Entertainment
Elton John, Stormzy and Billie Eilish: Gigs you won’t want to miss in 2022
Caption: Elton John, Stormzy and Billie Eilish: Best gigs you won’t want to miss in 2022
With live music set to go ahead en masse next year (fingers crossed!) we’re getting very excited about some of the names on tour in 2022.
The likes of Sir Elton John, Diana Ross, and Pet Shop boys are making a comeback, while Billie Eilish and Lorde are making a UK appearance.
So you’ll want to start booking your tickets for these stellar gigs right now.
Here are the shows we’ll be getting seats for:
Sir Elton John
One last hurrah from Elton (Picture: Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, etc. ok, so Dame Elt isn’t exactly ‘going back to my plough’, as the song famously has it but he is retiring. His mahoosive (four years!) farewell world tour hits the UK next summer.
The catalogue of hits under his designer belt is quite something and this promises to be quite the emotional leaving do.
June 15, Carrow Road Stadium, Norwich and touring, eltonjohn.com
Lorde
The Lorde of Pop (Picture: Corey Sipkin/UPI/REX/Shutterstock)
When Ella Yelich-O’Connor reappeared after a four-year silence in June, it was with Solar Power, a mellow, beachified song very different from her usual melodramatic, maximalist pop.
Her album of the same name followed suit, but fear not, the New Zealand megastar will be exercising both sides of her top-drawer creativity on this hotly anticipated tour.
May 25, O2 Academy, Leeds and touring, lorde.co.nz
Foo Fighters
Rock out at this arena tour (Picture: Danny Clinch)
Dave Grohl recently expanded his profile as the Renaissance man of pop-metal by adding published author to documentary filmmaker.
But it’s for belting out hits like My Hero and Best Of You that he’s most famous and if you’ve seen them live you know the Foos can shrink an arena to the size of a lounge room with just one cranked chord.
June 25, Old Trafford, Manchester and touring, foofighters.com
Billie Eilish
See the talented teen live (Picture: Kristin Callahan/REX/Shutterstock)
Superfans can now smell like Billie – well, they can smell like her perfume, Eilish, anyhow – though they might be better off spending their cash on a ticket to one of these shows instead (just saying).
The globe-conquering teen with a mega tonne of pop talent lands here next summer, promoting her Happier Than Ever album.
June 7, AO Arena, Manchester and touring, billieeilish.com
Stormzy
Stormzy’s a rap role model (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
There’s been quite a bit of chat lately about the lack of suitable role models for young men, so we’re nominating this righteous rapper as a strong candidate.
It’s not the reason you should add a ticket for one of his 2022 shows to your Christmas list, though: that’s because he delivers dazzling bars and has charisma to burn.
March 13, Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff and touring, stormzy.com
Diana Ross
Diana’s greatest hits (Picture: Ross Naess)
Recently she released Thank You, her first LP in 15 years, though the gratitude should be flowing the other way: with the Supremes, Ms Ross gave us the likes of Baby Love and Love Child, then in the 1970s, sweet, solo soul hits like Love Hangover.
On these dates, she’ll barely touch the sides of an extraordinary, 60-year career. You need to see her once.
Jun 10, Cardiff Castle and touring, ticketmaster.com
Pavement
Pavement’s comeback is a long time coming
Not Sidewalk, even though they’re American. The influential art-rock/slacker-pop band led by Anglophile Stephen Malkmus broke up onstage at London’s Brixton Academy in 1999.
That’s an ice age ago, though they did reunite to play four gigs there in 2010. Since then there have been no UK shows, so this tour is a big deal for fans of their sardonic yet groovy songs.
Oct 17, O2 Academy, Leeds and touring, pavementband.com
Pet Shop Boys
Sounds of the 80s
The widespread love for Neil and Chris is well deserved: they don’t take themselves too seriously and, crucially, no one can touch them when it comes to the casting of ennui-laden social commentary in poignant and elegant, synth-pop songs.
Do we need to add that they can knock out bring-the-house-down bangers, too?
May 20, AO Arena, Manchester and touring, petshopboys.co.uk
Michael Kiwanuka
You’re in for a soulful show (Picture: Jason Sheldon/REX/Shutterstock)
It’s hard to remember that he cut his teeth playing guitar in Chipmunk’s band: the singer/songwriter with the killer voice – warm, deeply soulful and with a slightly forlorn quality – has now bagged two Number One albums and a Mercury Prize.
With his honest, unstarry demeanour and songs echoing Otis Redding and Donny Hathaway, he’s reliably great live value.
May 6, O2 Academy, Glasgow and touring, michaelkiwanuka.com
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