icicle works tour

The Icicle Works

All upcoming events.

O2 Academy Leicester | Leicester, UNITED KINGDOM

Big country: return to steeltown, latest setlist, the icicle works on april 10, 2024.

indigo at The O2, London, United Kingdom

Popular Tracks

A Message From The Frontline!

EP Launch – Review

The Icicle Works Back on Tour!

19th January 2024 Semitone Studios Marple, UK

ICICLE WORKS with Big Country

14th March 2024 Boiler Shop Newcastle, UK

15th March 2024 Hangar 34 Liverpool, UK

16th March 2024 02 Ritz Manchester, UK

21st March 2024 KK's Steel Mill Wolverhampton

22nd March 2024 The 1865 Southampton, UK

29th March 2024 Fire Station Sunderland, UK

30th March 2024 King George's Hall Blackburn, UK

10th April 2024 Indigo at The O2 London, UK

26th April 2024 O2 Academy Leicester, UK

30th November 2023 Chris Layhe EP Launch British Music Experience Liverpool, UK

21st March 2024 KK's Steel Mill Wolverhampton, UK

29th March 2024 The Fire Station Sunderland, UK

10th April 2024 Indigo at The 02 London, UK

26th April 2024 02 Academy Leicester, UK

Chris Layhe's new EP It's My Way is now available on CD and Digital Download . The release features 3 tracks, 'Old Casey', 'It's My Way' and 'Got The Blues'.

It's My Way 3 Track EP

The new EP ' It's My Way ' available Sept 2023

Chris Layhe is a singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is co-founder and bass player with The Icicle Works . In 1984 the Liverpool act charted in the UK Top 20 with the song Love Is A Wonderful Colour.

The Icicle Works also achieved success on the US Billboard Chart with the Top 40 entry, Bird’s Fly / A Whisper To A Scream . The latter being featured in the sci-fi horror series Stranger Things .

Performing solo and with guest musicians, Chris is set to release his new 3 track CD EP, It’s My Way   in September 2023.

For bookings and other enquiries email: [email protected]

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Roll Over The Icicle Works: Ian McNabb Interviewed The Quietus , May 13th, 2010 09:24

Rob Haynes chats to Ian McNabb about the regrets and recriminations of cult favourites The Icicle Works

Picture courtesy of Nancy Price for WhatsNext.com

A decade-long exercise in daring the listener to guess where they were going to go next, Liverpool's magnificently flawed dreamers the Icicle Works first fluttered into mass awareness with 1983's top 20 hit 'Love Is A Wonderful Colour' - an uncommon combination of epic romanticism, chiming guitars, muscular drumming and pastoral imagery that came across like a re-imagining of the Byrds by DH Lawrence.

To the casual musical bystander, that is where they would remain, marooned as a pub trivia question on one-hit wonders. But although the song proved to be a commercial false dawn for the band, they would nevertheless go on to provide a rich and unpredictable body of work.

The trio were an unlikely grouping of personalities. The alarmingly slight schoolboy-like frame of drummer Chris Sharrock cloaked immense talents that would eventually lead him behind the drumkit with Oasis; lengthy bassist Chris Layhe towered over him like Peter Crouch celebrating a goal with Shaun Wright-Phillips, while guitarist, vocalist and lead songwriter Ian McNabb possessed the wild gaze of a dreamer which peered out beneath a mane of hair that extended and grew wilder as the band progressed. The band began to look like an Old Testament prophet and his followers, an analogy which proved telling as the singer's control extended to encompass all the band's songwriting and record production.

The Bunnymen-esque neo-psychedelia of the eponymous debut album remains their most cohesive offering. Second album The Small Price of a Bicycle consolidated and made more dense their sound, but despite containing perhaps their finest moment – the anthemic 'Hollow Horse' – it failed to build any commercial success. Subsequent albums – the Ian Broudie-produced If You Want To Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song and 1988's Blind - were fuelled by a desperate search for another hit single, and to the untrained ear each could have been mistaken for a compilation album.

