The Billy Bragg Australian Tour 2014 has been announced and with the UK singer-songwriter just about to open proceedings on this year’s BIGSOUND music industry conference, the British ‘Bard of Barking’ has revealed dates for a return next year.
Returning to Australia in 2014 for his first full band tour in five years, the English folk rock icon is returning in support of his latest studio album, Tooth & Nail, and is bringing one of Australia’s most talented emerging artists along for the ride, with the Breakthrough Indie Artist-nominated Courtney Barnett joining Billy Bragg as national support.
The Billy Bragg Australian Tour 2014 will also include Bragg’s first ever show at the Sydney Opera House, and will see the Bard and his band showcase Tooth & Nail as well songs pulled from his war-chest of classics (a chest overflowing with the likes of A New England, There is Power in a Union, Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key, Take Down the Union Jack and You Woke Up My Neighbourhood).
“Most people, when they hear my name, think of polemical anthems born in struggle. I often find myself having to remind people that I am also the Sherpa of Heartbreak, writing songs about the struggle to maintain our relationships with those we love the most,” says Bragg.
With a renewed focus on the personal, Bragg headed to California last year to record his first album since 2008. Grammy-winning producer Joe Henry offered his basement studio, some stellar musicians – including Greg Leisz (Bon Iver), Patrick Warren (Lana Del Rey), Jay Bellerose (Regina Spektor) and David Piltch (Ramblin’ Jack Eliott) – the encouragement to sing live and the assurance “that making an album need not be a long, drawn-out process”. Five days later, Tooth & Nail was done. Drawing on soul, country and folk, it is, says Bragg, “the follow-up to Mermaid Avenue that I never made”.
Along with the rootsy echoes of his much-loved Wilco collaboration, Tooth & Nail bears many hallmarks of Bragg’s lifetime of music. Rarely, if ever, does a songwriter find himself reborn in his fourth decade in music. With Tooth & Nail, Bragg has become that very rarity.
Following a series of high-profile national support slots with Something For Kate and Big Scary, and a forthcoming appearance at Meredith 2013, Courtney Barnett will be play opening support on the Billy Bragg Australian Tour 2014. Quietly but assuredly conquering fans and critics alike, Barnett’s unique pool of laconic songwriting mixes wit, everyday pathos, and off-kilter narratives into an affable slacker rock guise that doesn’t languish in laziness. It was only a couple of years ago that Courtney gathered a bunch of like-minded friends, recorded an EP of rambling garage pop and began life as a front-woman.
A tour not to be missed!
Billy Bragg Australian Tour 2014
Tooth & Nail Tour
w/ Courtney Barnett
Sunday 8th March – Perth Concert Hall – Perth
Tix: www.ticketek.com.au
Monday 10th March – Womad Festival – Adelaide
Tix: www.womadelaide.com.au
Wednesday 12th March – Federation Hall – Hobart
Tix: www.tso.com.au
Tuesday 13th March – Palais Theatre – Melbourne
Tix: www.ticketmaster.com.au
Sunday 16th March – Sydney Opera House – Sydney
Tix: www.sydneyoperahouse.com
Wednesday 19th March – Canberra Theatre – Canberra
Tix: www.canberratheatrecentre.com.au
Thursday 20th March – Tivoli – Brisbane
Tix: www.ticketmaster.com.au
ON SALE MONDAY 16th SEPTEMBER AT 9AM
