Billy Bragg Tickets

About Billy Bragg

Bragg succeeded in grabbing some studio time, courtesy of the Charisma label’s indie subsidiary, Utility. The result was Life’s a Riot with Spy Vs. Bragg’s stark musical backdrop – for the most part a roughly strummed electric guitar – and even starker vocals belied a keen sense of melody and passionate, deeply humane lyrics.

The album’s opening track, The Milkman of Human Kindness, for instance, was a compassionate love song illustrating the very real humanist approach. It acted as an indicator of Bragg’s work which would be infused with genuine insight and humour, as well as a sustained and personal commitment to political and humanitarian issues.He became a fixture at political rallies and benefits during the 1984 Miners Strike when his second album, Brewing Up with Billy Bragg (1984), opened with the fierce It Says Here, a strident song of political solidarity. The album went Top 20 in the UK.

Bragg’s most successful and accomplished release in September 1986 with his third album, Talking with the Taxman About Poetry. It spawned a hit single, Levi Stubb’s Tears, as well as Greetings to the New Brunette, a collaboration with The Smiths’ guitarist, Johnny Marr.

The album was a Top 10 hit.Bragg found himself with a surprise hit two years later – albeit on a double a-side single with Wet Wet Wet. As part of a children’s charity project, he recorded a version of The Beatles’ She’s Leaving Home, accompanied by Cara Tivey on piano. This was subsequently released with Wet Wet Wet’s With a Little Help From My Friends, reaching number one in May 1988.

Later that year, in September 1988, Bragg released his fourth album, Workers Playtime. More focused on matters of the heart than political issues, the album also saw Bragg move away from the sparse arrangements that had characterised his earlier work.

Mermaid Avenue, released in 1998. Much material was recorded during those sessions which led to the Mermaid Avenue Volume II issue two years later. Both the albums were nominated for Grammy Awards. His album “The Blokes” exploring his notions about identity and Englishness was released on 4 March, 2002 – by sheer coincidence.

The precise 20th anniversary of Bragg’s first-ever solo gig, the Sociology Disco was released at North London Polytechnic on 4 March 1982. Another year on and now Billy Bragg celebrates his long career with a double-CD retrospective called “Must I Paint You A Picture?”, which was released in the UK on 6 October 2003. The album features 40 of the tracks that have defined his music and approach through the years.