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Deacon Blue announce new album and UK tour, including big First Direct Arena gig
They're back with their first new material since 2021.
UK pop-rock legends Deacon Blue have just announced a new album and UK tour, including a huge gig at Leeds' First Direct Arena.
The Scottish superstars and long-standing British band are back with their 11th studio album and have confirmed a slew of domestic tour dates along with the announcement.
Having been going since 1985, they are well and truly some of the most revered recording veterans to ever come out of the country, known for hit tracks like 'Real Gone Kid', 'Dignity', 'Loaded' and more.
Revealing a total of 20 dates across various arenas and theatres, Deacon Blue will naturally be kicking off their tour in their home country before heading Yorkshire way not long after.
In addition to the new LP, The Great Western Road, Deacon Blue have plenty to celebrate next year as 2025 will also mark the band's 40th anniversary.
Founding members Ricky Ross and Dougie Vipond reflect on their journey as a group, as well as their long and successful career in the industry in this new album, as well the band's shared age and experience now they're four decades into Deacon.
Commenting on the announcement, lead singer Ricky Ross said: "It’s just the next part of the adventure and it’s as exciting now as it was back then."
"I love the idea that a circus coming to town is a temporary existence, a little bit of magic suddenly appears in the middle of a town or a village and then it goes away. It’s very similar to what you do live.
Perhaps most excitingly besides the upcoming album itself, one of the coolest things about this new tour is that it's not going to be your average old headline gig: they've promised two different shows.
Explaining that they'll be "curating a show that changes and evolves, pulling
out little surprises every now and again", the theatre shows will also be distinct from the bigger arena shows, allowing them to flick between the new music and the hits.
They've said they want to give fans "the best night of their lives" and make each show just as brilliant as the last.
"The live experience is so ephemeral, at the end of a show people lose all their inhibitions, and then it’s over", added Ross; "You have to be there. That’s what’s magical about it."
As for The Great Western Road - a tribute to Glasgow's legendary street of the same name located between the city centre and its West End - the album is due to release on 21 March 2025.
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Deacon Blue will be coming to Leeds' First Direct Arena on Tuesday, 23 September 2025 and even if you don't grab tickets to that show, they'll be playing nearby dates in Bradford, Hull and a pair of gigs in Sheffield.
General admission goes live at 9am this Friday, 29 November but fans can register for presale tickets either by signing up for the First Direct newsletter. Three mobile customers can also get exclusive presale on Wednesday, 27 November from 10am.
You can get ready to grab your tickets HERE.
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Loyle Carner at Kirkstall Abbey – the perfect match of artist and venue
Clementine Hall
One of Britain's best performed to a pack-out crowd at Leeds' historic Kirkstall Abbey.
If there was ever a venue designed to make you feel like you've accidentally wandered into the coolest history lesson of your life, it's Kirkstall Abbey.
Ancient ruins, blazing sunshine, pints in plastic cups and thousands of people flocking for the one and only Loyle Carner? Not a bad way to spend a Saturday we think.
And it wasn't just Loyle who we were treated to either, the entire day as part of Above All Else Festival saw a bill of groove-fuelled acts take to the stage.
Bricknasty, Kofi Stone, Kokoroko and Jordan Rakei delivered fabulous sets and warmed us up very nicely indeed for the man himself.
Fresh from the release of Hopefully!, Carner arrived to deafening cheers, wasting little time before settling into the laid-back confidence that has become his trademark.
And he didn't waste time getting into his catalogue of hits either as he seamlessly transitioned from one banger to the next.
It really felt like a celebration of his work, and he himself welled up at the sea of people singing his songs back to him over and over again.
Of course, highlights included Loose Ends and Ottolenghi but dedicating Hate to Nigel Farage was nothing short of iconic.
This is a rapper that has executed the delivery between syncopation and rhythm perfectly, but it's his lyrics that keep you going back for more.
Of course Kirkstall Abbey itself deserves plenty of credit, as the sun went down the abbey was lit up and created probably the most cinematic backdrop for a gig you can imagine.
What stood out most, though, was the atmosphere. There was a proper sense of community throughout the evening, with strangers dancing together and friends rapping every word arm in arm.
Loyle Carner has long been regarded as one of Britain's most thoughtful voices in hip-hop, but nights like this show why his appeal stretches far beyond the genre.
What's next for Loyle Carner? We're not sure, but we feel very lucky to have shared this moment with him, and you could tell he did too.
Read more: The Maccabees at Kirkstall Abbey – musical reunion of the decade?
Featured image - The Hoot Leeds
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The Maccabees at Kirkstall Abbey – musical reunion of the decade?
Daisy Jackson
When bands reunite, it's usually pretty easy to guess what the motive is. A looming tax bill, an incoming divorce, a tanking solo career, for example.
But with The Maccabees, those scenarios feel a long way removed.
This is a band that called it a day at the top of their game - and then have returned even stronger, and seemingly because they just missed being on stage together.
Addressing the near-decade apart while on stage at Kirkstall Abbey, The Maccabees frontman Orlando Weeks sums it up simply: "For a long time we were a band, and then we weren't a band for a bit, and now we're a band again."
He's as softly-spoken a frontman as they come, but then The Maccabees never have leaned entirely on their frontman for their live energy - not when he's flanked by the White brothers.
Felix White spends half the gig sporting an ear-splitting grin, and the other half screaming words of encouragement at the audience like a crazed Top of the Pops presenter. The organised-fun patter might grate if he weren't so phenomenal the moment the music starts again.
Then brother Hugo is a brooding, powerful figure, usually standing with his legs so wide apart I'm surprised he doesn't split his trousers. His stage presence is so cool, so confident, it's hard to take your eyes off him.
Orlando's otherworldly voice is really allowed to shine through with songs like Spit It Out, when the stage reduces to a single spotlight and the other band members actually squat down to minimise the distractions.
The tempo shifts of Marks to Prove It, the urgency of X-Ray and the layered beauty of Wall of Arms all underline just how tightly the band play together.
There will be new music on the way, eventually, and they give us a glimpse into that with The Ballad of So Long, a swooping epic that suggests they still have somewhere new to go.
It's hard to complain that they don't have much more to show us yet - not when the alternative is a greatest hits, belt-every-word live show.
By the end of the night, as The Maccabees wrap up their show at Kirkstall Abbey, there's a quiet confidence about them. They know this comeback works, and we'll be lapping it up for as long as they'll stick around.
Judging by the reaction inside Kirkstall Abbey, everyone else does too.
Read more: Loyle Carner at Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds – tickets, times, setlist and more
Featured image: The Hoot Leeds
Danny Jones -
26th November 2024 
