Tales of Us is the sixth concert tour from British band Goldfrapp in support of their sixth studio album, Tales of Us, released in September 2013.

Tales of Us: Tour
Tour by Goldfrapp
Associated albumTales of Us
Start date23 June 2013
End date31 July 2014
No. of shows1 in North America
5 in Europe
15 in UK
21 total
Goldfrapp concert chronology

Development

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The tour was announced in early June 2013, following the announcement of the release of their new album through their official website. The band announced dates in Europe and Australia. The first concert was a warm up show in Bristol at the Trinity Centre, with 2 further shows at the Albert Hall in Manchester, England as part of the Manchester International Festival and was the premiere of all songs from the new album along with some additional goldfrapp tracks. Also announced was a date at Somerset House as part of the "Summer Series" and 2 festival dates. The tour officially kicked off in Amsterdam in October, 2013.[1]

Band

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The band consists of 6 members (including Alison Goldfrapp).[2] These are:

  • Alison Goldfrapp – vocals
  • Ellie Stanford – violin
  • Alex Lee – guitars
  • Angie Pollock – keyboards, backing vocals
  • Charlie Jones – bass guitar
  • Seb Sternberg – drums

Set lists

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For the first 5 dates each set list varied. The Manchester shows was a showcase of their new album and included each song from it and a few others specifically from their previous albums Felt Mountain and Seventh Tree. London's Somerset House concert featured a selection of songs from Tales of Us, in addition to tracks from all their previous studio albums – including "Number 1", "You Never Know", "Ooh La La", "Paper Bag", "Shiny and Warm", "Ride a White Horse", "A&E", "Caravan Girl", "Black Cherry", "Train", "Strict Machine" and others.

Main tour set list

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The following set list is representative of most dates on the tour.

  1. Jo
  2. Drew
  3. Stranger
  4. Alvar
  5. Annabel
  6. Clay
  7. Yellow Halo
  8. Little Bird
  9. You Never Know
  10. Thea
  11. Number One
  12. Ride A White Horse
  13. Train
  14. Utopia
  15. Clowns
  16. Lovely Head
  17. Strict Machine

Reception

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The reviews for the tour were extremely positive.

Billboard.com gave a positive review of the Beacon Theatre show in New York City and ended by saying "By the time the entire Beacon stood up for the celebratory finale, "Caravan Girl", it was clear that the magic of Goldfrapp and the orchestra on Tuesday night would be hard to duplicate, even by a likely return to the States in 2014." The Independent reviewed the Somerset House with 4/5 rating although never criticising the band's new music, they stated "They may find it a challenge touring their delicate new material, but Goldfrapp still put on a heck of a show."[3]

The London Evening Standard reviewed Goldfrapp as part of their sum up of the Lovebox festival in London, by stating "Alison Goldfrapp re-established herself as Madonna's stranger sister and her band brought Lovebox to a thrilling close". At the end of their review they went on to say "None was better than Goldfrapp, who sent the punters home on a high. Without them, this would have felt less like a super Sunday and more like a superfluous one".[4]

Tour dates

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Date City Country Venue
Warm Up Tour
23 June 2013 Bristol England Trinity Centre
Album Launch
17 July 2013 Manchester England Albert Hall, Manchester
18 July 2013 Albert Hall, Manchester
20 July 2013 London Somerset House
21 July 2013 Victoria Park
10 September 2013 New York City United States Beacon Theatre
European Tour
21 October 2013 Amsterdam Netherlands Paradiso (Amsterdam)
22 October 2013 Brussels Belgium Ancienne Belgique
23 October 2013 Berlin Germany Heimathafen Neukölln
25 October 2013 Paris France Theatre Le Trianon
26 October 2013 Zürich Switzerland Kaufleuten
1 November 2013 London England Hammersmith Apollo
European Tour
26 March 2014 Birmingham England Symphony Hall
27 March 2014 Manchester The Lowry
29 March 2014 Brighton Brighton Dome
30 March 2014 Portsmouth Guildhall
1 April 2014 Bristol Colston Hall
2 April 2014 Reading Hexagon
4 April 2014 Glasgow Scotland Royal Concert Hall
5 April 2014 York England Barbican
7 April 2014 Gateshead Sage Hall 1
23 May 2014 Cologne Germany E-Werk
11 July 2014 Sesto al Reghena Italy Sexto'nplugged Festival
31 July 2014 Copenhagen Denmark Tivolis Koncertsal

Cancelled shows

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An Australian Festival Tour was announced in June 2013 but was cancelled on 16 September 2013 due to poor ticket sales of the Harvest Festival. Whilst some of the bands performed a headline tour of Australia instead of the festival, Goldfrapp tweeted that they were unable to tour Australia.

Date City Country Venue
10 November 2013 Melbourne Australia Harvest Festival
16 November 2013 Sydney
17 November 2013 Brisbane

Box score

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Venue City Tickets Sold / Tickets Available (73%) Gross (per venue)
Beacon Theatre New York 2024 / 2789 (73%) $114,140[5]
TOTAL 2024 / 2789 (73%) $114,140

Critical reception

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Reviews for the tour have all been positive. With The Guardian giving the Manchester show 4/5 stars. Similarly, The Independent gave their Somerset House show 4/5 and acknowledged that the delicate new material may be challenging live, but they "still put on one heck of a show."[6]

Sold-out shows

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Eight of the 14 shows sold out.[1] Tickets for London's Somerset House concert sold out very quickly.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Goldfrapp Homepage". goldfrapp.com. Archived from the original on 25 June 2007.
  2. ^ "Goldfrapp Various". Allblues Konzert AG.
  3. ^ Mugan, Chris (22 July 2013). "Music review: Goldfrapp, Somerset House, London". The Independent. London.
  4. ^ "Lovebox, Victoria Park – music review". Evening Standard. London. 22 July 2013.
  5. ^ agupta (25 January 2013). "Current Boxscore". Billboard.
  6. ^ Mugan, Chris (22 July 2013). "Music review: Goldfrapp, Somerset House". The Independent. London. Retrieved 25 July 2013.