The Wombats have announced a new UK and European tour, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough debut album ‘A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation’.
The tour will kick off next spring with an opening night in Paris on April 1, followed by further stops in Cologne, Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam and Antwerp over the following week. From there, four UK shows are lined-up, taking place in Manchester, Glasgow, London and Liverpool through the rest of the month.
At each show, frontman Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy and co. will perform their iconic debut album from start to finish during the first half to celebrate 20 years since its release. For the second half, they will break out some more of their biggest hits and fan favourites from across the rest of their discography.
“When we realised our debut album was turning 20 in 2027 we decided it was only fair to throw a bit of a party to celebrate,” said drummer Dan Haggis. “‘A Guide To Love, Loss and Desperation’ was a culmination of the first four years of life in The Wombats, it catapulted us from driving around the UK in my granny’s car and sleeping on promoters floors, all the way to touring the world.
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“Our first album is packed full of memories – playing the Albert Hall, touring in Japan, the US, Australia (where we got to meet an actual Wombat), playing Glastonbury and so many chaotic, wonderful moments,” he added.
“We’re going to play the whole album from start to finish and if this album meant something to you, we invite you to join us at a show for a little trip in the Sonic Delorean. That first album gave us the possibility and platform to go on and make loads more music (with more on the way!) so we’ll be playing a selection of tunes from all our other albums too, it’s going to be a special night to remember. Hope to see you at a show.”
Joining them as support will be The Snuts, Cherryholt, Abbie McCarthy and Filip Clements, and tickets go on sale this Friday (October 16) at 9am BST. Pre-sale options open from Wednesday (October 14) and you can visit here for tickets and more information.
The Wombats ‘A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation’ 20th anniversary tour dates are:
APRIL 2027
1 – Paris, Le Trianon
3 – Cologne, Palladium
4 – Berlin, Columbiahalle
5 – Munich, Zenith
7 – Amsterdam, Gashouder
8 – Antwerp, Trix
10 – Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse
13 – Glasgow, O2 Academy Glasgow
16 – London, O2 Academy Brixton
18 – Liverpool, Arts Club
The Wombats dropped ‘A Guide to Love, Loss & Desperation’ back in 2007 and it featured fan favourites including ‘Let’s Dance to Joy Division’, ‘Kill the Director’ and ‘Moving to New York’. It immediately put them on the map as one of the UK’s most exciting new indie bands and the debut record went on to sell over 400,000 copies in the UK alone.
It was followed by 2011 sophomore record ‘This Modern Glitch’, as well as 2015’s ‘Glitterbug’, 2018’s ‘Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life’, and 2022’s ‘Fix Yourself, Not the World’.
Their most recent album was ‘Oh! The Ocean’, which arrived in February 2025 and saw them reach Number Four in the UK Official Albums Chart.
Shortly after the release of that record, the frontman spoke to NME for our ‘Does Rock ‘N’ Roll Kill Braincells?!’ series and opened up about the time Mick Jagger posted a video of himself dancing to their song ‘Techno Fan’ in 2019.
“He’d had heart surgery and that post was his first calling to the world that he’d gotten better and over it, and it culminated in us supporting The Rolling Stones at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey that year, which is one of the biggest shows we’ve ever done,” the singer recalled. “Mick invited us backstage to hang out with him, and Keith Richards stroked my daughter’s hair, like he was blessing her! It was a very cool day.”
When asked if there were any more unexpected artists they noticed who are fans of their music, Murphy shared: “The oddest one is Addison Rae. It was completely her doing that ‘Greek Tragedy’ kicked off again. She posted a TikTok dance of her miming to its opening verse and chorus. I’d never heard of her – nor had I heard the remix that she’d used, so that was the weirdest celebrity moment considering I didn’t even realise she was a celebrity, nor what TikTok was capable of.”
