News

American tour a success!

We have recently returned from what all four Lightyears agreed was one of our favourite tours ever – a whistle-stop trip to the American East Coast, taking in shows in New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey.

There was very little time to stop and smell the coffee, but since New York smells of coffee 24/7 we were able to work round this. We were bowled over by the quality of the venues and the enthusiasm of the crowds – four sold-out shows in a row (plus a live radio interview) and even, would you believe it, four standing ovations. Although that may just have been people leaving really quickly, while still clapping. Apparently it happens.

LYs on the road

The tour was a mixture of favourite venues from tours past, and new places we’ve never played before. We were lucky enough to play to big outdoor crowds in Astoria Park, New York, and Burlington Amphitheatre, New Jersey, while also entertaining more intimate audiences at Jamey’s House Of Music in Philadelphia and a Saturday night house concert for the Riverton Circle Of Friends. As always we were overwhelmed by how welcoming everyone was, and George was overwhelmed by the number of meals he managed to consume on average per day (roughly six).

Pics ‘n’ things

A large amount of media was generated on the tour, and we wanted to bring together as much of it as we could in one place, so here’s a list of useful links to photos, video and press:

– The Lightyears’ USA tour photo album (updated)
– The Lightyears live at Jamey’s House Of Music (video)
– The Lightyears live on US radio (interview + acoustic session)
– Article in the Montgomery News (“The LYs cross the pond for intimate Main Line gig”)
– Article in the Burlington County Times (“Popular UK band feels right at home in NJ”)
– Article in the Bucks County Courier Times (“The Lightyears draw from music royalty”)
– Article in the City Suburban News (“British band to perform in Philadelphia”)
– Review from Philly Burbs (“The Lightyears light up an intimate venue”)

 

Philadelphia gig to be broadcast live

This Friday we’re headlining at Jamey’s House Of Music in Philadelphia, and the show will be streamed live on the internet in high-definition video and hi-fi audio.

Click here to visit the streaming website.

If the time difference makes the live broadcast impractical for you, it looks like the recording will be online for quite some time after the event, so you can catch up whenever’s convenient.

Jamey’s looks like a truly unique little place, combining – rather unusually – a ‘living room’ feel with state-of-the-art facilities. Seating just sixty, the House Of Music has been described variously as a “house concert on steroids”, “the ultimate man-cave” and “the music mansion”.

Tickets for the show are available here.

Don’t miss us in the States!

If you haven’t bought tickets for our US shows yet, don’t delay! You can buy in advance for Jamey’s and the Riverton Circle Of Friends – links listed below. Our other two shows, at Astoria Park (New York) and Burlington Amphitheater (New Jersey) are free to attend. Woo-hoo!

Thursday 15 August: Astoria Park, New York (FREE SHOW!)
Friday 16 August: Jamey’s House Of Music, Philadelphia PA (BUY TICKETS)
Saturday 17 August: Circle Of Friends, Riverton NJ (BUY TICKETS)
Sunday 18 August: Burlington Amphitheatre, Westampton NJ (FREE SHOW!)

Full details for our 2013 USA tour can be found on our GIGS page.

Philly’s The Ticket covers upcoming US tour

Philadelphia’s The Ticket magazine (the entertainment section of the Montgomery News) has published an interview with Lightyears’ pianist Chris in this week’s issue.

Click here to read the full piece.

Journalist David Kleinman covers various topics over the course of the article, including the time we performed in a Belgian cow shed, the time we accidentally headlined a crèche in Peterborough and the story behind why we started writing songs in the first place.

Other American press on The Lightyears

This year we’ve also been featured on – would you believe it – a golfing blog in the New Jersey. Inbetween (presumably) lining up holes-in-one and buffing putters, Golfing Jersey Girl took the time to run this article on our 2013 trip to the States.

Buy tickets for the upcoming tour

We’re playing two free shows and two ticketed shows while in America this summer. For full details of all dates, visit the GIGS page. Here’s the basic rundown with quick links to buy tickets:

Thursday 15 August: Astoria Park, New York (FREE SHOW!)
Friday 16 August: Jamey’s House Of Music, Philadelphia PA (BUY TICKETS)
Saturday 17 August: Circle Of Friends, Riverton NJ (BUY TICKETS)
Sunday 18 August: Burlington Amphitheatre, Westampton NJ (FREE SHOW!)

