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
27 Aug 2022 - Pasadena, CA @This Ain’t No Picnic
17 Sep 2022 - Coventry, UK @HMV Empire
18 Sep 2022 - Glasgow, UK @The Barrowland
19 Sep 2022 - Bristol, UK @Marble Factory
20 Sep 2022 - London, UK @Electric Ballroom
21 Sep 2022 - London, UK @Electric Ballroom
22 Sep 2022 - London, UK @Electric Ballroom
23 Sep 2022 - Manchester, UK @Manchester Academy
25 Sep 2022 - Paris, FR @Elysée Montmartre
26 Sep 2022 - Brussels, BE @Botanique
27 Sep 2022 - Leipzig, DE @Felsenkeller
28 Sep 2022 - Berlin, DE @Astra Kulturhaus
29 Sep 2022 - Munich, DE @Muffathalle
30 Sep 2022 - Zurich, CH @Aktionshalle
01 Oct 2022 - Bologna, IT @Estragon
03 Oct 2022 - Rome, IT @Atlantico
04 Oct 2022 - Milano, IT @Alcatraz
05 Oct 2022 - Clermont Ferrand, FR @La Cooperative de Mai
06 Oct 2022 - Bordeaux, FR @Krakatoa
08 Oct 2022 - Toulouse, FR @Bikini
09 Oct 2022 - Barcelona, ES @AMFest
10 Oct 2022 - Zaragoza, ES @Zaragoza Fest
11 Oct 2022 - Mislata, ES @Repvblicca
12 Oct 2022 - Madrid, ES @Sala But
13 Oct 2022 - Bilbao, ES @Sala Santana 27
15 Oct 2022 - Porto, PT @Amplifest
28 Oct 2022 - Austin, TX @Levitation
29 Oct 2022 - Houston, TX @White Oak Music Hall
30 Oct 2022 - Baton Rouge, LA @Chelsea's Live!
31 Oct 2022 - Dallas, TX @Texas Theatre
01 Nov 2022 - Oklahoma City, OK @Tower Theatre
03 Nov 2022 - St Louis, MO @Delmar Hall
04 Nov 2022 - Omaha, NE @The Admiral Theater
05 Nov 2022 - Iowa City, IA @The Englert Theatre
06 Nov 2022 - Columbia, MO @The Blue Note [Columbia Experimental Music Festival]
07 Nov 2022 - Milwaukee, WI @Pabst Theatre
08 Nov 2022 - Detroit, MI @The Majestic Theatre
10 Nov 2022 - Atlanta, GA @Variety Playhouse
11 Nov 2022 - Asheville, NC @Orange Peel
12 Nov 2022 - Nelsonville, OH @Stuart's Opera House
13 Nov 2022 - Pittsburgh, PA @The Roxian Theatre
15 Nov 2022 - Buffalo, NY @Town Ballroom
16 Nov 2022 - Brooklyn, NY @Elsewhere
17 Nov 2022 - Brooklyn, NY @Elsewhere
18 Nov 2022 - Portland, ME @State Theatre
19 Nov 2022 - Burlington, VT @Higher Ground
09 Apr 2023 - Amsterdam, NL @Paradiso
10 Apr 2023 - Diksmuide, BE @4AD
11 Apr 2023 - Lille, FR @L'Aéronef
12 Apr 2023 - Rennes, FR @Le MeM
14 Apr 2023 - Lyon, FR @Le Transbordeur
15 Apr 2023 - Berne, CH @Dachstock
17 Apr 2023 - Karlsruhe, DE @Substage
18 Apr 2023 - Cologne, DE @Kantine
21 Apr 2023 - Copenhagen, DK @Vega
22 Apr 2023 - Aarhus, DK @Voxhall