Award-winning progressive rock band Big Big Train has announced an additional show to take place on 5th October at Cadogan Hall in London, following of the dates previously announced having already sold out.
“Last year we played two fantastic shows at Cadogan Hall. Despite living in London some years ago, I had never previously been to Cadogan, but I fell in love with the venue the moment I stepped into it,” said lead vocalist Alberto Bravin, “I can’t wait to return there for what should be a very special Saturday night and a great way for our 2024 touring to come to an end.”
Bassist and founder member Gregory Spawton added: “Cadogan Hall plays an important part in Big Big Train’s history. Before we evolved more recently into a proper touring band, we undertook a couple of weekend residencies in London. The second of these was in 2017, when we played three very memorable shows at Cadogan. I’m really looking forward to what will be our sixth show overall there.”
The tour will see the band performing numbers from their 15th studio album, The Likes Of Us, their first for the InsideOutMusic record label released back in March, among which is their latest single, ‘Love Is The Light’, out now.
The video for ‘Love Is The Light’ was filmed a year ago on 2nd May in 2023, while recording the new album in Trieste, Italy. It was directed by Tim Sidwell you can check it out here at RAMzine.
Bravin commented: “This song recounts a difficult period in my life and how I got through it. In 2018 my daughter was born, I had a happy life and was travelling around the world playing a lot of gigs with PFM. But for no apparent reason I became deeply depressed. The most difficult challenge is not to heal, but to admit what’s happening. And you can do it only if you have real support from the people around you. My wife, Nicole, was always there for me and she helped me find the light. And she’s still doing it: With love.”
Spawton added: “When Alberto submitted ‘Love Is The Light’ as a song to be considered for The Likes Of Us, we really required no discussion about whether to include it on the album or not – It was an absolute no brainer that we should record it. It’s a beautiful ballad that draws from Alberto’s personal experience but also has universal appeal. When we played ‘Love Is The Light’ live on tour last year, it got a terrific response every night and I hope people will take the song to their hearts as we have.”
The band has previously released ‘Oblivion’ and ‘Miramare’ from the parent album and you can stream/order them by clicking here and check out the videos here at RAMzine.
Tracks featured on The Likes Of Us are: ‘Light Left In The Day’, ‘Oblivion’, Beneath The Masts’, ‘Skates On’, ‘Miramare’, ‘Love Is The Light’, ‘Bookmarks’ and ‘Last Eleven’.
Big Big Train now features Alberto Bravin on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards, Dave Foster on guitars, Rikard Sjöblom on guitars, keyboards and vocals, Gregory Spawton on bass guitar, bass pedals, 12-string acoustic guitar, and mellotron, Oskar Holldorff on keyboards and vocals, Clare Lindley on violin and vocals, and Nick D’Virgilio on drums, percussion, 12 string acoustic guitar and vocals.
The seven-piece band will now perform 13 shows through September and October, with them appearing in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. Thereafter Big Big Train will perform dates in the USA.
“We’re really looking forward to getting back on the road this autumn around the UK and Europe,” said Bravin. “Following the success of last year’s The Journey Continues tour, we can’t wait to do it all again. On this tour in Autumn we will be playing a significant amount of The Likes Of Us as well as some Big Big Train classics and a few surprises.”
Drummer Nick D’Virgilio added: “Last year’s Big Big Train shows were so much fun. We made some changes to the set list every night. It was very challenging but it kept things fresh for both us and the audience, so we’re going to take a similar approach on this tour to make every show genuinely unique.”
“For this tour we’ve decided to return to some of our favourite venues,” noted Spawton, adding, “But we were also keen to return to Wales for the first time since 2019 and get back to the north east and north west of England as well as visiting some parts of the country where Big Big Train hasn’t played before. While some fans travel vast distances to see us live, we recognise that others aren’t able to do so and therefore we’re trying to bring the show to them.”
Guitarist Rikard Sjöblom concluded by saying: “In an ideal world, we would play everywhere! Scheduling is always challenging and so while we couldn’t organise a Swedish show this time around, I’m delighted that we will be performing in Oslo and Copenhagen again for my fellow Scandinavians. And I’m particularly looking forward to our weekend at the Boerderij where we plan to play two very different shows.”
Tickets for all shows are on sale by clicking here while The Likes Of Us can be ordered here.
