Billy Bragg announces national tour including Leeds 02 Academy date

As part of his celebrations to mark 40 years in music, Billy Bragg has announced his Roaring Forty tour which includes one date in Yorkshire.
By Sue Wilkinson
Published 21st Mar 2023, 12:09 BST
Updated 21st Mar 2023, 12:09 BST
Billy Bragg will play Leeds O2 Academy at the end of the yearBilly Bragg will play Leeds O2 Academy at the end of the year
Billy Bragg will play Leeds O2 Academy at the end of the year

The UK tour of Britain and Ireland marks includes a gig at Leeds 02 Academy on Sunday November 26.

“It doesn’t seem like just that long ago that I was playing Thursday nights at the Tunnel in Greenwich, opening for whoever was headlining that night,” said Billy.

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"I learned my chops there in late 1982/early 1983 and I’m still putting those lessons to good use 40 years later. Hope to see some of you on the Roaring Forty tour this autumn.”Punk rocker, soldier, Essex boy, folk singer, Skiffle aficionado, protest singers’ protest singer, patriot, optimist, lefty polemicist, author, soul miner, musicologist, champion of the underclasses, Cockney vocalist and all-round decent bloke Billy Bragg will release a career spanning 14-disc deluxe box set entitled The Roaring Forty | 1983-2023’ on October 27 on Cooking Vinyl.

The Roaring Forty | 1983-2023’ celebrates the remarkable and enduring musical legacy of a much-loved songwriter, principled activist and alternative national treasure.Billy Bragg has been a fearless recording artist, tireless live performer and peerless political campaigner for 40 years.

He has released 11 solo studio albums and a mini album Bridges Not Walls in 2017. His performances at the BBC were anthologised in The Best Of Billy Bragg At The BBC 1983-2019 (2019).

Billy Bragg added best-selling author/musicologist to his CV with the success of his acclaimed 2017 book Roots, Radicals & Rockers – How Skiffle Changed The World.

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He has written two books of political analysis - The Progressive Patriot: A Search For Belonging (2006) and The Three Dimensions of Freedom (2019), which has been translated into German and Spanish.

To be expected from a career that has straddled many genres, Billy Bragg has worked with a wealth of celebrated musicians from different musical backgrounds including Eliza Carthy, Norman Cook, Dick Gaughan, Joe Henry, Kirsty MacColl, Ian McLagan, Johnny Marr, REM Natalie Merchant, Romeo Stodart, Danny Thompson, Robert Wyatt, Pete Seeger, the Philharmonic Orchestra and US alt-Rock band Wilco, with whom he created two critically acclaimed collections setting previously unheard lyrics by legendary American Folk singer Woody Guthrie to music.

Tickets go on sale from Friday March 31 from 10am at from www.billybragg.co.uk

Related topics:LeedsYorkshireIreland