By Tyler Ody
The Walkmen make their much-anticipated live return for their sold-out 5-night run at New York’s Webster Hall in late April.
Following on from their recent announcement of two August shows at London’s KOKO the band today announce news of further UK shows, performing in Glasgow and Manchester as well as Dublin earlier in the month. Additionally, with the first of their KOKO shows having sold out, and tickets flying out for the second, The Walkmen recently announced news of a third KOKO show in August.
Tickets for the new dates go on-sale on Friday, 31st March. Upcoming live info below:
Mon-Fri 24-28 April - New York, NY – Webster Hall *SOLD OUT*
Tues-Thurs 2-4 May - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
Sunday 7 May - Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees Festival
Saturday 13 May - Los Angeles, CA - Just Like Heaven Music Festival
Sunday 14 May - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court Block Party
Weds-Sat 17-20 May - Chicago, IL - The Metro *SOLD OUT*
Sunday 28 May – Boston, MA – Boston Calling
Tues-Fri 23-26 May - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club *SOLD OUT*
Monday 21 August – Glasgow – SWG3 Galvanisers
Wednesday 23 August – Dublin – Vicar Street
Saturday 26 August – Manchester – New Century
Tuesday 29 August – London, UK – KOKO *SOLD OUT*
Wednesday 30 August – London, UK – KOKO
Thursday 31 August – London, UK – KOKO
To accompany the announcement of their original run of shows in NYC this April, The Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser wrote: “Back in 2013, an unnamed Walkmen band member (Peter Bauer) announced to the Washington Post that we were going on an ‘extreme hiatus.’ I assumed that meant there would be a lot of monster energy drinks and maybe that red-headed snowboarder guy would be hanging around a lot…but none of that actually happened. Instead, in the ensuing years, we’ve all worked on a ton of different projects in a ton of different places. Recently, someone sent us a clip of us playing at Irving Plaza from 2003, and it just looked very exciting. So, we’ve decided we’d like to play together again. Right now, we are very thrilled to announce that we will be playing at Webster Hall in 2023. See you soon.”
The Walkmen emerged at the turn of the century as major players in the New York City circle of post punk / new wave-inspired bands (including Interpol, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and others). Setting The Walkmen apart from the outset was a heavy reliance on piano and organ, and a preference for atmospherics over garagey antics. The band already had two acclaimed albums under their belt when 2004’s Bows + Arrows broke big and made them music magazine cover stars.
Subsequent work cemented their appeal and commercial success, cresting with rave reviews and Top 40 appearances for 2010’s Lisbon and 2012’s Heaven. “Awash with lyricism… Poignant tales set to rich, hauntingly romantic melodies” said MOJO magazine of Lisbon, while The Times stated that “Heaven is a career high that should see them billed alongside Fleet Foxes or The National… Their stately progression towards brilliance continues”. The Walkmen then went on hiatus, with three of the four members beginning solo careers.