David Gray

Multi-platinum, multi-Brit and Grammy-nominated British singer-songwriter David Gray today announces a New Zealand leg of the White Ladder: The 20th Anniversary Tour, to celebrate the trailblazing album’s 20-year anniversary. The seven million record-selling White Ladder will be performed in its entirety by Gray, together with all the original band members and with all the original equipment – as well as a set of the greatest hits.

Beginning in Auckland, the landmark tour will head through Spark Arena on Saturday 28 November, Wellington’s TSB Arena on Sunday 29 November and Christchurch’s Horncastle Arena on Tuesday 1 December.

New Zealand will follow anticipated sold out performances across the UK and Europe this March – April. Talking about the announcement last year, Gray said:

"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”.

David Gray returns in November – December to celebrate his iconic album, after last year’s lauded Australian Bluesfest sets and sold out, blisteringly beautiful performances.

White Ladder was born of difficult circumstances. Gray had been struggling on the margins for a decade, a lonely figure with an acoustic guitar swimming against the tide 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, David experimented with drum machines and electronic elements, creating a blend of folktronica that has since become a familiar part of the musical landscape. White Ladder boasts 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, 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. Some, like White Ladder, have been big commercial successes (2002’s A New Day At Midnight and 2005’s Life In Slow Motion were UK chart toppers), others have been more intimate and experimental. All feature music that is both intimate and broad, intensely personal yet capable of speaking to the masses.

Says Gray, “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.”

This sentiment is sure to ring true for the enigmatic performer’s visit this November-December. Celebrating an album that has touched many, White Ladder: The 20th Anniversary Tour is not to be missed.