British singer-songwriter David Gray will be touring Australia this December, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of his trailblazing album 'White Ladder'. Following a New Zealand run in November which will see him perform at Auckland's Spark Arena, Wellington's TSB Arena and Christchurch's Horncastle Arena, the multi-platinum, multi-Brit and Grammy Award-nominated artist will entertain audiences at Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, before heading to Melbourne's Margaret Court Arena, and Sydney's International Convention Centre. The finale show will be at the Fremantle Arts Centre.
David said of the announcement: "It's the 20th anniversary of 'White Ladder', a unique record with its own remarkable history. Jammed full with big, open-hearted songs and flooded with a raw emotional energy. It's an album that came from nowhere to steal the hearts of millions all over the world, completely transforming my life in the process. Twenty years on and it feels like 'White Ladder' is just as alive for people now as it was back then—so to celebrate this milestone, I will be releasing a special anniversary version of the album and assembling all the original band members with all the original equipment, in order to take 'White Ladder' out on the road and recreate the record in its entirety."
'White Ladder' was born of difficult circumstances. Gray has then been struggling on the margins for a decade—a lonely figure with an acoustic guitar swimming against the ride of Britpop, grunge, hip hop and electro. He came close to quitting. But instead, he asked himself some difficult questions: "Can you make a better record? Can you write a better song? The decision was to open up and give it everything I've got."
Written and recorded on minimal budget by Gray in the bedroom of a tiny terraced house in Stoke Newington, 'White Ladder' spawned classic hit singles 'Babylon', 'Please Forgive Me' and 'Sail Away'. It remains in the top 30 best-selling British albums of all time, is the best-selling album ever in Ireland, selling two times platinum in Australia, and three times platinum in New Zealand.
'White Ladder' remains an album of great depth and startling beauty, a superlative collection of emotional songs capturing a very special moment in time, as raw and immediate as when it was recorded. It's one of 11 complex, ambitious and heartfelt albums Gray has recorded in a career that spans 25 years.
"What happened with 'White Ladder' involved more than music. It was a sort of heart and soul moment of total surrender for everybody involved, for me and the audience. That was it. It doesn't get any better than that," enthsues Gray.
Grab your tickets and let David Gray take you 20 years back as he plays 'White Ladder' in full, with all the original band members and original equipment this December!
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