Hayden Thorpe has announced new UK live shows, which will see him perform songs of Wild Beasts solo.
Thorpe co-founded the indie band back in 2002, and they went on to release five albums over the next 15 years – 2008’s ‘Limbo, Panto’, 2009’s ‘Two Dancers’, 2011’s ‘Smother’, 2014’s ‘Present Tense’, and 2016’s ‘Boy King’ .
The year after that last release, the band confirmed that they were breaking up, and Thorpe went on to launch a solo career and share three albums – the latest of which being 2024’s ‘Ness’.
Now, he has confirmed plans for some 2026 live shows, which will see him revisit his music with Wild Beasts for the first time in nine years.
Three new shows have been confirmed for November, taking place in Kendal, Leeds and London. All of them will see him play solo and showcase the songs in their “purest form”.
“I’m fortunate enough that in my daily life I will quite often encounter a kind soul who’ll tell me how much a certain Wild Beasts song, album or show has meant to them,” Thorpe explained. “I’ve come to learn that as time passes, the heart’s connections do not fade and the potency of the music remains strong.”
He also shared that, like many fans, he has “been missing the songs myself of late, so it felt like a ripe time to reach for the high notes and call on my hand’s muscle memory”.
Coincidentally, the tour also aligns with the 20th anniversary of the band’s first single, ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants’.
“The venue choices are also very deliberate. Each room played an important role in the history of the band,” the singer added. “Brewery Arts was our cultural HQ growing up in Kendal, Hoxton Hall was the scene of a breakthrough show for our second album ‘Two Dancers’ and Brudenell Social Club will always be where we came of age as musicians.
“I’m thrilled to be taking this moment to celebrate the shared history we all have with Wild Beasts music.”
Tickets go on sale on Tuesday April 7 at 10am local time, and pre-sale options are available now. Visit here to buy tickets.
NOVEMBER
14 – Brewery Arts, Kendal
17 – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
19 – Hoxton Hall, London
As well as going on to pursue a solo career after Wild Beasts split, Thorpe has also helped develop a new sound installation called WETLANDS. It is open now at London’s Walthamstow Wetlands, and will run until June.
Bandmate Tom Fleming has also continued to make music since Wild Beasts disbanded, and began writing under the moniker One True Pairing. His second solo record arrived in 2024 and was called ‘Endless Rain’.
When Wild Beasts announced their split in 2017, they told fans that while “our hearts and minds have been devoted to the band since we were teenagers”, they had “decided, for our own reasons and in our own ways, that it is now time to leave this orbit”.
“We’re care takers to something precious and don’t want to have it diminish as we move forward in our lives,” they added. “Thank you for your love and energy and for helping us make it what it is. We consider ourselves remarkably fortunate to have lived out this dream.”
pic.twitter.com/WTGi0JBS6D
— Wild Beasts (@WildBeasts) September 25, 2017
After sharing the news, artists including Felix White (The Maccabees) and Yannis Philippakis (FOALS) took to social media to share their sadness at the decision for the band to part ways.
The latter described them as “one of the best bands of our time” and added that every album of theirs “was bold, intriguing & beautiful”. Everything Everything also shared a message for the band, writing: “We always looked up to this band. Their influence on us has been huge and it won’t be the same without them. Long live Wild Beasts”.
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