Get your hands on new LYs merchandise

We’re currently having some brand-new LYs t-shirts and guitar picks pressed by the rather tremendous folk over at Philly Band Merch. For more details on what we’ll be hawking at our USA gigs this year, click here.

USA Tour Merchandise goes into production

We’ve just initiated the production of some brand-new Lightyears tour merchandise for our trip to the East Coast of America next month.

Fans at our US gigs in August will be able to get their hands on one of a new range of LYs t-shirts, along with – for the first time ever – Lightyears guitar picks. So hoorah for that.

Our bevvy of delicious Lightyears goodies is being pressed by the awesome PhillyBandMerch.com, a collective of musically-minded types in Philadelphia committed to supporting and promoting bands travelling to the area. Great guys – look them up on Twitter or Facebook!

Buy tickets for the tour

Our mini-tour of the States next month will take in some rather splendid venues – two we’ve played before, and two we haven’t. The opening and closing dates of the tour are free entry, and tickets for the middle two are on sale now. Click the links below for more details. Looking forward to seeing lots of you folks there!

For full information, visit the GIGS page.

Thursday 15 August: Astoria Park, New York (FREE SHOW!)
Friday 16 August: Jamey’s House Of Music, Philadelphia PA (BUY TICKETS)
Saturday 17 August: Circle Of Friends, Riverton NJ (BUY TICKETS)
Sunday 18 August: Burlington Amphitheatre, Westampton NJ (FREE SHOW!)

LYs to join Mark Ronson at Brownstock 2013

We’ve been booked to headline The Piano Bar at Brownstock 2013 in Chelmsford, Essex, on Saturday 31 August. Main stage headliners include The Fratellis, Mark Ronson and DJ Yoda.

This fast-growing festival began small in 2006 but, in just seven years, has established itself as a national institution, and just this month was nominated for ‘Best Independent Festival’ in the UK by the Association Of Independent Festivals. Past performers have included Athelete, The Futureheads and Labrinth and Grand Master Flash.

To visit the Brownstock Festival website, buy tickets and find out more information, click here.

The Piano Bar @ Brownstock 2013

The Piano Bar is an intimate sofas-and-cider stage based around the presence of a rather glorious Roland Digital Grand Piano. Last year saw performances from a wide variety of (admittedly mainly piano-led) acts, and in fact ex-painter-and-decorator-what-you-know-off-of-the-telly-like Matt Cardle even popped in for a last-minute secret set. In short, anything can happen at the Piano Bar – although it is best to assume it will in some way involve pianos.

We’ll be rounding off proceedings in there on the Saturday night of the festival, so expect all manner of ivory-led shenanigans (by which I mean we shall be tinkling the ivories… not, like, doing weird shit with elephants).

LYs onstage at 7pm. Visit the GIGS page for directions to the festival.

LYs to headline at Jamey’s House Of Music

Chiefly in the interest of consuming as many Philly Cheesesteaks as possible while in the States, we have added a Philadelphia date to our 2013 American Tour – Jamey’s House Of Music on Overbrook Avenue, “Philadelphia’s coolest intimate venue”.

Jamey’s looks like a truly unique little place, combining – rather unusually – a ‘living room’ feel with state-of-the-art facilities. Seating just sixty, the House Of Music has been described variously as a “house concert on steroids”, “the ultimate man-cave” and “the music mansion”. This from the venue’s website:

“There is never a so-so evening here. It’s a warm and welcoming place to share in some of the most wonderful eclectic music of every style and genre found anywhere, make new friends, enjoy really good Chinese food (BYO welcome) expertly prepared by hostess and chef, Suyun Reilly, and meet stellar musicians one on one.”

I know – sounds bloody lovely, doesn’t it?! We can’t wait. And if you’re coming, expect an intimate, one-off show mixing novel reading with live music and, more than likely, a few unusual numbers thrown in. Support from the inimitable Jon Clifton.

Our Friday night date at Jamey’s also means that our 2013 American tour has gone from dual-state to tri-state, which while making the whole thing sound rather grander than it actually is does provide increased opportunity for phrases of the “Good evening New JERsey! [or equivalent state]” sort. Which is of course the main reason to go on tour in the first place (other than the sandwiches).

