Goldfrapp have announced that their upcoming UK tour will be pushed back to 2022. The eleven-date tour – which had originally been designed to belatedly commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the duo’s debut studio album Felt Mountain – will now take place in March and April 2022, with new dates added in Nottingham, Bath and Cambridge. Existing ticket purchases remain valid for the rescheduled dates.
All previously purchased tickets remain valid. Stay safe and we look forward to finally performing for you. Tickets for the new shows go on sale next Wednesday 10th March at 10AM. Get your tickets visiting https://t.co/jJo91h56Ch (2/2) pic.twitter.com/N9B0kzdiQH
— Goldfrapp (@goldfrapp) March 4, 2021
When the concept of a Felt Mountain twentieth anniversary tour was first touted back in 2019, lead singer Alison Goldfrapp spoke of having re-listened to the record and been intrigued by its “flawed concept of perfection which has become so much more intensified in our self-reflective social media era.” Whilst it was not an immediate commercial success upon its initial release in 2000, the album helped establish the London two-piece’s distinctive take on ambient electronica – an edgier, alternative sound that set them apart from other movers and shakers on an Ibiza-oriented noughties’ dance scene.
Felt Mountain, which was partly recorded in a rented bungalow in the Wiltshire countryside, would go on to become something of sleeper hit; achieving a BPI gold certification for sales a year after it first hit the shelves. It didn’t have to wait that long for a warm critical reception though – the album scooped a Mercury Prize nomination and a clutch of rave reviews from the music press, with the now-departed Q magazine naming it in their top 50 albums of 2000.
Its 2003 follow-up Black Cherry continued Goldfrapp’s ascent on both sides of the Atlantic; going platinum in the UK and reaching fourth spot on the US Dance charts. Its incorporation of glam-rock elements paved the way for their next LP, 2005’s Supernature, and its sultry, T-Rex-influenced lead single Ooh La La - an international hit. The LP, which spawned further hit singles in Number 1, Ride A White Horse and Fly Me Away, would go on to sell a million copies across the globe.
Since then, the band have released four further hit records – including Seventh Tree (2008), which was given a vinyl re-issue earlier this month. The duo’s most recent LP was 2017’s Silver Eye, which reached number #6 in the Official UK Albums Chart. DIY described it as a standout moment in the Goldfrapp back-catalogue, hailing the record’s ability to find a home “in the void between electro-stompers…gliding amongst celestial bodies and creating beauty from otherworldliness.” Elsewhere, Pitchfork said that the album “synthesized all their many sounds and modes to get at the core of their musical identity”, finding “a beautiful, poppy, platonic ideal.”
Goldfrapp will be supported on next year’s tour by Seattle singer-songwriter Alison Sudol (aka A Fine Frenzy), who is also known for her work on screen in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. The full schedule of dates for the 2022 Felt Mountain Live tour is as follows:
31/03/22 – O2 Academy – Oxford
02/04 – Sage – Gateshead
04/04 – Royal Concert Hall – Nottingham
05/04 – Forum – Bath
07/04 – Usher Hall – Edinburgh
08/04 – Albert Hall – Manchester
10/04 – De La Warr Pavilion – Bexhill on Sea
11/04 – Corn Exchange – Cambridge
13/04 – Symphony Hall – Birmingham
14/04 – Royal Festival Hall – London
15/04 – Royal Festival Hall – London
