Black Country, New Road exclusive Australian debut performance

Sydney — Wednesday 25 October 2023

UK indie-rock outfit Black Country, New Road will make its Australian debut in the Opera House’s Concert Hall in March 2024, playing rousing tracks from their newly-released third album ‘Live at Bush Hall’.

Recorded over three electric nights at London’s Bush Hall, the album is an invitation to fans to relive the atmosphere, sweat, collective euphoria and vibrant interplay between the band and their audience. Echoes of early Arcade Fire, Mitski and Joanna Newsom can be heard in the theatrical vocals, woodwind motifs and stirring orchestral elements. The accompanying film release trended on YouTube in the UK and the album earned rave reviews (five stars from The Guardian, four stars from NME and a 7.6 review score from Pitchfork).

Emerging from the energetic South London Windmill scene in 2018, the six-piece – Charlie Wayne, Luke Mark, Tyler Hyde, May Kershaw, Georgia Ellery and Lewis Evens – has become renowned for a genre-defying sound that draws audiences into the muck, spectacle and rapture of quintessential live performance. Described by the Guardian as ‘one of the UK’s best live bands’, Black Country, New Road is known for abandoning the carefully-crafted studio album approach in favour of presenting their music in its most raw and authentic form.

Following two top-five UK albums ‘For the First Time’ and ‘Ants From Up There’, Black Country, New Road was on the brink of a full touring schedule when the sudden departure of frontman Isaac Woods led to a decision to share vocal duties among the remaining band members. They set out to write brand new material and performed this to rapturous crowds at festivals Primavera, Green Man, Fuji Rock, as well as at two sold-out headline shows in New York.

Sydney Opera House Head of Contemporary Music, Ben Marshall says: “Seeing the reenergised, revitalised Black Country, New Road make their Australian debut in the Opera House’s Concert Hall will be a ‘pinch me’ moment. Described by Pitchfork as “embracing a theatrical maximalism that threads Springsteen with Sufjan”, they are one of the most exciting, innovative and unpredictable bands in the world right now. Black Country, New Road have always brought everything to the stage, from their post-punk urgency to their emotional vocals, from Reich-style rhythms to a magically manic orchestral sting and their current incarnation is a live performance revelation. With the release of their recent album Live at Bush Hall, I know this Concert Hall show will be absolutely unmissable."

Black Country, New Road says: “The Sydney Opera House is regarded by both us (the band) and the rest of the world as one of the most famous and distinctive buildings - a masterpiece of 20th-century architecture. We are really excited to have the opportunity to perform in such a unique and culturally significant venue.’