For details of all our USA tour dates, visit the GIGS page. Here’s the basic rundown:

Thursday 15 August: Astoria Park, New York (FREE SHOW!)
Friday 16 August: Jamey’s House Of Music, Philadelphia PA (BUY TICKETS)
Saturday 17 August: Circle Of Friends, Riverton NJ (BUY TICKETS)
Sunday 18 August: Burlington Amphitheatre, Westampton NJ (FREE SHOW!)

Lightyears to play Willow Festival 2013

We’ve been booked to play one of the Main Stages at Willow Festival 2013 in Peterborough on Sunday 14 July. Visit the GIGS page for full details.

We’ll be onstage at 7.30pm, although exactly which stage that will be is currently a secret. Even from us. We are hoping they don’t stick us behind the Portaloos. That was really quite embarrassing at Download.

Willow is one of the UK’s best indie music festivals, and attracted in excess of 50,000 visitors in 2012. My brother recently asked me if the dwarf from the film ‘Willow’ (respected tiny actor Billy Barty) would be present, and I replied that no, he would not, because he is dead.

The Lightyears actually have a long and illustrious history with the city of Peterborough, having released a charity single with the football club in 2008 and an Olympic anthem with a huge community choir last year. Click on the links for more:

– The Lightyears release a single with Peterborough Football Club
– The Lightyears perform Olympic anthem ‘There With You’ with 600 singers and drummers

We’ll be playing lots of our new material at the Willow Festival gig, and look forward to premiering it on a big festival stage. Our set will definitely include this one, Wait Forever, which in the video below we are performing next to a massive lake in Cumbria. For some reason.

The Lightyears join Spotify

In case you were wondering when we were going to get off our bums and embrace the future of music, it’s finally happened – The Lightyears are now on Spotify.

This means you can stream our 2009 album London, England in full, for free, by clicking here (you can do that here too but it’s nice to have options). This is great because it means you don’t have to bother buying the record off iTunes, which saves you £7.90 and also stops us spending all the money – as we inevitably would – on crack, bitches, automatic weapons and hummus.

If you don’t know what Spotify is, what on earth are you doing on a computer? Sorry, I jest – Spotify is a digital music service you can set up on your computer, smartphone or tablet that gives you access to a truly enormous database of songs. Premium members (£9.99 a month) can enjoy music without the adverts, which I’d personally highly recommend – most of us are premium members in The Lightyears, and it’s absolutely tremendous. We can listen to our own music for near-enough free, which is excellent news because otherwise we’d only go spending all the cash on crack, bitches etc (see above).

London, England features two tracks from million-selling producer Hugh Padgham (Sting, Paul McCartney, Elton John), as well as LYs favourites This House Will Burn and England.

 

Details of The Lightyears’ American tour 2013

We’re very excited to confirm that we’re returning to our spiritual home this summer and heading stateside for a series of American tour dates in mid-August.

The tour will be kicking off with a headline set at New York’s Astoria Park on Thursday 15 August, and concluding with a show at Burlington Amphitheatre in  New Jersey on Sunday 18th. Both gigs are free to attend. We will also be headlining an intimate acoustic show at Riverton Circle Of Friends on Friday 16th, and tickets are on sale now – click here to buy yours!

You can find full details on the GIGS page.

As many of you will know, we have been playing in America for years now and have always had an absolute blast. The audiences, venues and – most importantly – the FOOD are consistently amazing, and we can’t wait to get stuck in once again (yes, I am talking about sandwiches here). Japes and larks on previous LYs US tours have included blagging our way into British Airways business class, playing two gigs in two continents in under twenty hours, and a cripplingly cheesy foot-long hoagie that rendered George useless for the best part of a day.

For a recap of what to expect on our American tours, check out some of these tasty links:

– Chris Lightyear’s 2010 USA tour diary
– The Lightyears’ USA tour photo album

Lightyears to play Brightlingsea Festival

We’re excited to announce that we’ve been added to the bill for this year’s Brightlingsea Festival, taking place on Sunday 4 August.

Brightlingsea (near Colchester, Essex) is one of the UK’s best-loved small festivals and has been running for twelve years. Organisers have a stellar event planned for 2013, with a varied and exciting line-up of bands rolling out over the course of three days.

Previous shows at Brightlingsea Festival

Our first appearance at Brightlingsea Festival was back in 2006, and we followed this with a repeat performance two years later in the summer of 2008. I wrote the gig up in my tour diary, and LYTV recorded our experience behind-the-scenes – check it out in the video below:

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