Erasure (Andy Bell and Vince Clarke) celebrate the release of their eighteenth studio album, The Neon, with the announcement of the first leg of their eagerly anticipated dates. October 2021 will see Erasure bring The Neon to venues across the UK, Ireland, Germany and Denmark. The tour kicks off at the Glasgow Armadillo auditorium and includes a show at the London O2 Arena on October 17. Andy Bell says, “We’re so excited to be able to - at last - announce dates for The Neon Tour! We’d hoped to have seen you sooner, but can’t wait to see you all in 2021. Until then, keep safe!”.

Written and produced by Erasure, the album’s initial sessions saw Vince and Andy reunite with a fresh optimism and energy. Vince had been feeling drawn towards his older machines, some of which he’d had since their very early years together: “There’s a warmth to them. There’s also a real beauty in putting different analogue synthesisers together, too – a Pro-One, a Sequential Circuits, a Moog – they give this lovely sheen,” he explains.

Taking inspiration from pop music through the decades, from bands Andy loved as a child through to the present day, he explains, “It was about refreshing my love – hopefully our love – of great pop. I want kids now to hear these songs! I wanted to recharge that feeling that pop can come from anyone.”

Tickets for these unmissable dates are on sale at 10am on Friday 4 September with an exclusive fan pre-sale from 10am today (access via qualifying purchase from Lexer and Mute Bank)

ERASURE - THE NEON TOUR - 2021 DATES

1 Oct 21 - Glasgow, Armadillo

4 Oct 21 - Dublin, 3Arena

6 Oct 21 - Edinburgh, Usher Hall

10 Oct 21 - Manchester, O2 Apollo

12 Oct 21 - Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena

14 Oct 21 - Bournemouth, International Centre

16 Oct 21 - Birmingham, Utilita Arena

17 Oct 21 - London, The O2

18 Oct 21 - Brighton, Centre

Dream Nails have released a final preview of their self-titled debut album which is due out tomorrow via Alcopop! Records. ‘This Is The Summer’ “is a song about how our climate is breaking down irreversibly,” says singer Janey Starling. “Colonial capitalism, waged by UK governments and corporations for centuries, has ravaged our earth.”

“We need to be urgently fighting for migrant rights so the UK welcomes climate refugees displaced by countries hit by extreme weather. We must demand transparency from oil companies who relentlessly put profit before people, even as the world burns."

Guitarist Anya Pearson adds: “We wrote ‘This Is The Summer’ in the heatwave of 2018, recorded it in another heatwave in 2019 and now we are releasing it in yet another heatwave! Our video for the track shows how the current pandemic, white supremacy and climate change are not separate issues but interlinked. The song is about the brazen complacency of getting drunk and catching a tan in the park while the world burns.”

Directed by Guen Murroni and filmed with a women, nonbinary and trans crew, the video mixes protest footage with the band doing newsreader parodies. It also features powerful footage of the band performing live in a scrapyard in the sweltering August 2020 heatwave.