Photo credit Jonathan Turton.
The Zutons are embarking on a full UK tour next year, in support of forthcoming album The Big Decider, which arrives on 26th April 2024. Having sold out their run of intimate live shows set to take place from January to March of next year, they have added a string of new dates, including Southampton’s Engine Rooms on April 21st.
The Big Decider their first album together for 16 years. The multi-platinum selling band released three studio albums between 2004 and 2008, scoring 9 UK Top 40 singles including two Top 10s with ‘Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love?’ and the all- conquering ‘Valerie’, the latter a triple-platinum hit for Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse.
The Big Decider comes into view as an album of stark significance to the band, completed by Dave McCabe (guitar, lead vocals), Abi Harding (saxophone, vocals) and Sean Payne (drums, vocals). Written against the backdrop of a decade and a half’s worth of lived experience.
Curiously, the pandemic seemingly fast-tracked the process of the band’s next phase. As McCabe characterises that time, shortly before he went into rehab: “We were all living together in our own little bubble, plenty of booze and mushrooms and a lot of bonding! It was necessary.” It was McCabe’s subsequent time in rehab that truly sparked a turning point in the positivity of the new album and the joyful experience of putting it together. Harding says: “Dave has been through an awful lot in the last few years, and these things have obviously really impacted him. But his songwriting has only got better. Now he spends more time on his songs. He’s in touch with his own and others’ emotions, and that all goes into the songs. It has been so nice to watch him grow. I’m so proud of him.”
The Zutons April 2024 UK headline tour
Fri 12 Apr – Marble Factory, Bristol
Sat 13 Apr – New Century Hall, Manchester
Sun 14 Apr – Wylam Brewery, Newcastle
Tue 16 Apr – XOYO, Birmingham
Wed 17 Apr – Leadmill, Sheffield
Thu 18 Apr – SWG3 TV Studio, Glasgow
Sun 21 Apr – Engine Rooms, Southampton
Mon 22 Apr – Chalk, Brighton
Wed 24 Apr – Pryzm, Kingston
Thu 25 Apr – O2 Academy, Oxford
Fri 26 Apr – Olympia, Liverpool
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