John Cales announces UK tour for March + shares new video
John Cale
Shares video for “Davies and Wales” – watch here
Announces new UK & European live dates for March 2025
POPtical Illusion out now
Photo Credit: Madeline McManus
“As POPtical Illusion proves…Cale still has a great deal to say.” MOJO 4*
“Extraordinary late-career hot streak” Uncut 9/10
“As his recent records attest, John Cale is still pushing and pulling at the parameters of the song” The Observer
“Another engaging set that rewards repeat plays” Record Collector 4*
“If 2023’s MERCY raged against the dying light, POPtical Illusion embraces it” The Guardian 4*
"Cale’s odd diction and magisterial delivery make [the lyrics] feel instantly classic nonetheless, his words floating in a strange space that’s at once universal and outside of time" The FADER
“It might prove a handsome swan song, if only Cale would show any sign of slowing down” Loud & Quiet 8/10
“At 82, this lifelong proponent of the avant-garde is pushing admirably into a wide range of new directions” The Times
“His 17th album, in a manner befitting the turbulent mental challenges of lockdown, is a tempest of fury, inquisition, meditation and humour – not so much moving from one to another, but combining them into a swirling and slippery whole” The Quietus
Earlier this summer, John Cale released the acclaimed POPtical Illusion, his second album in just over a year. POPtical Illusion contained the same feelings of fierce and inquisitive rage that were present in Cale’s 2023 album MERCY but was the work of someone not ignoring the rage or the reasons for it and, instead, trying to turn toward the future - exactly as Cale, of course, always has.
He has a sage insistence that change is yet possible. “If you’ve done things you’d wished you’ve never done,” he sings during the irrepressible “Davies and Wales,” a buoyant bit of New Wave-meets-Brian Wilson joy, “think of the things you’re going to do tonight.”
Today, Cale releases the video for “Davies and Wales”. Directed by the Emmy-nominated Jethro Waters – who also directed the “STORY OF BLOOD” video from MERCY, Waters says: "Davies and Wales is such a perfect example of the kind of things that only John Cale can do all at once: upbeat, melancholic, happy, shapeshifting, nostalgic, modern, beautiful heartache. There is such a melange of feelings packed into this song - his youth in Wales, his time in NYC and California - and I wanted to try and translate that time travel in a joyful, purposeful way."
Watch the video for “Davies and Wales” here.
Stream POPtical Illusion here.
Additionally, John Cale will return to the UK & Europe for a tour in March 2025.
John Cale has always been a musician of the times, helping to usher in titanic shifts in sound and culture. The bleeding edge drones of his Sun Blindness Music opened the path to The Velvet Underground. The frantic rock of Fear and Slow Dazzle, not to mention his production with Patti Smith and the Stooges, framed a half century of punk, post-punk, and art-rock to come. And his curiosity about the way electronics could be more than a gimmick in rock music served as an inspiration to an uncountable number of crucial scenes. Once again, on POPtical Illusion, Cale stands as a musician of these times. He looks at the orchestrated turmoil of recent history, furrows his brow in disgust, and then turns on his heels toward a future, even if he - like all of the rest of us, really - doesn’t know just what he’ll find or who exactly he’ll be there. He’s simply happy to be going toward it all.
Upcoming live dates
Monday 3rd March - Le Trianon, Paris
Tuesday 4th March - Cirque Royal, Brussels
Thursday 6th March – Tollhaus, Karlsruhe
Friday 7th March - Alte Kongresshalle, Munich
Sunday 9th March – Theaterhaus, Stuttgart
Monday 10th March – Rockhal, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Wednesday 12th March - Markgrafenhalle, Nurnberg
Thursday 13th March - Haus Auensee, Leipzig
Friday 14th March – Columbiahalle, Berlin
Sunday 16th March – Laeiszhalle, Hamburg
Monday 17th March – TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht
Tuesday 18th March - Carlswerk Victoria, Cologne
Thursday 20th March – Playhouse, Nottingham
Friday 21st March - Royal Festival Hall, London
Sunday 23rd March - Town Hall, Birmingham
Monday 24th March – Pavilion, Glasgow
Tuesday 25th March - New Tyne Theatre, Newcastle
Thursday 27th March - De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea
Saturday 29th March - Wales New Theatre, Cardiff
Sunday 30th March – Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool
Monday 31st March - Vicar Street, Dublin
Tickets on sale September 12th
Watch the video for “Shark-Shark” here.
Watch the video for “How We See The Light” here.
POPtical Illusion is available on 2xLP, CD, and digitally. The DomMart pink & mint vinyl 2xLP edition pressing of 1000 includes a 7" features 2 exclusive tracks, and a POPitem – a limited edition illusionary twirling paper Objet. Buy: DomMart | Digital
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