A scattershot array of songs and styles leaped out in all directions through the prism of McNabb's mercurial imagination – from pure pop gems like 'Who Do You Want For Your Love' and Evangeline to the Neil Young-channeling 'When It All Comes Down', via turbo-charged power pop of 'Understanding Jane' and Prince-style funk work-out 'The Kiss Off'.

With a glum predictability the band split, re-emerging within a year with McNabb joined by a new line-up and a set of more straightforward classic rock songs in 1990's Permanent Damage album. By their own standards it was an unimaginative set, and with their momentum fatally affected the brief revival sputtered to a close soon afterwards.

McNabb is now eight albums into a solo career which mirrors the critical /fan acclaim and corresponding commercial stuttering, but he has never turned his back on the Icicle Works' revered legacy. Solo shows contain many of their songs and there was even an anniversary Icicle Works tour in 2006, performed by McNabb with his solo band. The full story has been entertainingly related by McNabb in his ruthlessly frank memoir Merseybeast , but he cheerfully relives it all again for The Quietus.

It seems that everyone loves The Icicle Works now, despite you never having much commercial success when you were going – is that frustrating?

Ian McNabb: Yeah, of course! (laughs) The Icicle Works seem to be a lot cooler now than when we were going, that's for sure.

Fans and critics always seemed to like you – how did it seem at the time?

IM: We did OK at the time, yeah. We sold out Hammersmith Odeon. We did four albums. The first one did well and the others did OK, but you don't get to do four albums any more, you know? If you're a young band now and your first album doesn't sell half a million then you get dropped. I'm chuffed that people still seem to hold a lot of those songs in high regard. When I do my [solo] gigs people still want to hear them – they're good songs and that's it really.

In your Merseybeast book you are open about the lack of chemistry in the Icicle Works. How much did that affect the band's progress?

IM: Well I was the songwriter and the singer, so everybody didn't get to put in their own thing, I pretty much told them what to do. It wasn't really a band. A band is people contributing, and songs turn into something that is greater than the sum of its parts. I was dictatorial – but sometimes you have to be. Pete Townsend said that a band is not a democracy.

Were the others not interested, or did you not let them contribute?

IM: I tried. We were only a three piece, and I wrote the songs. I'd give Chris Sharrock a drum beat and he'd make it much better. The bass player was always in my shadow. I'd try and let him write songs but they were pale imitations of mine, and I don't think I'm being cruel saying that. He came off badly in the book. I gave him a hard time. But that's the way it was, you know?

What are your memories of making the first album?

IM: Stress! Back in those days they'd give you a load of money and you'd go to Rockfield for two months to record an album. That doesn't happen any more. I just remember not being able to sing. My memories of the first album is having me head over a bowl of mentholated steam. It was very stressful, there was a lot of money riding on it, and it was not enjoyable at all. But that's the record that's done the most for me.

Were you happy with the results at the time?

IM: I hated it when it came out. You know the score – your first album is your live set. We were really fucking great live, but by the time we finished the album I thought it sounded really homogenized, too clean, not dangerous enough and I hated it. I couldn't listen to it for years – but it sounds alright now (laughs). It's like when someone takes a photograph of you and you don't like the way you look, then 10 years later you think, fucking hell I look great there...

It was a distinctive sound for a first album. What were the influences?

IM: We were trying to be like Echo and the Bunnymen, The Doors, The Velvets, and Teardrop Explodes, and of course we didn't sound like them, but we arrived at our own sound. When I listen to that stuff now, I don't think it really sounds like anyone else – but I know all the other things we were trying to sound like. Theatre of Hate, Bow Wow Wow, Adam and the Ants. But it ended up sounding a bit like...us.

After 'Love Is A Wonderful Colour' getting in the charts turned out to be a one-off, how much pressure did you feel to write another hit?

IM: When you've got that much money behind you, the record company want a fucking hit don't they? And how do you do that? Hits come from an accident. I'd write a song, think that this was going to be my big tune, and then there'd be someone saying ‘we need a fast one', so I'd write a throwaway track and that'd be the one that everyone would say, ‘That's the single'. You don't know do you? Chuck Berry's only had one number one and that was 'My Dingaling'. 'Roll Over Beethoven' got to 37 [laughs].

