Billy Bragg - Real Groovy Apperance, Christchurch Benefit

Billy Bragg
‘Ain’t Nobody That Can Sing Like Me’ TOUR NEWS

TOUR DATES ARE SELLING OUT
REAL GROOVY INSTORE APPEARANCE AND Q&A ANNOUNCED

BILLY BRAGG's New Zealand Tour opens at Auckland Town Hall next Friday 12th October.
The Dunedin and Christchurch shows are SOLD OUT .
Auckland Town Hall and Wellington Opera House (Sat 13th Oct) are selling quickly.

REAL GROOVY INSTORE ANNOUNCEMENT
We are delighted to announce that Billy Bragg will be making a personal appearance at Real Groovy record store in Queen Street, Auckland on Thursday 11th October at 5.30pm. Described by the Guardian as a “storyteller, historian, activist, father, enthusiast, pilgrim, entertainer, minstrel, humorist, rambler, sermoniser and scholar,” Billy is a natural and warm raconteur. This promises to be an excellent evening of Bragg bonhomie and an unmissable opportunity to share some time up close, ask some questions and hear some stories!

It will be a relaxed evening including an informal Question & Answer session, and given that Billy usually carries a guitar with him (and a rucksack with speakers back in the day) it’s highly likely that we’ll also get to hear a song or two!

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TOUR NEWS
The excitement around the tour and the sold-out dates are testimony to one of the most inspirational figures in popular music. Billy Bragg truly is a one-off.

The ‘Ain’t Nobody That Can Sing Like Me’ is a special new two part show - the first half celebrates the legacy of WOODY GUTHRIE, the second is pure BRAGG magic spanning a fourteen album career.

Remaining tickets are selling quickly from:
AUCKLAND Town Hall (All Seated) www.buytickets.co.nz / 0800 BUY TICKETS
WELLINGTON Opera House (All Seated) www.ticketek.co.nz /0800 TICKETEK

CHRISTCHURCH BENEFIT CONCERT & LIVING WAGE CAMPAIGN
Billy’s show in Christchurch is a benefit concert in support of the Beatbox project:

"People in New Zealand have been very supportive of what I've been doing since I first went down there 25 years ago, and this seemed like an opportunity to give something back. Some people believe Christchurch is no longer a viable place for a large settlement, and to change that view, it's important to repair the city's cultural heart as much as its physical buildings. This idea of creating safe rehearsal spaces and recording studios will help do that. It'll be good for Christchurch musicians, and they in turn will help Christchurch heal emotionally." (Billy Bragg, Sunday Star Times, September 2012)

Billy Bragg also supports the New Zealand Living Wage Campaign.
Please see below for full tour information.

Viv Lees, 95bFM, Real Groovy, Otago Festival Of The Arts and Groove Guide proudly presents
Billy Bragg
‘Ain’t Nobody That Can Sing Like Me’ Tour

Modern day troubadour Billy Bragg returns to New Zealand this October with a special new two part show: the first half of ‘Ain’t Nobody That Can Sing Like Me’ celebrates the legacy of Woody Guthrie, the original alternative musician, while the second half explores Billy’s own extensive repertoire, highlighting the songs that have made him famous over his almost three decade, 14-album career.

2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Woody Guthrie, folk singer and ‘dust-bowl troubadour’, a prolific writer whose songs, ballads, prose and poetry championed the plight of the underdog. Billy Bragg has a special musical affinity with Woody – when Woody’s daughter Nora unearthed a treasure trove of her father’s unrecorded lyrics after his death, Billy Bragg and Wilco worked together setting these to music, creating the critically acclaimed Mermaid Avenue albums. The Complete Sessions has just been released, including Mermaid Avenue Vol. III. Billy will play songs from Woody’s extensive repertoire as well as the Mermaid Avenue albums, giving audiences new insights into one of the most influential figures in popular music, a man who inspired artists from Bob Dylan to Joe Strummer, as well as Billy himself.

In the show’s second half, Billy Bragg will take a trip through his back catalogue in his own inimitable style. In nearly three decades of performing and activism, Billy Bragg, described recently by the London Times as a "national treasure", has crafted an incredible collection of songs traversing the personal and the political. A guardian of the radical dissenting tradition that stretches back over centuries of political, cultural, and social history, Billy is a consummate performer and gifted raconteur. His live shows, like his songs, are funny, warm, sad and true.

