Spiritualized have announced an ‘Acoustic Mainlines’ tour, set to take place across the UK later this year.
The new dates celebrate the 20th anniversary of the pysch legends’ first-ever acoustic performances, which took place around the time they were making their 2008 album ‘Songs in A&E’ and shortly after singer J Spaceman survived a period of serious illness.
Those 2006 shows took inspiration from their time supporting Daniel Johnston at the Barbican in London, where they introduced a more stripped-back approach. They also used the acoustic sets to break out covers of Johnston’s songs ‘Devil Town’, ‘Funeral Home’ and ‘True Love Will Find You In The End’.
“I was underweight and battered and this was a gentle way of getting back on stage,” J Spaceman said, looking back at the acoustic shows two decades ago. “It wasn’t my show for a start, and it was small, and it was beautiful.”
He went on to add that while those initial dates were only performed by himself and guitarist Tony Doggen Foster, the new 20th anniversary tour will see the shows recreated with more musicians.
“Originally, it was just going to be the two of us, but we ended up getting the strings and the choir and because it worked so well, it led to other things,” the frontman added. Like the original shows, the set will see Spiritualized play tracks from across their earlier catalogue alongside some covers.
The new tour dates kick off on December 8 at the Albert Hall in Nottingham, followed by shows in Bury St Edmunds and Halifax on December 9 and 10 respectively. Shows wrap up at the Barbican in London on December 12.
Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Friday June 12) at 10am. Visit here for tickets and more information.
Spiritualized ‘Acoustic Mainlines’ tour dates are
DECEMBER 2026
8 – Nottingham – Albert Hall
9 – Bury St Edmunds – The Apex
10 – Halifax – Halifax Minster
12 – London – Barbican
The new tour dates are the first from Spiritualized since they celebrated the 30 years of the ‘Pure Phase’ album last year with an anniversary tour around the UK, playing the tracklist in full.
In 2024, J Spaceman and co. released a reissue of their aforementioned 2008 studio album ‘Songs In A&E’, with new artwork, and this year they have already performed as part of the BRITs War Child week of gigs.
Their last studio album was 2022’s ‘Everything Was Beautiful’. In a four-star review of that record, NME wrote: “Etched from a series of early demos in 2014, Pierce’s latest symphonic offering finds the Spiritualized frontman experimenting with 16 different instruments alongside 30 musicians, including his daughter Poppy, long-time collaborator John Coxon, string, brass sections and choirs. The result is a densely orchestrated record that is as solid as it is sprawling.”
