folkestone
27/11 – Roundhouse – London
