Gary Barlow has revealed the rescheduled dates for is upcoming ‘Music Played By Humans,’ and also announced that he will be joined by X-Factor’s Leona Lewis. The tour will also feature accompaniment for the singers provided by a live orchestra, living up to the ‘By Humans,’ promise. The tour features dates across the UK arena circuit and is in support of the album, also called ‘Music Played By Humans,’ which was released in November this year, with the tour scheduled for Summer/Autumn of 2021.

It is a unique quirk of these times that fans find themselves waiting an entire year before they are able to see their favourite artists touring in support of an album release but it is a situation that many of us have sadly had to get used to this year. In fact, fans of artists like Dua Lipa and Glass Animals, whose albums came out earlier in the year have had to adjust to waiting even longer than a year for a tour to materialise. ‘Music Played By Humans,’ charted at number 1, his most successful chart performance since 2012’s ‘Sing,’ may be a sign of a return to this successful as well as the heights of 1997’s ‘Open Road.’

Speaking about the announcement on her instagram, Leona Lewis said that she was ‘beyond excited to be invited to join Gary Barlow next year on tour! She also said, referring to the ongoing restrictions which have been placed on live music this year, ‘I’ve missed performing so much and am counting down the days until I can be back on the stage singing with my fans who have continued to be amazing throughout this crazy year.’ Fans of Gary Barlow and Leona Lewis alike will surely be counting down the days till they can see their favourite singers performing live once again.

Tickets for the tour can be bought here, with early dates starting in Belfast and Ireland in the summer of 2021 and the rest of the UK dates beginning in November and continuing through to December. Fans got a taste of what they might be able to expect from the tour when Gary Barlow appeared last week on The Royal Variety Performance for the Royal Family. He performed a version of ‘Incredible,’ taken from the ‘Music Played By Humans,’ album with a live orchestra and the effect was stunning.

In a world of pop music which is increasingly saturated with singers performing to backing tracks, it is refreshing to see Gary Barlow taking a stand against this and making a deliberate effort to include real musicians in his tour. It is also exciting to see him performing with a full orchestra, rather than the now standardised Rock and Pop lineup which most artists which do use real musicians will be performing with, the orchestra approach is a throwback to the music of the early 20th century which featured much more traditional instrumentation.

Full UK dates for Gary Barlow’s 2021 ‘Music Made By Humans,’ tour are as follows:

21/06/2021 – The SSE Arena – Belfast
31/11 – P&J Live – Aberdeen
1/12 – The SSE Hydro – Glasgow
2/12 – FlyDSA Arena – Sheffield
5/12 – Motorpoint Arena – Cardiff
6/12 – Motorpoint Arena – Cardiff
7/12 – Motorpoint Arena – Nottingham
9/12 – AO Arena – Manchester
10/12 – Resorts World Arena – Birmingham
11/12 – First Direct Arena – Leeds
13/12 – M&S Bank Arena – Liverpool
16/12 – The O2 Arena – London
17/12 – The O2 Arena – London
18/12 – Utilita Arena – Newcastle