Rival Sons have announced their long-awaited return to the UK & EUROPE this autumn taking their two forthcoming new albums, Darkfighter and Lightbringer on the road, across Europe for a 30-date run. Darkfighter, is set to arrive worldwide June 2nd 2023 and is available for pre-order / pre-save now on your platform of choice.
The 2x GRAMMY® Award-nominated band, known for their electrifying, well-honed live shows, will be kicking the tour off in Camden, London at the Roundhouse on Friday 13th October, just across the road from where they played their first ever European show, 12 years ago. The tour then runs through the UK, including a date at the infamous Barrowlands in Glasgow, then continuing with multiple dates in France, Germany, Poland, and Scandinavia.
Scott Holiday (guitarist) comments:
Dear friends on the other side of the pond, Darkfighter is coming for you! And Lightbringer is coming for you too! We’re finally able to come back to you and bring you new music! Music that has been firmly situated in our hearts. Nothing makes me happier than to think about experiencing these albums together and making them into something entirely new and different every night. Let’s make something symbiotic, alive, that we’ll want to remember forever!
The tour dates will go on public sale here on Friday 14th April and will be accompanied by Meet & Greets where possible (available through the Rival Sons app) with pre-sale available Thursday 13th April.
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Rival Sons Darkfighter/Lightbringer UK/EU TOUR:
- October 13, 2023 – London Roundhouse, UK
- October 14, 2023 – NX – Newcastle, UK
- October 16, 2023 – Glasgow, Barrowland Ballroom, UK
- October 17, 2023 – O2 Academy – Birmingham, UK
- October 18, 2023 – Manchester Academy – Manchester, UK
- October 20, 2023 – Cambridge Corn Exchange – Cambridge, UK
- October 21, 2023 – O2 Academy – Bristol, UK
- October 22, 2023 – O2 Guildhall – Southampton, UK
- October 24, 2023 – La Carrière – Nantes, France
- October 25, 2023 – Le Radiant – Lyon, France
- October 27, 2023 – L’Olympia – Paris, France
- October 28, 2023 – Les Docks – Lausanne, Switzerland
- October 29, 2023 – Alcatraz – Milan, Italy
- October 31, 2023 – Gasometer – Vienna, Austria
- November 1, 2023 – X-TRA – Zurich, Switzerland
- November 2, 2023 – Theaterfabrik – Munich, Germany
- November 4, 2023 – Lucerna Music Bar – Prague, Czech Republic
- November 5, 2023 – Klub Stodola – Warsaw, Poland
- November 6, 2023 – Music Club B17 – Poznan, Poland
- November 8, 2023 – Huxleys – Berlin, Germany
- November 9, 2023 – Melkweg Max – Amsterdam, Netherlands
- November 10, 2023 – Kantine – Cologne, Germany
- November 12, 2023 – Ancienne Belgique – Brussels, Belgium
- November 13, 2023 – Grosse Freiheit 36 – Hamburg, Germany
- November 14, 2023 – The Grey Hall – Copenhagen, Denmark
- November 16, 2023 – Forum Scene – Bergen, Norway
- November 17, 2023 – Sentrum Scene – Oslo, Norway
- November 18, 2023 – B-K – Stockholm, Sweden
- November 20, 2023 – House of Culture – Helsinki, Finland
- November 21, 2023 – Tampere Hall – Tampere, Finland
Last week, Rival Sons released the third visual instalment in their narrative series of videos that have accompanied new music from the forthcoming Darkfighter album. The series tells the story of a double-cross and a heist gone wrong and stars the band themselves as a gang of crooks. It’s a caper that results in explosive consequences. Jay Buchanan as Preacher throws dynamite verse in the “Nobody Wants To Die” video, the first single from Darkfighter, from their own vintage cars; (Scott’s own 1956 Pontiac Chieftain and Jay’s 1982 Mercedes 300SD) while stunt-driving across the California dessert. In the latest video for new hit single “Bird In The Hand” the explosive consequences are contextualised with the video adding another vignette to the trilogy. With a large dose of humour and a devil-may-care attitude, “Bird In The Hand”, directed by Kurt Kubicek, and written by Jay Buchanan and Scott Holiday, is a prequel for the deadly single, “Nobody Wants To Die” (dir. Eli Sokhn) and “Rapture” (dir. Kurt Kubicek), both streaming now at the official Rival Sons YouTube channel.
Jay Buchanan comments:
It’s been a great time writing and producing these videos along with great directors and crew. With video production we’re really at that sweet spot where we don’t know the rules so we’re not afraid of breaking them. We’ll see where it goes from here.
Darkfighter (out June 2nd) will be accompanied by companion volume, Lightbringer, arriving later this year. Both produced by long-time collaborator and 8x GRAMMY® Award-winner Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell). The two new LPs marks the first new music from Rival Sons in more than four years, following 2019’s critically acclaimed, GRAMMY® Award-nominated sixth studio album, Feral Roots.
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Discussing the albums, Buchanan comments:
In comparison to our previous records, we certainly took our time both writing and recording this collection. When we set out, the intention was mostly to dig as deep as possible. Even in the beginning before the body had formed, we agreed to throw the map away and chop our way through the woods to make a new path. Then lockdown hit and it felt like the whole damn country decided to throw the map away too.
For myself, 2022 was like an eight-stage rocket of life changing events, so every time I thought I was finished writing, a new bull would come tearing through the clothesline and I’d have to illustrate it in some way. By the end, there were really two different sides to the same story being told. On one side, you’re fighting the darkness and, on the other, you’re bringing your own light to where there is none. One side in a corner, on the ropes, and the other advancing, cleaning the ring. Without an intermission, a refractory period, the collection would be too big a bite, so splitting it in two was the only way to do it.
Header image by Pamela Littky
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