They might not have been hits but you still came out with some great tunes.

IM: Well thanks. If you start thinking about it you're screwed. The songs that people still like today are the ones written when I was just trying to write a song and not a hit. If I say to you we need a hit by Monday, write one, you're going to be fucked aren't you? The best songs are the ones that everyone can identify with. Or the best trick is write a song with a girl's name in it – because the geezer will buy it for his bird. 'Understanding Jane' sold loads because there's loads of girls called Jane.

There aren't many called Evangeline though are there?

IM: [laughs] There are now! You'd be surprised – people coming up and telling me, "Oh I've named me daughter Evangeline! She's 23 now!"

You had a way with strange album titles. What was it like when you told the record company that the new album was called The Small Price of a Bicycle ?

IM: [laughs] I just did that to fuck the record company up. They'd like a snappy title and I'd say it's called 'If You Want Defeat Your Enemy Sing Their Song'. They'd say, ‘Can't you just call it Icicle Works 3?'

When did you feel that the original trio was starting to come apart?

IM: Well we weren't that successful basically. I was earning more money than everyone else because I wrote the songs, so there was dissent in the ranks. If you're Pete Townsend in The Who and you get a billion pounds, it's alright because the rest of the band are getting a million each. But when you're in The Icicle Works I'd get a few grand and they'd get a few hundred. People have got families and bills to pay, so it just started coming apart really. If there's no money rolling in, people split.

Was it a mistake to call Permanent Damage an Icicle Works album?

IM: Well the band broke up, and Muff Winwood from Sony came along and offered me a deal. I thought I was getting a solo deal but they wanted to call it the Icicle Works. They gave me a lot of money so I said OK, we'll call it the Icicle Works. A Pink Floyd record will sell a lot more than a Roger Waters one. So I was blinded by money and it was a mistake, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Are you happy to do anniversary gigs?

IM: Well it's the 30th next year. People are very anniversary conscious. So I go out with my band and call it the Icicle Works, and instead of there being 500 people there, there's 2,000. I don't understand it either! And the other thing is to go out and play an album in its entirety. The Bunnymen did Ocean Rain with an orchestra and 5,000 people turn up at the Albert Hall. So it's a no-brainer.

What album would you choose to do?

IM: The only one I like - the first one.

It's the only one you like? Really?

IM: Yeah. That was when it was happening – really good songs. The rest are a bit hit and miss to be honest with you. The Small Price had some good songs – probably about three. The rest of it is rubbish [laughs]. There's good songs on all of them, but the first album, all the songs are good. They were very naïve lyrics. Sixth form poetry. I thought I was incredibly profound writing a song called 'A Factory In The Desert', but I was 20. But at a gig now if I play a new song that I think is great it gets a bit of a golf clap. I follow it with something from the first album and everyone goes nuts. It's not even that good! The only trouble is all the early songs are dead fast and dead high to sing, so it's one night on and two nights off resting my voice.

The mistakes made the band what they were – but in an alternate universe how would do things differently?

IM: Oh...everything. I'd do everything differently. But can't can you? The past is not interactive. If you went back and fixed it, it wouldn't be the same. I know that sounds pretentious. When I listen to what I've done I think oh god, I wish I'd done that better, my vocal's shit on that, I didn't play the guitar properly there, the production's not right, there was too much reverb on the snare drum...and I have to say stop it! You can't do anything about it.

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Home Rock The Icicle Works Tickets

The Icicle Works Tickets

The Icicle Works

Saturday 17th August 2024

The Tivoli, Buckley

Doors at 19:00

The Icicle Works (Ian McNabb & Chris Layhe)

Thursday 5th September 2024

Waterfront Studio, Norwich

Doors at 19:30 | Ends: 23:00

Friday 18th October 2024

Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

Doors at 00:00

Big Country + THE ICICLE WORKS

Friday 26th April 2024

O2 Academy, Leicester

About The Icicle Works

The Icicle Works are an alt-rock group from Liverpool. First formed in 1980, they are best known for hit singles "Love Is a Wonderful Colour" and "Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)". The group now includes members Ian McNabb (guitar, lead vocals, keys), Roy Corkill (bass), Richard Naiff (keys) and Mathew Priest (drums). They have released five albums titled The Icicle Works (1984), The Small Price of a Bicycle (1985), If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song (1987), Blind (1988) and Permanent Damage (1990).

