Billy Bragg

No upcoming concerts for billy-bragg

Other Upcoming Shows

Chris Distefano: Right Intention, Wrong Move

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Mar 24th - 7:30pm Doors Open - 6:30 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Mar 24th - 10:00 PM Doors Open - 9:00 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Mar 25th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Mar 25th - 9:45PM Doors Open - 8:45 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$37 - $97

Noel Miller: Everything Is F#&ked

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sun Mar 26th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sun Mar 26th - 9:45PM Doors Open - 8:45 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$39 - $49

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Wed Mar 29th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$50 - $99

Sarah Silverman: Grow Some Lips

**SPECIAL TAPING (30th & 31st Only)

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Tue Mar 28th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu Mar 30th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Mar 31st - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$39 - $89

Kathleen Madigan: Boxed Wine & Tiny Banjos

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Apr 1st - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Apr 1st - 9:45PM Doors Open - 8:45 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$36.75 - $61.75

CANCELLED – Sibling Rivalry Tour 2023

This show is cancelled. Ticket purchasers will be refunded automatically.

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sun Apr 2nd - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$41.50 - $106.50

Redhanded: Emptyhanded Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Mon Apr 3rd - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$35 - $75

Boney James: Detour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Tue Apr 4th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$50 - $75

Trevor Noah: Off The Record Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Wed Apr 5th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu Apr 6th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Apr 7th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sun Apr 9th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Mon Apr 10th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Tue Apr 11th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Wed Apr 12th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$57 - $125

Kenny Sebastian

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Apr 8th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$39.75 - $100

Margaret Cho: Live and LIVID!

Please Note - Mature Content

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu Apr 13th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$30 - $50

Donnell Rawlings

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Apr 14th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$30 - $35

Joe List

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Apr 15th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$31 - $41

OBSESSED Presents: DRAGULA TITANS With the Boulet Brothers

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sun Apr 16th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$41.50 - $71.50

Rory Scovel

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu Apr 20th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$29.50 - $39.50

Pinky Patel: New Crown, Who Dhis Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Apr 22nd - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$29 - $99

Janelle James

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sun Apr 23rd - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$28 - $35

Jamie Cullum: US Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Mon Apr 24th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$39 - $65

And That’s Why We Drink: On The Rocks Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu Apr 27th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$43 - $79.50

Martin Sexton & KT Tunstall

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Apr 28th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$40 - $65

An Evening with Amanda Palmer

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Apr 29th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$50 - $75

Chelcie Lynn: 2 Fingers And A 12 Pack Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu May 4th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu May 4th - 10:00 PM Doors Open - 9:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$39.50 - $124.50

Paula Poundstone

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri May 5th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$35 - $45

David Cross: Worst Daddy in The World Tour

with Special Guest Sean Patton

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat May 6th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat May 6th - 9:45PM Doors Open - 8:45 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$42.50 - $142.50

Sasha Velour “The Big Reveal Live Show!”

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Mon May 8th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$45 - $100

Tommy Tiernan: tomfoolery

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Tue May 9th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$42

KFC Radio

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri May 12th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$39.50 - $69.50

Hannah Berner

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat May 13th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat May 13th - 9:45PM Doors Open - 8:45 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$29.50 - $39.50

The Psychology of Serial Killers

with Doctor Scott Bonn

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sun May 14th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$28 - $58

Hunting Whitey with Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge

Sponsored by Northern Bank

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Tue May 16th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$30 - $55

Old Gods of Appalachia: The Price of Progress

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Wed May 17th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$35 - $145

Citizen Cope: Spring 2023 – Solo Acoustic

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu May 18th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$51 - $127

An Evening With Neighbor: Album Release Show

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri May 19th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Partly seated
PRICE:
$30

Tracy Morgan

Comedy Special Taping!

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat May 20th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat May 20th - 9:45PM Doors Open - 8:45 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$65

Samantha Bee: Your Favorite Woman

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sun May 21st - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$39.50 - $179.50

KevOnStage

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sun May 28th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$25 - $40

Sam Jay

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Jun 3rd - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$24 - $27

Ross Mathews

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Jun 9th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$39.50 - $99

Kevin James: The Irregardless Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Jun 10th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sun Jun 11th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$50 - $99

Leslie Jones

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu Jun 15th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$39 - $69

Toad The Wet Sprocket

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Jun 16th - 08:00 PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
Openers: Marcy Playground
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$61 -$196

Rafi Bastos – UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY TOUR

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Jun 17th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$30 - $100

Betches U Up? Live presented by Faux Pas

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu Jun 22nd - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$40 - $70

Watch What Crappens: The Cheater Brand Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Jun 23rd - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$29 - $101

Brian Glowacki

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Jun 24th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$32