Billy Bragg, ‘the Bard from Barking’, famously started out as a tank driver in the British Army. Things didn’t work out – “When you’ve driven one tank, you’ve driven them all” – and in early 1982 he found himself back on the streets of Barking, writing songs. Drawing inspiration from the DIY ethos of punk rock, he decided to take on the world single-handedly, armed with only an electric guitar. His first album, ‘Life’s a Riot with Spy vs Spy’ came out in 1983.

Billy was politicised by Rock Against Racism in the late 1970s. He marshalled his songs in opposition to Margaret Thatcher, supporting the miners when they went on strike in 1984 and subsequently founding Red Wedge, a collective of left wing musicians who campaigned for the defeat of Thatcher at the 1987 election. Throughout his career, Billy Bragg has remained contemporary, providing his insightful, clear-eyed yet hopeful commentary on our times through social, political and technological change.

Although often defined by his political songs, Billy is also a writer of great love songs. He said “I write about the things make me angry: sometimes it’s the government, sometimes it’s the girl.” His songs describe the emotional peaks and troughs of love, navigating the difficult terrain of modern relationships.

Don’t miss Billy Bragg: “storyteller, historian, activist, father, enthusiast, pilgrim, entertainer, minstrel, humorist, rambler, sermoniser and scholar,” (The Guardian) touring in New Zealand this October.

AUCKLAND • Friday 12 October • Town Hall (All Seated)
TIX: www.buytickets.co.nz / 0800 BUY TICKETS / 09 357 3355

WELLINGTON • Saturday 13 October • The Opera House (All Seated)
TIX: Ticketek: www.ticketek.co.nz / 04 384 3840 or 0800 TICKETEK / 0800 842 538

DUNEDIN • OTAGO FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS • Sunday 14 October • Otago Girls Auditorium (All Seated) SOLD OUT

CHRISTCHURCH • Tuesday 16 October • Aurora Centre (All Seated)
SOLD OUT

TICKETS SELLING QUICKLY, DON’T MISS OUT

Billy Bragg

Billy Bragg announces Christchurch show to help fund new Christchurch Musicians Rehearsal Studio – BEATBOX

TUESDAY 16 OCTOBER > AURORA CENTRE > CHRISTCHURCH
Presented by Viv Lees with support from RDU, Mukuna, CHART, Phantom and Groove Guide

Billy Bragg has responded to a request for help and support that was sent out from the CHART organisation in Christchurch to his management office in London. He will now play a benefit concert for the BEATBOX project on Tuesday October 16th at the Aurora Centre at Burnside High School. Billy also hopes to be in Christchurch the day before the show to visit and help raise awareness.

The Christchurch BEATBOX benefit concert takes place following Billy Bragg’s three other NZ shows on his ‘Ain’t Nobody That Can Sing Like Me’ Tour in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin on October 12, 13 and 14. (Full tour details below).

BEATBOX is an innovative central city post-quake rebuild arts project in Christchurch, a multi-room music rehearsal space for local and touring acts and essentially the starting point of a music community hub within the devastated central city. Managed by CHART -The Christchurch Music Industry Trust, the BEATBOX project has initial start-up funding from local and central Government Earthquake and is seeking further financial support towards the creation of a collection of modern, safe and practical rehearsal spaces which will become a much needed central ‘hub’ for the city's artists to regroup, reinvigorate, revitalise and most importantly help reignite the voice of the city with the heart, soul and passion that Cantabrians are so well known for.

The facility is to be housed within the 'BOXed Quarter' – a development centred around independent thinking, a combination of art and music producing a precinct that combines office, hospitality and
related retail. This funky, upbeat neighbourhood sits adjacent to the polytechnic, a recording studio, broadcasting school and other music related areas. Its edgy nature attracts others who want to relax and
spend time and in the creative heart of lower High Street.

Details on the Beatbox plans are attached. CHART (www.christchurchmusic.org.nz) has supported the music industry and community on whatever level is required in Christchurch. Since the quakes, most of the local venues and events (both large and small) have ceased to operate and the musical community has suffered hugely as a result.

The music community however is starting to regroup and be strong once again, but a central "musicians hub" will assist in collaborations and cooperation that will help drive the local music industry again.

BEATBOX is a stand alone band rehearsal facility made of modern quake safe modular 'boxes' part of the Boxed Quarter village. Artbox is the art gallery which will be the first project to be on site - see some images at http://artboxnz.weebly.com/ and BEATBOX will be a collaborative neighbour - essentially a music-friendly precinct, a first for NZ.

Billy Bragg’s benefit concert for the BEATBOX project takes place on
Tuesday October 16th at the Aurora Centre at Burnside High School.

NOW SOLD OUT

ENDS

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