Is The Icicle Works going on tour?

Yes! You can see The Icicle Works live on tour. The Next The Icicle Works show takes place on Saturday 17th August 2024 at The Tivoli, Buckley .

Where & when can I see The Icicle Works live?

The Icicle Works will be performing live across the UK. Click here to view all upcoming shows . Buy concert tickets for The Icicle Works tour dates before they sell out! Be quick, tickets are limited and in high demand.

View tour dates

Where can I buy The Icicle Works tickets?

You can buy concert tickets to see The Icicle Works live at Gigantic.com from Monday 26th February 2024 at 12:00am .

Where can I find out more about The Icicle Works?

You can find out all the latest news and information about The Icicle Works by following them on social media, or browsing their official website.

Official Website

Official Merchandise

How can I stay up to date with the latest The Icicle Works gigs & tours?

Be the first to know and stay up to date with all the latest gigs and tours going on sale with Gigantic Tickets by signing up to our newsletter and following us on social media:

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We’ve sold over 10 million tickets to more than two million happy customers: Gigantic Tickets is one of the UK's largest independent ticket agencies.

Since 2007, we’ve worked with many of the UK's biggest concert promoters, major festivals and iconic venues.

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Like you, we live for the moments that only live events can create, so grab a ticket today and see you down the front!

Related dates and news

The icicle works fan reviews ( 7 ).

The best sound system I have heard for a long time. From the first note to the last there was clarity and defination for all instruments and vocals. Setting up a time warp performantion of the best of Icicle Works. Years have past by and a few faces changed over the years, but what you heard from the albums of 20-30 years ago is what you got. There was no support so instead you had a full hi-octane performance for nearly 3 hours. The audience are getting older but the band made up for it taking us back to the 80's. The best gig I've seen for decades. Thank you.

Posted by Di Greeno on 13/11/2019

The Icicle Works, O2 Academy2 Birmingham, Birmingham - 9th November 2019

Icicle Works

Brilliant Performance.. Great Venue.. Friendly Staff.

Posted by Pete on 10/11/2019

peterbartonmanagement.com

Peter barton management.

BIG COUNTRY

Big Country   Legendary Scottish Celtic Rock band still featuring two of the original founding members  Bruce Watson  and  Mark Brzezicki .

BIOGRAPHY/TOUR

“Almost 35 years on Big Country are back and firing on all cylinders” (Northern Echo, October 2019)

“Timeless anthems for a very Big Country…a body of work that sweeps away the test of time” (Lancashire Evening Post)

 BIG COUNTRY perform classic hits and live favourites including Harvest Home - Fields of Fire - In A Big Country - Chance - Wonderland - Look Away - The Teacher

Plus many more...

Steeped in a stunning catalogue of proud and stirring hit songs such as ‘Fields of Fire’, ‘Chance’, ‘In A Big Country’ (which sold 2 million), ‘East Of Eden’ and their biggest UK hit ‘Look Away’, along with massive albums such ‘The Seer’, ‘Steeltown’, ‘Peace In Our Time’ and the triple Grammy –nominated, ‘The Crossing’, BIG COUNTRY continue to look beyond the next horizon.

The band – BRUCE WATSON (guitars/vocals); MARK BRZEZICKI (drums, vocals); JAMIE WATSON (guitars/vocals) will be augmented on stage by singer/guitarist SIMON HOUGH and bassist GILL ALLAN

“Big Country inject a welcome blast of post-punk adrenaline… after more than three decades, their yodelling war cries and jagged New Wave power chords still strike a stirring post-Punk nerve.” (Giants Of Rock review, Classic Rock magazine)

Formed in 1981 by guitar playing founder members, the late Stuart Adamson and Bruce Watson, both native of the band’s hometown Dunfermline in Scotland. Initially driven by a shared vision of widescreen guitar melody, harmony and lyric, the classic Big Country sound was further enhanced later that summer by the arrival of drummer Mark Brzezicki and bass player Tony Butler. This is the Big Country that (with Producer Steve Lillywhite), recorded the classic debut album ‘The Crossing’ in 1983.

