Tales of Us Tour explained

Concert Tour Name:Tales of Us: Tour
Album:Tales of Us
Artist:Goldfrapp
Start Date:23 June 2013
End Date:31 July 2014
Number Of Shows:1 in North America
5 in Europe
15 in UK
21 total
Last Tour:Head First World Tour
(2010–2011)
This Tour:Tales of Us Tour
(2013–2014)

Tales of Us is the sixth concert tour from British band Goldfrapp in support of their sixth studio album, Tales of Us, released in September 2013.

Development

The tour was announced in early June 2013, following the announcement of the release of their new album through their official website. The band announced dates in Europe and Australia. The first concert was a warm up show in Bristol at the Trinity Centre, with 2 further shows at the Albert Hall in Manchester, England as part of the Manchester International Festival and was the premiere of all songs from the new album along with some additional goldfrapp tracks. Also announced was a date at Somerset House as part of the "Summer Series" and 2 festival dates. The tour officially kicked off in Amsterdam in October, 2013.[1]

Band

The band consists of 6 members (including Alison Goldfrapp).[2] These are:

Set lists

For the first 5 dates each set list varied. The Manchester shows was a showcase of their new album and included each song from it and a few others specifically from their previous albums Felt Mountain and Seventh Tree. London's Somerset House concert featured a selection of songs from Tales of Us, in addition to tracks from all their previous studio albums – including "Number 1", "You Never Know", "Ooh La La", "Paper Bag", "Shiny and Warm", "Ride a White Horse", "A&E", "Caravan Girl", "Black Cherry", "Train", "Strict Machine" and others.

Main tour set list

The following set list is representative of most dates on the tour.

  1. Jo
  2. Drew
  3. Stranger
  4. Alvar
  5. Annabel
  6. Clay
  7. Yellow Halo
  8. Little Bird
  9. You Never Know
  10. Thea
  11. Number One
  12. Ride A White Horse
  13. Train
  14. Utopia
  15. Clowns
  16. Lovely Head
  17. Strict Machine

Reception

The reviews for the tour were extremely positive.

Billboard.com gave a positive review of the Beacon Theatre show in New York City and ended by saying "By the time the entire Beacon stood up for the celebratory finale, "Caravan Girl", it was clear that the magic of Goldfrapp and the orchestra on Tuesday night would be hard to duplicate, even by a likely return to the States in 2014."The Independent reviewed the Somerset House with 4/5 rating although never criticising the band's new music, they stated "They may find it a challenge touring their delicate new material, but Goldfrapp still put on a heck of a show."[3]

The London Evening Standard reviewed Goldfrapp as part of their sum up of the Lovebox festival in London, by stating "Alison Goldfrapp re-established herself as Madonna's stranger sister and her band brought Lovebox to a thrilling close". At the end of their review they went on to say "None was better than Goldfrapp, who sent the punters home on a high. Without them, this would have felt less like a super Sunday and more like a superfluous one".[4]

Tour dates

DateCityCountryVenue
Warm Up Tour
23 June 2013BristolEnglandTrinity Centre
Album Launch
17 July 2013ManchesterEnglandAlbert Hall, Manchester
18 July 2013Albert Hall, Manchester
20 July 2013LondonSomerset House
21 July 2013Victoria Park
10 September 2013New York CityUnited StatesBeacon Theatre
European Tour
21 October 2013AmsterdamNetherlandsParadiso (Amsterdam)
22 October 2013BrusselsBelgiumAncienne Belgique
23 October 2013BerlinGermanyHeimathafen Neukölln
25 October 2013ParisFranceTheatre Le Trianon
26 October 2013ZürichSwitzerlandKaufleuten
1 November 2013LondonEnglandHammersmith Apollo
European Tour
26 March 2014BirminghamEnglandSymphony Hall
27 March 2014ManchesterThe Lowry
29 March 2014BrightonBrighton Dome
30 March 2014PortsmouthGuildhall
1 April 2014BristolColston Hall
2 April 2014ReadingHexagon
4 April 2014GlasgowScotlandRoyal Concert Hall
5 April 2014YorkEnglandBarbican
7 April 2014GatesheadSage Hall 1
23 May 2014CologneGermanyE-Werk
11 July 2014Sesto al ReghenaItalySexto'nplugged Festival
31 July 2014CopenhagenDenmarkTivolis Koncertsal

Cancelled shows

An Australian Festival Tour was announced in June 2013 but was cancelled on 16 September 2013 due to poor ticket sales of the Harvest Festival. Whilst some of the bands performed a headline tour of Australia instead of the festival, Goldfrapp tweeted that they were unable to tour Australia.

DateCityCountryVenue
10 November 2013MelbourneAustraliaHarvest Festival
16 November 2013Sydney
17 November 2013Brisbane

Box score

VenueCityTickets Sold / Tickets Available (73%)Gross (per venue)
Beacon TheatreNew York2024 / 2789 (73%)$114,140[5]
TOTAL2024 / 2789 (73%)$114,140

Critical reception

Reviews for the tour have all been positive. With The Guardian giving the Manchester show 4/5 stars. Similarly, The Independent gave their Somerset House show 4/5 and acknowledged that the delicate new material may be challenging live, but they "still put on one heck of a show."[6]

Sold-out shows

Eight of the 14 shows sold out.[1] Tickets for London's Somerset House concert sold out very quickly.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Goldfrapp Homepage. goldfrapp.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20070625075723/http://www.goldfrapp.com/#live/ . 25 June 2007.
  2. Web site: Goldfrapp Various. Allblues Konzert AG.
  3. News: Music review: Goldfrapp, Somerset House, London . London . The Independent . Chris . Mugan . 22 July 2013.
  4. Web site: Lovebox, Victoria Park – music review. 22 July 2013. Evening Standard. London.
  5. Current Boxscore. agupta. 25 January 2013. Billboard.
  6. News: Music review: Goldfrapp, Somerset House. 25 July 2013 . London. The Independent. Chris. Mugan. 22 July 2013.