slowthai announces UK and European dates of ‘UGLY’ world tour
The rapper will perform his biggest show to date at London's Alexandra Palace this September
slowthai has announced the UK and European dates of his ‘UGLY’ world tour.
In support of his new album UGLY, out March 3, the Northampton rapper will kick off the UK leg of the tour at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom on September 20, with dates in Manchester (21), London (22) and Birmingham (23) before he heads to the continent.
Shows will follow in Paris (27), Amsterdam (28), Berlin (29) and Brussels (30).
Support across all dates will come from Nia Archives and Sainté, which includes a huge London show at Alexandra Palace, the rapper’s biggest to date.
General sale tickets go live next Friday, March 3 at 10am GMT – album release day – while pre-sale can be accessed by pre-ordering the album here.
Find the full list of tour dates below.
SEPTEMBER
20 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
21 – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
22 – Alexandra Palace, London
23 – O2 Academy, Birmingham
27 – Elysee Montmarte, Paris, France
28 – Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands
29 – Metropol , Berlin, Germany
30 – AB, Brussels, Belgium
Last night, slowthai started his pre-album run of six intimate shows in pubs and small venues across the UK, for which he kept ticket prices at £1.
Discussing his forthcoming third studio album in a recent Rolling Stone UK cover interview, Slowthai said that the themes – wanting to escape where you’re from and self-destructive working-class vices – is what’s “glamourised and glorified in a lot of music and television and you don’t have means to live any other way so that’s how you get your thrills”.
Discussing opening track ‘Yum’, slowthai continued: “It’s about all kinds of addiction, be it drugs, partying, money, sex, wasting time, turning your back and not dealing with your problems, lying to the people you love. All little things but they all amount to something and there’s stuff we blame on other stuff and we don’t take accountability for things we’re doing. But it’s through accountability that you can get out of it.”
As for the sound of the new record, the Northampton rapper said: “Writing these kinds of songs is different to writing a rap, but at the same time, I’ve brought my formula of rap to rock.
“That’s my twist on it, I suppose. Because it’s not singing but it’s not rapping either. I just feel it’s the way I could articulate my emotions better than rapping.”