The band broke massively worldwide with the release of the album’s classic singles ‘Fields Of Fire’, ‘Chance’ and signature song ‘In A Big Country’, which went on to become massive worldwide hits, selling over 2 million copies and driving ‘The Crossing’ to 3 prestigious Grammy nominations in the USA.

The run of success continued throughout the 1980′s with the release of the anthemic single ‘Wonderland’ and the second album ‘Steeltown’ (1984), which debuted at Number 1 in the UK and contained the hit singles ‘East Of Eden, ‘Just a Shadow’ and ‘Where The Rose Is Sown’.

“Big Country almost blew the roof off on Saturday night.

Frontman Simon Hough was magnificent and urged the seated audience to cast aside their chairs and get down to the front of the stage. The crowd did just that, making for a night to remember. Hough was a revelation and a more charismatic vocalist is hard to visualise. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand from start to finish – no wonder Bruce Watson singled him out for a special mention”. (Ian Russell, Daily Record)

Big Country  just gets Bigger .

Wed 10th Indigo, London  with Icicle Works

Thur 11th The Welly Club, Hull (Martyn Rudd)

Fri 12 Holmfirth Picture Dome  (Barney )

Sat 13 The Marine Hall Fleetwood

Fri 26 Leicester Academy  with Icicle Works (AGMP)

Sat 27 The Forum Bath   with Icicle Works (AGMP)

Fri 3rd The Rocking Chair Wrexham

Sat 4th Eden Broughton Hall near Skipton

Fri 31st Wychwood Festival

Thursday 6th Alexanders Live, Chester

Sunday 16th Northern Kin Festival  (PBPA) (JON CONNOR)

Saturday 20th Shildon Live (Aspey)

Saturday 27th Brombachsee Near Nurnburg 

AUGUST 2024

Saturday 17th Weyfest 

Sunday 18th The Factory Worthing ( Aspey)

SEPTEMBER 2024

Fri 6 Glasgow, SWG3 Galvanisers   (AGMP)

Sat 7 Edinburgh, Queens Hall  (AGMP)

Fri 13 Sheffield The Foundry  (AGMP)

Sat 14 Middlesbrough Town Hall  (AGMP)

Fri 20 The Apex Bury St Edmunds  (AGMP)

Sat 21 Swindon, MECA  (AGMP)

Thursday 26th Belfast  (JOHN FOLEY)

Friday 27th Dublin, Opium  (J OHN FOLEY )

Saturday 28th Cork, Cyprus Avenue  (J OHN FOLEY )

Sunday 29th Limerick, Dolans  Ireland  (J OHN FOLEY )

OCTOBER 2024

Fri 4th Walsall, Walsall Arena  (AGMP)

Sat 5 Coventry, HMV Empire  (AGMP)

Tuesday 8 Valencia: Repvblicca Spain

Thur 10 Madrid: La Riviera Spain

Fri 11 Barcelona: Razzmatazz Spain

Sat 12 Bilbao: Sala Santana Spain

Thu 17 The Academy Bournemouth  (AGMP)

Fri 18 Exeter, Phoenix  (AGMP)

Sat 19 Falmouth Princess Pavillion  (AGMP)

Sun 20 Lyme Regis Marine Theatre  (Aspey)

Thur 24 Flowerpot Derby (Aspey)

Fri 25 Tenby Pavillion  (AGMP)

Sat 26 The Tivoli Buckley  (AGMP)

NOVEMBER 2024

Fri 1 Warrington Parr Hall  (AGMP)

Sat 2 Keele Univercity Stoke  (AGMP)

Fri 8 The Brewery Arts Centre Kendal  (JON CONNOR)

Sat 9 Carlisle, Old Fire Station  (JON CONNOR)

Sun 10 Carlisle Old Fire Station  (JON CONNOR)