Teachers Off Duty – Live Podcast

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sun Jun 25th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$39.50 - $97.50

Sparks 2023

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Jul 1st - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
PRICE:
$42 - $210

Yannis Pappas

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Jul 8th - 07:00 PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$25 - $35

Brad Williams

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Jul 14th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Jul 14th - 10:00 PM Doors Open - 9:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$27 - $35

Neal Brennan: Brand New Neal

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Jul 15th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Jul 15th - 9:45PM Doors Open - 8:45 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$39

Legion of Skanks

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Aug 11th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$38 - $100

Dave Attell

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Sep 8th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$35 - $40

Tommy Emmanuel, CGP with special guest Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu Sep 14th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$49.50 - 59.50

CLANNAD – In A Lifetime: The Farewell Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Sep 22nd - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$50 - $310

Eric Johnson’s Treasure Tour (2023)

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu Sep 28th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$40 - $65

JR De Guzman: LATER THAT EVENING

Recommended for Audiences 18+

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Fri Sep 29th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$35 - $45

Buddy Guy: Damn Right Farewell Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Tue Oct 3rd - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$75 - $125

Aunty Donna: The Magical Dead Cat Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Wed Oct 11th - 7:30PM Doors Open - 6:30 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$42 - $82

Steve Hackett: Genesis Revisited, Foxtrot at 50

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Thu Oct 12th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated

Steve Treviño: America’s Favorite Husband Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Oct 14th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$35 - $45

Nurse Blake: Shock Advised Tour

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Mon Oct 16th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Tue Oct 17th - 8:00PM Doors Open - 7:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated

Small Town Murder

The Wilbur Theatre Located at
246 Tremont St, Boston, MA.
Phone: 617-248-9700
Sat Nov 4th - 7:00PM Doors Open - 6:00 PM
SEAT TYPE: Fully seated
PRICE:
$41.50 - $67

Bio

It was thirty-seven years ago when the Saturday boy from Essex who would become the UK’s foremost political singer-songwriter released his first record, Life’s a Riot w

It was thirty-seven years ago when the Saturday boy from Essex who would become the UK’s foremost political singer-songwriter released his first record, Life’s a Riot with Spy Vs Spy. It contained seven songs, honed live, bashed out on a punk rock electric guitar, and wrapped in a utilitarian, single-colour sleeve. It charted at number 30 in the national charts. Billy Bragg had arrived. His first record company bio stated that he had ‘risen from obscurity to semi-obscurity.’

Politicised by a Tory government operating without love or justice (hard to imagine now), this previously adrift young man from Barking, with few career opportunities, bought himself out of the British Army in 1981 (‘the best £175 I ever spent’), determined to make a living out of song. After Life’s A Riot, he blazed a modest trail with similarly direct follow-up Brewing Up with … and ‘difficult third album’ Talking with The Taxman About Poetry, on which Billy succumbed to the possibility of accompaniment, with additional guitar, piano and flugelhorn.

Despite his above-parapet leftist activism – best summed up by 1985’s classic Between the Wars EP – his next album, Workers Playtime, positively jangled, with the highest ratio of love songs to protest songs yet. He played the full pop card with Don’t Try This at Home, even making a jaunty video for the Aids-related ‘Sexuality’, but went back to basics for William Bloke, reflecting a changing geopolitical world after the Berlin Wall. In 1998, Nora Guthrie, daughter of the late folk legend Woody, invited Billy to set a treasure trove of his unsung lyrics to music, which he did in collaboration with US alt-rock stars Wilco. The resulting Mermaid Avenue albums, Grammy-nominated, repositioned Billy in the United States, and opened up a new frontier for his rootsy, heartfelt music. His next solo album, recorded with his regular band the Blokes, brought it all back home: England, Half-English.

His stripped-back tenth solo album, Tooth and Nail, recorded in five days in acclaimed songwriter/producer Joe Henry’s basement studio in Pasadena, allowed Billy Bragg to confidently state: ‘I did it my way.’ It was his highest charting LP in the UK since Don’t Try This at Home in 1991.

In March 2016, for Shine a Light, his eleventh long-player (and third in explicit collaboration with another artist), Billy reunited with Joe Henry for a trip across America, and through Americana, guided by the lights of the mythic American railway. They boarded at Chicago’s Union Station and set out for LA, ‘looking to reconnect with the culture of American railroad travel and the music it inspired’; 2,728 miles later, the result was a series of field recordings that hymned the very act of getting from A to B. The Observer called it ‘a muscular chronicle’, and it reached No. 1 in the UK Americana album chart. The US tour, which began in Nashville in September, would cover even more ground, and steam across the UK and on into Australia in the New Year. He also put out six songs as ‘rapid-reaction’ downloads, written in response to fast-moving political events, and gathered them together under the name Bridges Not Walls, a maxim for a post-ideological climate.

