Forty years in, Erasure are still finding new ways to keep things interesting.
The synth-pop icons have announced Radio!! Radio!!, their 20th studio album and first record in six years, alongside a huge UK arena tour that includes a stop at Motorpoint Arena Nottingham next spring.
Beginning in Cardiff on April 25, 2027, the tour will travel across the UK before wrapping up at London’s O2 Arena and continuing into Europe with dates in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. Electronic favourites Ladytron will join as special guests.
But while fans can expect all the hooks, heart and dazzling pop spectacle that have made Erasure one of Britain’s most beloved bands, there will be one notable absence on stage.
Vince Clarke won’t be touring with Andy Bell
For the first time, founding member Vince Clarke will not appear on stage alongside Andy Bell during the tour.
Instead, Clarke will take on the role of Musical Director, overseeing the production from his home in California after deciding that the demands of long-distance travel were no longer for him.
“I recently moved to California from New York, and I travelled from here to London,” he explained. “The travelling took a toll – it really messed me up. I never seemed to recover from it.
“I just thought, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’.
“I told Andy, and he made me musical director, and I thought, ‘how fantastic is that?’ I can do all my work and all my direction from here, but I don’t have to leave sunny San Diego.”
It’s a move that might surprise fans, but Bell insists Erasure remains very much a partnership.
“I’m so pleased that we were able to find a way for the tour to work for Vince,” he said. “He’s always too modest but he’s so much more than the Musical Director.
“Vince is one of the great loves of my life and everything we do as Erasure we decide together.”
New album on horizon
The tour arrives alongside Radio!! Radio!!, Erasure’s 20th album, a remarkable milestone for a band that has spent four decades soundtracking dancefloors, festivals and late-night kitchen discos.
Speaking about the album, Clarke said: “Some of the songs are quite reflective of stuff that’s been going on in my life, but not all of them. We didn’t have to think about it or talk about it – it just happened that way.”
From A Little Respect and Sometimes to Chains of Love and Victim of Love, Erasure’s catalogue remains one of British pop’s most enduring success stories.
And while the sight of Bell and Clarke together on stage may be taking a temporary pause, Erasure’s next chapter looks every bit as ambitious as the last.
Erasure UK tour dates 2027
April
- 25 Cardiff Utilita Arena
- 26 Bournemouth International Centre
- 28 Liverpool M&S Bank Arena
- 30 Birmingham Utilita Arena
May
- 1 Manchester AO Arena
- 5 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
- 6 Hull Connexin Live
- 8 Leeds first direct arena
- 9 Glasgow OVO Hydro
- 11 Brighton Centre
- 12 London The O2
Tickets
Tickets for the Radio!! Radio!! tour go on sale on Friday October 2 and can be purchased HERE
