Godspeed You! Black Emperor


Godspeed You! Black Emperor released a string of albums from 1997-2002 widely recognized as redefining what protest music can be, where longform instrumental chamber rock compositions of immense feeling and power serve as soundtracks to late capitalist alienation and resistance. The band’s first four releases—especially 
F#A#∞ (1997) and Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (2000)—are variously regarded as classics of the era and genre. Godspeed's legendary live performances, featuring multiple 16mm projectors beaming a collage of overlapping analog film loops and reels—along with the distinctive iconography, imagery and tactility of the band's album artwork and physical LP packages— further defines the sui generis aesthetic substance, ethos and mythos of this group. GY!BE has issued two official band photos in its 25-year existence (the second, left, a 2010 recreation of the first from 1997) and has done a half-dozen collectively-answered written interviews over that same span. The band has never had a website or social media accounts. It has never made a video. Few rock bands in our 21st century have been as steadfast in trying to let the work speak for itself and maintaining simple rules about minimising participation in cultures of personality, exposure, access, commodification or co-optation.

Following a seven-year hiatus that began in 2003, Godspeed returned to the stage in December 2010 (curating the UK festival All Tomorrow’s Parties) and the band’s post-reunion period has now lasted over a decade, marked by hundreds of sold-out live shows and three additional albums, all of which have been met with high acclaim.

G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END! – the band’s fourth post-reunion album (and eighth overall) – was released on April 2nd, 2021.

 

Live Dates

10 Apr 2024Tampere, FI @Pakkahuone

11 Apr 2024 - Tallinn, EE @Kultuurivabrik

12 Apr 2024 - Riga, LV @Hanzas Perons

13 Apr 2024 - Vilnius, LT @Loftas

14 Apr 2024 - Warsaw, PL @Progresja

16 Apr 2024 - Gdansk, PL @B90

17 Apr 2024 - Kraków, PL @Kamienna 12

18 Apr 2024 - Bratislava, SK @Majestic Music Club

19 Apr 2024 - Prague, CZ @Meet Factory

20 Apr 2024 - Vienna, AT @Arena

21 Apr 2024 - Budapest, HU @Dürer Kert

23 Apr 2024 - Zagreb, HR @Tvornica Culture

24 Apr 2024 - Graz, AT @Dom Im Berg

25 Apr 2024 - Ljubljana, SI @Kino Siska

27 Sep 2024 - Dublin, IE @National Stadium

29 Sep 2024 - London, UK @Troxy 

30 Sep 2024 - Glasgow, UK @Barrowlands

01 Oct 2024 - Manchester, UK @Ritz

02 Oct 2024 - Bristol, UK @Marble Factory

03 Oct 2024 - Coventry, UK @The Empire

04 Oct 2024 - Tourcoing, FR @Le Grand Mix

05 Oct 2024 - Esch-Alzette, LU @Kufa

06 Oct 2024 - Paris, FR @Le Trianon

08 Oct 2024 - Nantes, FR @Stereolux

09 Oct 2024 - Nancy, FR @L'Autre Canal (Jazz Pulsation Festival)

10 Oct 2024 - Zürich, CH @Volkshaus

11 Oct 2024 - Lausanne, CH @Les Docks

12 Oct 2024 - Frankfurt, DE @Zoom

14 Oct 2024 - Berlin, DE @Huxleys

15 Oct 2024 - Amsterdam, NE @Paradiso

16 Oct 2024 - Brussels, BE @AB

18 Oct 2024 - Athens, GR @Floyd