The intervening three-and-a-half decades have been marked by numerous milestones and waystations for Billy, political and personal, including going topping the singles chart, having a street named after him, being mentioned in Bob Dylan’s memoir, being invited to deliver a seminar on accountability at the Bank of England and meeting the Queen.

Named Trailblazer of the Year at the Americana Music Association UK Awards in February 2016, Billy was subsequently awarded the Spirit of Americana/Free Speech in Music at the Americana Music Awards in September, co-presented by the First Amendment Center. In his middle years, he really did start to straddle continents.

After 13 studio albums, eight compilations, two box sets, and countless tours across countless international borders, the elder statesman of today, bearded and ‘ruggedly handsome’ (according to one Facebook fan), refuses to slip into the dotage of self-parody. Throughout his fifties, neither the fight nor the fight songs left Billy Bragg. There ain’t no stopping him now.

For every protest song (‘Between The Wars’, ‘There Is Power in A Union’, ‘Never Buy the Sun’), there is a declaration of love (‘Must I Paint You a Picture’, ‘Brickbat’ or, from Tooth and Nail, ‘Chasing Rainbows’). ‘Mixing pop and politics’ is a tall order, but where there’s a starting block, there’s a great leap forward.

Governments rise and fall, fashions come and go, pop stars are built up and knocked down by a fickle media, and Billy Bragg adapts to survive. His enemies remain essentially the same: craven politicians, inhumane corporations, plus assorted racists, fascists, bullies, reactionaries and people with floppy fringes.

Orator, entertainer, rabble-rouser, negotiator, pamphleteer, the fabled ‘big-nosed bard from Barking’, Billy Bragg is many things. A regular contributor to the national debate as TV pundit and newspaper columnist, he continues to sharpen his pen as a writer, and his first book, the considered, wide-ranging treatise on English identity The Progressive Patriot, opened up a whole new vista of possibility for a man who never stops engaging with all the trouble in the world. Whether it’s unionized workers, constitutional reform, bankers’ bonuses, illegal wars or the undemocratic commandeering of a portable toilet backstage at a festival, Billy Bragg will help fight your corner.

To quote his enduring live favourite ‘Levi Stubbs’ Tears’: the world falls apart, but some things stay in place. That optimism lives on in ‘Tomorrow’s Going to Be a Better Day’ from Tooth and Nail:

“Take it from someone who knows the glass is half-full, tomorrow’s going to be a better day, no matter what the siren voices say … we’re going to make it that way.”

In 2017, he followed up The Progressive Patriot with his second book, the deeply-researched, heartfelt history of skiffle, Roots, Radicals & Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World (Faber). It was shortlisted for the Penderyn Music Book Prize (“the Mercury Prize of Books”). In 2018, he was honoured with the PRS Outstanding Contribution to British Music award at the Ivor Novello awards, sealing his status as a statesman as well as a great musician and chronicler of his time.
Touring Bragg hotspots in New Zealand and Australia in 2019, Billy literally road-tested a new live format for 2019: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back. The idea was to play three consecutive shows over three nights at each given venue on the itinerary – the first night a current, mixed Bragg set; the second from his first three albums; the third from his second three albums. “It’s a way of keeping things interesting,” he explained. The tour covered the US, UK and Ireland and Europe, regularly selling out, but in a good way.
Lockdown couldn’t keep him down. Instead, he looked inwardly as well as outwardly, and joined the two together, strong. A new set of songs – The Million Things That Never Happened – emerged, blinking in the light, and nailing what so many of us felt, and still do feel.

read less

@billybragg

  • billybragg

    RT @Sarah_Woolley: Last year the Regional Court of Cologne ruled that denying that trans people were targeted by the Nazis qualifies as "a…

    Retweet Reply Favorite (about 12 minutes ago)
  • billybragg

    RT @alexnpress: always ends up being someone in a Yale hat or the equivalent that says stuff like this. idk how to break it to people but a…

    Retweet Reply Favorite (about 15 minutes ago)
  • billybragg

    RT @mrjamesob: The honour has been completely devalued, of course: Goldsmith, Hannan, Lebedev, Moylan etc. But it seems especially hilariou…

    Retweet Reply Favorite (about 18 minutes ago)
  • billybragg

    This is an extract from the book included in The Roaring Forty deluxe box set, with 'Greetings To The New Brunette'… https://t.co/KCH4WHRJ8b

    Retweet Reply Favorite (about 11 hours ago)
  • billybragg

    @TheTeresaPeople @Keethedog @Eldjb1 Ah, Dot, I can’t help but notice that you haven’t answered any of my questions… https://t.co/4TRwToq8ho

    Retweet Reply Favorite (about 11 hours ago)