Thur 14 Dorking Halls  (AGMP)

Fri 15 Brentwood Centre  (AGMP)

Sat 16 Lincoln, Engine Shed  (AGMP)

Sun 17th Club 85 Hitchin (The Pad Presents)

Fri 22 Perth, Concert Hall  (AGMP)

Sat 23 Aberdeen, Music Hall  (AGMP)

Thu 28 Shepherds Bush Empire London  (AGMP)

Fri 29 229 Dreamland Margate  (AGMP)

Sat 30 The Cresset Peterborough  (AGMP)

DECEMBER 2024

Saturday 21st Glen Pavillion Dunfermline Calum

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Big Country and The Icicle Works to play at the same Brighton gig

Big Country announce Brighton concert (pic Ian Bourn)

Big Country are to celebrate their iconic 1984 second studio LP ‘Steeltown’ with the announcement of a 22-date UK tour 40 years on from the release. They will be supported by very special guests The Icicle Works .

‘Steeltown’ was the second studio album by Big Country which was recorded at ABBA’s Polar Studios in Stockholm with production from Steve Lillywhite. Released in October, 1984 Bruce Watson remembers the time very well, amid the nationwide strife back in the UK, fully in the grip of the Miners Strike: “We started work on Steeltown back in June 1984 at Abba’s studio. My Dad was a miner, so what we did was knuckle down to hard work for six weeks”.

Regarded by many as a classic, the multi-million selling ‘Steeltown’ went straight to the No.1 slot in the UK album charts.

Big Country will be performing songs from the album as well as the classic hits and live favourites including: ‘Fields of Fire’, ‘In A Big Country’, ‘Chance’, ‘Wonderland’, ‘Look Away’ and many more.

The Icicle Works were part of Liverpool’s early 1980s ‘neo-psychedelia’ wave that included Echo And The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, and OMD.

The Icicle Works scored a string of highly rated hit albums and singles all over the world. They were one of the few bands of their genre who made an impact in the USA, having been invited to perform on TV shows such as ‘American Bandstand’. There has been resurgence in their global popularity in recent years, with their 1984 hit ‘Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)’, featuring in the Netflix smash hit series ‘Stranger Things’.

Whilst Ian McNabb has kept The Icicle Works very much alive in recent years, this will be the first time in 25 years that he and Chris Layhe have played together.

The tour will be kicking off in Bristol on 9th February 2024 and will conclude in nearby Bath on 27th April. However in between these dates they will be travelling the length and breadth of the country. Included on the tour will be an appearance at Chalk in Brighton on Saturday 17th February.

The Big Country current lineup is made up of founding members Bruce Watson (guitars/vocals) and Mark Brzezicki (drums, vocals); along with Jamie Watson (guitars/vocals); Simon Hough (vocals); Gil Allan (bass).

Tickets for all tour dates can be purchased HERE .

bigcountry.co.uk

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• March 9, 2024 Setlist

The Icicle Works Setlist at The Assembly, Royal Leamington Spa, England

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1 activity (last edit by Wode , 11 Mar 2024, 23:58 Etc/UTC )

The Icicle Works

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The Assembly

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The Icicle Works Gig Timeline

• Mar 02 2024 Leeds Beckett Students' Union Leeds, England Start time: 7:45 PM 7:45 PM
• Mar 08 2024 Cambridge Junction Cambridge, England Start time: 7:45 PM 7:45 PM
• Mar 09 2024 The Assembly This Setlist Royal Leamington Spa, England Add time Add time
• Mar 16 2024 O2 Ritz Manchester, England Add time Add time
• Mar 21 2024 KK’s Steel Mill Wolverhampton, England Add time Add time

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Tour Update

Marquee memories: jesse mccartney.

• Jesse McCartney
• Apr 14, 2024
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The Icicle Works

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Official Website of Big Country

Official website for the legendary Scottish band – All the news and latest merchandise

• Steeltown Big Country 1:00
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• Driving To Damascus Big Country 1:00
• The Journey Big Country 0:30

Steeltown 40th Anniversary

Big Country celebrate the 40th anniversary of ‘Steeltown’, their acclaimed second studio LP, along with very special guests The Icicle Works.

