Straddling post-punk and avant jazz, one of the most acclaimed bands in contemporary alternative music comes to Villa Manin. Active since 2019, Black Country, New road have already been featured at the world's most prestigious festivals such as Glastonbury.
With their debut album they topped the UK charts, were nominated for mercury prizes and acclaimed by The Guardian and The New York Times. They are a six-piece ensemble that blends classically trained and self-taught musicians, creating a unique blend of technical skill and unpredictability.
At Villa Manin Estate 2023, as part of the “Concerts in the Park” programme, comes one of the most acclaimed names in contemporary alternative music, Black Country, New Road, in concert on Sunday 16 July at 6.30 p.m. Tickets, at the symbolic price of €5 + p.p., will be on sale from 11 a.m. on Friday 5 May online at Ticketone.com, Ticketmaster.com and at all authorised points of sale.
After the announcements of Daniel Norgren (soundtrack “The Eight Mountains”) and Jeremiah Fraites (co-founder The Lumineers), this is the third international name in the programme of concerts conceived by ERPAC FVG in collaboration with Vigna PR to enliven and rediscover the most naturalistic part of the historic customs residence, offering an opportunity for the public to meet and enjoy themselves on summer afternoons through music.
A six-piece ensemble, their acclaimed documentary ‘Live at Bush Hall’ is now also out as a live album and captures an eight-month period of time in which the band performed unreleased tracks on the road. The album comes after the announcement of the concert at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire, one of the most important milestones for the band, which has already played on the most prestigious stages of festivals around the world. From their four appearances at Primavera Sound via Glastonbury to Fuji Rock in Japan, Black Country, New Road have become a name on everyone’s lips for their live performances.
Their debut release ‘For the First Time’ saw them top the UK charts and be nominated for the Mercury Prize 2021, and with ‘Ants from Up There’, released in February 2022, they have created a clear identity for themselves between more experimental post-punk and avant jazz. In the UK, their live performances have become legendary among fans of the emerging scene gathered around London’s vaunted Brixton pub ‘The Windmill’, formerly the destination of Fat White Family, Black Midi, Squid and many other bands. ‘For the First Time’, balanced between post-rock, post-punk and jazz influences, is a perfect balance between this first incarnation of the band and their continued evolution.
For many bands, two songs are a starting point or a cue for what is to come: Black Country, New Road managed to attract the attention of the public and the media already through the first two singles shared in 2019 alone, ‘Athen’s, France’ and ‘Sunglasses’. What ensued was a nomination for ‘best band in the world’ in The Quietus, rave reviews from The New York Times to The Guardian, a cover in Loud & Quiet, a live session for BBC 6 Music, sold out shows in the UK, a live show accompanied by an orchestra and an invitation to French TV alongside Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien.
Hailing from Cambridge, some members have known each other since secondary school, others since university: this has created a cohesive spirit and a deep bond reflected in their instinctive collective creativity. Moreover, their heterogeneous background, blending classically trained and self-taught musicians, results in a unique blend, combining precise technical skill with an unpredictable primal essence.
Black Country, New Road are Lewis Evans (saxophone), May Kershaw (keyboard), Charlie Wayne (drums),
Luke Mark (guitar), Tyler Hyde (bass) and Georgia Ellery (violin).
