One of the UK’s foremost folk rock bands – OYSTERBAND – are announcing that they are calling time on their live career and will be performing live with June Tabor for the last time.
After 45 years on the road, the legendary Canterbury-formed collective will be hanging up their touring boots and bringing their unique partnership with the English folk songstress to a worthy conclusion.
But it’s not over yet… With a tour aptly named “A Long Long Goodbye“, Oysterband will be bowing-out in style with a year of unmissable shows planned at some of their favourite haunts, where they will be performing a career-spanning set, including highlights of their collaborations with June Tabor.
Recently announced for the 2024 Cambridge Folk Festival where the band have become the stuff of festival legend over the years, the band will then head-out on a string of seven shows alongside longstanding creative compadre June Tabor this October.
In a statement about the upcoming tour, Oysterband said:
“We’re hanging up our travelling shoes, but we’re taking a year or so to say goodbye to our lovely live audience. And we mean to enjoy every minute! It’s been a long, tough, joyful journey, but the time has come. In the words of our own song “Granite Years”, we’re waving you a long, long goodbye… Come help us celebrate!”
Featuring John Jones (vox, melodeon), Ian Telfer (violin, keyboard), Alan Prosser (guitars), Sean Randle (drums, percussion), Al Scott (bass, mandolin) and Adrian Oxaal (cello, guitars), with June Tabor (vox); the full list of dates for Oysterband & June Tabor’s Last Tour Together can be found below.
OYSTERBAND & JUNE TABOR: ‘A LONG LONG GOODBYE’
Thu 3 Oct 2024 – Birmingham – Town Hall
Fri 4 Oct 2024 – Bristol – Beacon
Sat 5 Oct 2024 – Bexhill – De La Warr Pavilion
Sat 12 Oct 2024 – Manchester – RNCM Concert Hall
Sun 13 Oct 2024 – Sunderland – The Fire Station
Tue 15 Oct 2024 – Leicester – De Montfort Hall
Sat 19 Oct 2024 – London – The Barbican
Tickets are on sale from this Friday @ 10AM here:
www.alonglonggoodbye.live
*****
Emerging in the early 80s from their folk club and ceilidh band days, Oysterband infused both the traditional and their own songs with a passion and energy that was electrifying. Polkas, politics and a heaving dance floor seemed just right for Thatcher’s Britain. Signing to new roots label Cooking Vinyl, headlining English Roots Against Apartheid, playing Glastonbury and the Fleadh several times each, touring with The Pogues in Europe and Billy Bragg in North America, hosting their Big Session Festival in The Midlands. All gained them a large and loyal following both at home and internationally.
Endlessly touring and writing over the course of their 45 year career, the band have played all over the world and released dozens of studio releases throughout their career, including seminal albums like ‘Holy Bandits’ (1993), ‘The Shouting End of Life’ (1995) and ‘Diamonds On The Water’ (2014), not to mention timeless compilations, and unbeatable live albums.
Initially collaborating with June Tabor in 1990, the meeting of minds produced the cult favourite ‘Freedom & Rain’. Reconnecting some 21 years later, the resultant album ‘Ragged Kingdom’ would become one of the best-selling folk-rock albums of the new millennium.
And Oysterband’s efforts have not gone unnoticed either. Awarded winners of several BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, including Best Band twice, Oysterband’s song-writing has never stood still, and hits such as “The Oxford Girl”, “When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down)”, “Everywhere I Go” and “Put Out The Lights” are now staples of the folk canon.
Most recently, Oysterband released their final studio album ‘Read The Sky’ to much acclaim in 2021 and recently undertook an extensive tour of Europe, plus a special “Decades” tour across the UK where they explore their back catalogue. Embarking on a new tour later on in 2024, Oysterband will be going out on a high as they bid “A Long Long Goodbye” to fans and friends with a series of unforgettable live shows.