Tickets on sale NOW! 👉👉 bit.ly/BigCountry-Steeltown

More shows to be announced soon. Full list if gigs at: https://bigcountry.co.uk/gigs

The 4CD Deluxe Edition of Driving To Damascus includes the live-in-the-studio Nashville Sessions, single versions, alternate mixes from the US release ‘John Wayne’s Dream’ and two discs of demos.

Order here – cherryred.co/DrivingToDamascus

Copies of the deluxe 4CD edition of Driving To Damascus are here!

The box includes the live-in-the-studio Nashville Sessions, single versions, alternate mixes from the US release ‘John Wayne’s Dream’ and two discs of demos.

Out next Friday, you can pre-order the set from Cherry Red Records: https://cherryred.co/DrivingToDamascus

Back To The Future!!!

Modified prototype of Bond guitar.

Electrics were made at Simclar in Dunfermline.

Aluminium stepped fingerboard, composite body (I think). Schaler active pickups, 9 volt battery in the back. Custom made scratch plate with strat style controls. Flux capacitor not included.

Driving To Damascus Box Set

Coming in June from Cherry Red Records, a 4CD deluxe edition of Driving To Damascus.

The set includes the live-in-the-studio Nashville Sessions, single versions, alternate mixes from the US release ‘John Wayne’s Dream’ and two discs of demos.

Released 30th June, you can pre-order from here:

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/big-country-driving-to-damascus-4cd-deluxe-edition/

Big Country Store is open once again.

Long time coming, between postal strikes, backlogs at sorting offices etc it’s been a nightmare Hopefully Royal Mails Cyber Attack has been resolved ! They have said that overseas deliveries could take slightly longer.

Rest assured I’ll post them out quickly . So please bear with us! Thank you all for your patience and support it is greatly appreciated ! Please note, we still cannot post to Europe! Thank you Brexit, the gift that just keeps on giving 😡

www.bigcountry.co.uk/store

Vinyl Re-Issues

Proper Records are delighted to make again available the first three albums from the much-loved Big Country. Originally released on Mercury Records between 1983 and 1986, these records – The Crossing, Steeltown, and The Seer – sound as striking and singular now as they did when first heard.

Formed by ex-Skids guitarist Stuart Adamson in 1981 with old friend Bruce Watson and, from 1982, rhythm section Tony Butler and Mark Brzezicki, Big Country proved a fascinating proposition, adding punk, new wave and even new romantic elements to heavy, meaning-laden pop/rock with a passionate Celtic slant and fierce integrity. Using effects, Adamson and Watson’s chiming guitars evoked traditional Scottish instruments. This was unique and proved highly influential. With a year of their first release, many existing bands began to emulate the group’s sound. Nobody achieved it quite like Big Country.

All three titles are presented with scrupulous attention to the detail of the original UK first pressings and available in audiophile 180gm vinyl. Whether replacing much-loved originals, or adding to a collection afresh, these are a superior way to enjoy such enduring and influential music.

Order yours here: http://www.proper-records.co.uk/2022/12/big-country-vinyl-re-issues/

THE CROSSING 40th ANNIVERSARY – The Preparation is underway

An update from Bruce –

“Building new pedal board for Crossing tour, this is the closest sounding equipment I could find to replicate the sounds from the album. Amazing to think that this fits in a small suitcase. My original equipment went into a flight case the size of a fridge”

New dates for 40th Anniversary Tour

We are thrilled to announce the 40th anniversary tour for our 1983 debut LP ‘The Crossing’ along with very special guests Spear of Destiny on selected dates.

Tickets on sale now!

https://www.seetickets.com/tour/big-country-spear-of-destiny

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Upcoming concerts for Big Country

• Thursday November 14, 2024 Big Country and The Alarm Dorking Halls, Dorking
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Friday 16 February 2024

Big Country and The Icicle Works

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Priestfield Stadium, Redfern Ave, Gillingham ME7 4DD Gillingham, UK

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Doors open: 19:00

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