Bombay Bicycle Club have announced details of four tiny London shows, which will see them return to grassroots venues and raise money for charity.
READ MORE: Bombay Bicycle Club – ‘My Big Day’ review: indie heroes enlist Damon Albarn and Chaka Khan
The gigs will see the indie stars return to the independent venues they launched from as teenagers later this month, and kicks things off with two back-to-back nights at The Camden Assembly followed by two nights at Nambucca in Archway the following week.
The shows come in celebration of the band being together for 20 years, and to help mark the occasion, the setlists for the shows will be formed exclusively from those early EPs, singles, and MySpace demos.
To find the support acts, Bombay Bicycle Club announced a virtual battle of the bands competition last year, which saw numerous rising acts put their name to support the group at the upcoming live dates. The only condition was that the bands be 18 or under, and following the competition, Tight Lines will be supporting on March 13 and 14, and Call Me Animal will support on March 20 and 21.
Tickets for the four intimate gigs will be allocated via a prize draw with proceeds going to fund Universal Music UK Sound Foundation. That charity centres around music education for children, and entries for the show cost £10 each. Those who manage to get tickets will be given two tickets.
Deadline for entry is 12pm GMT on Monday March 9 for the shows at The Camden Assembly, and 12pm GMT on Monday March 16 for the Nambucca gigs. Visit here to enter.
The grassroots show come ahead of Bombay Bicycle Club headlining London’s LIDO Festival on Sunday 14 June, with support coming from Metronomy, Alice Phoebe Lou, Billie Marten and frequent Bombay Bicycle Club collaborator Lucy Rose.
While there, they will play two sets on the day: an afternoon set performing their second LP ‘Flaws’ in full, followed by an evening set performing debut album, ‘I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose’.
Bombay Bicycle Club live UK 2026 shows are:
MARCH
13 – The Camden Assembly, London
14 – The Camden Assembly, London
20 – Nambucca, London
21 – Nambucca, London
JUNE
14 – LIDO Festival, London
Their shows in 2026 come following the group appearing as special guests at The Maccabees’ reunion show for All Points East 2025 last August.
The band’s latest album arrived in 2023 when they shared their sixth LP, ‘My Big Day’, which debuted at Number Three on the UK Official Albums Chart. The album featured collaborations with Chaka Khan, Damon Albarn, Jay Som, Nilüfer Yanya and Holly Humberstone.
In a four-star review of the LP, NME deemed it “a creative milestone in itself, it’s a far cry from the four-to-the-floor, teenage guitar band that a whole generation grew up with.”
Speaking to NME at the time of ‘My Big Day’s release, guitarist Jamie MacColl emphasised the band’s desire to move forward, rather than dwell on their prior success.
“I think nostalgia is the enemy of creativity and progress, to be honest. I think with the way streaming works, so much of the music ecosystem now services nostalgia so I think you have to constantly fight against that,” he said.
“We were a teenage band that a lot of people grew up with as teenagers, which is a very important phase in people’s lives – and then we went on hiatus for five years. So we’re kind of stuck in time for some people, to some extent, which makes it even more important to emphasise there is something worthwhile now with the band.”
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