Cate Le Bon Returning To New Zealand In June 2022

Last here for a sold out tour in the pre-pandemic days of 2019, Cate Le Bon is returning to Aotearoa for two unmissable headline dates in June 2022. Performing with five piece band at Auckland's The Hollywood Avondale and Wellington's Meow over Queen's birthday weekend, these events will be an absolute treat for fans of the Welsh avant-pop artist's ever-inventive approach to song craft and spellbinding stage presence. In Le Bon's time away from NZ, the productive singer / multi-instrumentalist released both the Mercury Prize nominated Reward and swoon-inducing new album Pompeii (which has been on high rotate on the UTR office stereo since launching early this year), plus a collaborative long player with Deerhunter's Bradford Cox. Delve into Matthew Plunkett's (Cuticles) illuminating interview with Le Bon HERE and secure your spot for what's sure to be a live music highlight of 2022...

UnderTheRadar proudly presents...

Cate Le Bon
with Vera Ellen

Saturday 4th June - Meow, Wellington*
Sunday 5th June - The Hollywood Avondale, Auckland

Auckland tickets available HERE via UTR
*Wellington tickets through www.susiesays.co.nz

Watch the video for Cate Le Bon's 'Remembering Me' from new album Pompeii...

Experience the beautiful clip for 'Running Away' from Pompeii...

Press release:

Susie Says! is beyond excited to announce two special performances by Mercury-prize nominated avant-pop artist and producer Cate Le Bon.

Cate last visited New Zealand in 2019 on a rather epic sold-out tour, playing on grand piano to rapt audiences in Dunedin, Oamaru, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. For Cate's upcoming two shows she will be bringing a full five-piece band, a selection of awesome musicians from across the globe.

Cate's live performances are riveting, electric, spellbinding; Brooklyn Vegan agrees, describing her two sold-out New York City shows as "mesmerising". "Effortlessly blending a diverse range of styles and influences into a unified whole, Cate Le Bon’s latest live show is a masterclass," says The Scotsman, while The Telegraph experienced the climax of Cate's shows as "rapturous".

Cate 's performances will feature material from her sixth album Pompeii, as well as songs from 2019’s Mercury-Prize nominated Reward. Global music media is agog about Pompeii: Released in February this year, Pompeii has been called a "wondrous... dreamscape whose locked-in grooves approach the unknowable at slanted angles" by Pitchfork; "high art spiked with an unpredictable liveliness" gushes Stereogum, and "an album of the year" says The Guardian, while Canada's music magazine Exclaim! raves “Pompeii lands somewhere between Hejira-era Joni Mitchell and the solo work of Stereolab's Laetitia Sadier — rarified air where Le Bon undoubtedly belongs.”

Written primarily on bass, Cate plays every instrument (except drums and saxophones) and recorded the album largely by herself with long-term collaborator and co-producer Samur Khouja in Cardiff, Wales. The construction of Pompeii’ consists of synth sounds from the Yamaha DX7, amongst others; basslines inspired by 1980s Japanese city pop, designed to bring joyfulness and abandonment; almost tactile vocal arrangements supporting the melodic fabric of each song; long-term collaborator Stella Mozgawa’s (Warpaint) “jazz-thinking” percussion patched in from quarantined Australia; and Khouja’s encouraging presence.

Don't miss these two shows by one of the most interesting and influential musicians and producers of today.