DAVID GRAY to play Dublin & Belfast on WHITE LADDER, 20th Anniversary Tour

DAVID GRAY to play Dublin & Belfast on WHITE LADDER, 20th Anniversary Tour

Multi-platinum, multi-Brit award and Grammy-nominated, singer-songwriter David Gray is today announcing a 12-date Irish, UK, and European arena tour; White Ladder: The 20th Anniversary Tour, to celebrate the trailblazing album’s 20-year anniversary. The biggest selling album of all time in Ireland and one of the greatest and most heart-warming word-of-mouth successes in music, White Ladder will be performed by Gray with all the original band members and with all the original equipment to recreate the record in its entirety, plus a set of the greatest hits.

Commencing at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena on March 20th, 2020, the tour will include Belfast’s The SSE Arena on March 31st and Dublin’s 3Arena on April 2nd. Tickets for the tour will go on sale at 9 am on Friday, October 11th. Fans can have access to presale tickets on Wednesday, October 9th by pre-ordering products from the remastered collection here:

An expanded 20th-anniversary edition of White Ladder will be released on 2xCD, 4xLP, and digital formats. This will include a special remastered edition of the iconic album plus White Ladder era previously unreleased rarities, B-sides and demos. Physical versions will be accompanied by an extensive booklet with writings by Gray about the whole White Ladder experience – from the people involved to the stories behind the songs and memorable shows. The newly-remastered original album will also be released on 2LP white-colored vinyl, CD and digital, available here

Talking about the announcement, Gray says:

“It’s the 20th anniversary of White Ladder, a unique record with its own remarkable history. Jammed full with big, open-hearted songs and flooded with a raw emotional energy. It’s an album that came from nowhere to steal the hearts of millions all over the world, completely transforming my life in the process. Twenty years on and it feels like White Ladder is just as alive for people now as it was back then – so to celebrate this milestone, I will be releasing a special anniversary version of the album and assembling all the original band members with all the original equipment, in order to take White Ladder out on the road and recreate the record in its entirety”.

White Ladder was born of difficult circumstances. Gray had been struggling on the margins for a decade, a lonely figure with an acoustic guitar swimming against the tide of Britpop, grunge, hip hop, and electro. With three albums to his name, he found himself advertised at a gig third on the bill to beer and a barbecue. “Futility was so thick on the ground it was utterly soul-destroying.” He came close to quitting. But instead, he asked himself some difficult questions: “Can you make a better record? Can you write a better song? The decision was to open up and give it everything I’ve got.”

Written and recorded on a minimal budget by Gray in the bedroom of a tiny terraced house in Stoke Newington, David experimented with drum machines and electronic elements, creating a blend of folktronica that has since become a familiar part of the musical landscape, aided by drummer Craig McClune and engineer Iestyn Polson. Self-released at first on his own kitchen sink label, White Ladder slowly (very, very slowly) found an audience, firstly in Ireland. White Ladder eventually spent 6 consecutive weeks at no. 1 in Ireland and is still the best-selling album ever in Ireland.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary, it’s interesting to consider the extraordinary aftermath of White Ladder. Its success spawned a new wave of singer-songwriters in an acoustic boom that resonates to this day, a soul-baring lineage that can be directly traced from David Gray to the all-conquering Ed Sheeran. Indeed, Ed is a fan, known to cover ‘This Year’s Love’ live. Fellow world-beating British superstar Adele is also an admirer, citing ‘This Year’s Love’ as one of her all-time favourite break-up songs.

White Ladder remains an album of great depth and startling beauty, a superlative collection of emotional songs capturing a very special moment in time, as raw and immediate as when it was recorded. It’s one of 11 complex, ambitious and heartfelt albums Gray has recorded in a career than spans 25 years. Some, like White Ladder, have been big commercial successes (2002’s A New Day At Midnight and 2005’s Life In Slow Motion), others have been more intimate and experimental. All feature music that is both intimate and broad, intensely personal yet capable of speaking to the masses.

Says Gray, “What happened with White Ladder involved more than music. It was a sort of heart and soul moment of total surrender for everybody involved, for me and the audience. That was it. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

WHITE LADDER: THE 20th ANNIVERSARY TOUR – UK/EUROPE DATES:

March 20th – Liverpool @ M&S Bank Arena

March 21st – Glasgow @ The SSE Hydro

March 22nd – Cardiff @ Motorpoint Arena

March 24th – Bournemouth @ International Centre

March 26th – London @ The O2 Arena

March 27th – Leeds @ First Direct Arena

March 28th – Birmingham @ Resorts World Arena

March 31st – Belfast @ The SSE Arena

April 2nd – Dublin @ 3Arena

April 7th – Antwerp @ Lotto Arena

April 8th – Amsterdam @ AFAS Live

April 9th – Cologne @ Palladium

 

WHITE LADDER: 20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION – AVAILABLE ON:

2CD

4LP (2x white vinyl, 2x black vinyl)

Digital

Expanded edition track listing:

CD1 / LP1&2 – White Ladder 2020 remaster: CD2 / LP3&4 – Unreleased rarities & B-sides:

1. Please Forgive Me 1. Lights Of London

2. Babylon 2. Over My Head

3. My Oh My 3. Monday Morning

4. We’re Not Right 4. Tired Of Me

5. Nightblindness 5. Roots Of Love

6. Silver Lining 6. Walking In Circles

7. White Ladder 7. Through To Myself

8. This Year’s Love 8. Over My Head (demo)

9. Sail Away 9. What On Earth (demo)

10. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye 10. Silver Lining (demo)

11. This Year’s Love (demo)

12. Please Forgive Me (demo)

WHITE LADDER: 2020 REMASTER – AVAILABLE ON:

CD

2LP (Gatefold, white vinyl)

Digital

CD1 / LP1&2 – White Ladder 2020 remaster track listing:

1. Please Forgive Me

2. Babylon

3. My Oh My

4. We’re Not Right

5. Nightblindness

6. Silver Lining

7. White Ladder

8. This Year’s Love

9. Sail Away

10. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

BELFAST: THE SSE ARENA – 31 MARCH 2020

DUBLIN: 3ARENA – 02 APRIL 2020

On sale Friday at 9am

Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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