Blancmange have shared their career-spanning collection Everything Is Connected (The Best of Blancmange 1979-2024). The multi-track collection lands ahead of a run of UK tour dates including a Manchester gig at Manchester Academy 2.
The Manchester gig is one of 11 UK dates they will headline across May and June 2024.
The double CD version and digital release feature 38 tracks, whilst the vinyl opts for a more concise 10. It takes in their ’80s synth-pop influences as well as their more recent material, recorded after a 25 year hiatus.
Blancmange’s history has also been shaped in unexpected ways. Neil met multi-instrumentalist Stephen Luscombe at the Harrow School of Art in 1979, and as synths weren’t readily available, they toyed with experimental homemade instruments which at least sounded vaguely like synths. Signing with London Records in February 1982 they embarked on one of the great Imperial Phases of synth pop. These were Radio One hits secretly nourished by Can and Captain Beefheart, making the band a regular fixture in the charts and on Top of The Pops, but after half a decade and ten UK hits the sheen had started to wear off. With the grandeur of the Royal Albert Hall as their backdrop, in 1986 Blancmange made the curtain call for part one of their story.
Neil and Stephen did stay in contact, often joking that they should do more stuff together one day. Eventually they realised they weren’t really joking about it, re-emerging some 25 years later with 2011’s acclaimed album Blanc Burn. Sadly Stephen left shortly after due to ill-health, but reconnecting with the spirit of Blancmange unlocked an astonishingly prolific side to Neil, resulting in seven more Blancmange albums in the space of a decade (not including the instrumental series Nil By Mouth)
When do Blancmange headline at Manchester Academy 2?
Blancmange headline at Manchester Academy 2 on 25 May 2024. The Manchester gig is one of 11 UK dates they are playing:
16 May – Newcastle, Wylam Brewery
17 May – Glasgow, St. Luke’s
18 May – Birmingham, O2 Institute
23 May – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
24 May – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
25 May – Manchester, Manchester Academy 2
26 May – Colchester, Arts Centre
31 May – Bristol, Trinity
1 June – London, Islington Assembly Hall
2 June – Brighton, Old Market
3 June – Southampton, 1865
image of Blancmange courtesy Helen Kincaid
