Lawrence Arabia Plays His Albums in Full

Lawrence Arabia will be perform a series of shows where he will play all three of his albums live in full, from start to finish.

James Milne, the award-winning musician behind Lawrence Arabia, will play his albums Lawrence Arabia, Chant Darling and the Sparrow over two nights in Auckland and three in Wellington.

The final night of each city will feature the Sparrow, accompanied by a string quartet and guest horn players.

Auckland – Kings Arms Tavern
Wednesday 28 May – Lawrence Arabia/Chant Darling
Thursday 29 May – The Sparrow plus old songs with string quartet

Wellington – Puppies
Friday 30 May – Lawrence Arabia
Saturday 31 June – Chant Darling
Sunday 1 June – The Sparrow plus old songs with string quartet

Tickets are available through Under The Radar.  

PRESS RELEASE:

Lawrence Arabia plays his albums in full.

Call it pretentious, call it pompous – call it whatever P-word you like. Presenting an unbridled classic rock gesture of the highest order from one of New Zealand's least classic rock(1) artists and human beings, Lawrence Arabia.

Over two nights in Auckland and three in Wellington, Lawrence Arabia and band will perform as faithfully as humanly possible all three Lawrence Arabia albums from start to finish.

In Auckland, “Lawrence Arabia” and “Chant Darling” will be performed together on the first night, in Wellington, each night will showcase a different album. The final show in each centre will feature “The Sparrow,” plus other old favourites, accompanied by a string quartet and guest horn players, similar to the magnificent performances at Auckland Town Hall and Wellington Opera House in 2012.

For those of you who have been in a damned coma(2), the albums we are talking about are these:

Lawrence Arabia. Released 2006 as kind of a companion piece to The Reduction Agents' “The Dance Reduction Agents,” its sound was an eclectic mix of simple electronica, folk and psychedelia, and its subject matter odd.  (See “Business Planning” and “Everyone's Had Dinner With Rabbit”).

Chant Darling. Released 2009, it was the first Lawrence album to be released worldwide through Bella Union, received the inaugural Taite Music Prize and featured the kind of hit “Apple Pie Bed” which won the APRA Silver Scroll.

The Sparrow. The “serious” third album released in 2012, featuring much piano, nocturnal atmosphere and dramatic string arrangements. Containing such dinner party favourites as “The Listening Times” and “The Bisexual,” it won the Tui for Best Male Solo Album in 2013.

Earlybird season passes are available now for a pretty darn value packed $40. The earlybird price will end on Monday 31 March; the price will then increase to $45 plus booking fee.  Individual night tickets will also be available.

(1)Actually reasonably classic rock.
(2)If you have actually been in a damned coma, we apologise for making light, and would genuinely welcome you to the show, and be sensitive to the gaps in your memory which we acknowledge would be potentially traumatic and difficult to cope with.