Legendary Afrobeat artist and Kuti family scion SEUN KUTI & EGYPT 80 has an upcoming US and European tour, manager Annie Ohayon of Knitting Factory Management announced today. Seun and his Egypt 80 band kick off their tour in the UK on June 1 and are currently booked through September 23, at the new Format Festival in Bentonville, Arkansas, USA. They’re hitting stops at major festivals like Glastonbury and unique venues like the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix along the way—24 dates in all, with more European dates possible in October.
“I’m excited to return to touring after too long away,” Seun says. “My band Egypt 80 and I look forward to retaking the world stage, and hope as always that our music will help make the world a more generous, kinder and more livable place, not only to fans but to its underrepresented people.”
On tour, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 will be performing songs from his catalogue and his most recent album Black Times. Seun has also been rehearsing and recording several new songs he expects to perform on tour.
Seun’s taken time off the road but has remained creatively active. He first performed the song “When We Move,” a collaboration with Common and Black Thought—co-founder and MC of The Tonight Show house band The Roots—last June to a worldwide audience alongside an all-star roster of musicians for UN World Oceans Day. In that song, Seun continues to ask the difficult questions: “Would they feel the pain like we do? Would they hear a cry like we do?”
The trio then debuted a live performance of “When We Move,” on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show last August, which featured Seun's performance and dance footage from The New Afrika Shrine in Lagos intercut with live performances by Common, Black Thought and The Roots on stage at Rockefeller Center in New York.
Current tour dates/venues are as follows:
6/1 - Belgrave Music Hall - Leeds, UK
6/2 - Gala Festival - Peckham, UK
6/4 - One World Festival - Sussex, UK
6/5 - Cross the Tracks - Brixton, UK
6/12 - Kite Festival - Oxfordshire, UK
6/16 - Nova Bologna - Bologna, Italy
6/22 - Migration Matters - Sheffield, UK
6/24 - Glastonbury Festival - Pilton, UK
7/2 - Jazzablanca Festival - Casablanca, Morocco
7/3 - Marranzano Music Fest - Catania, Italy
7/8 - Railyard Plaza - Santa Fe, NM
7/9 - MIM - Phoenix, AZ
7/10 - The Alibi - Palm Springs, CA
7/12 - Belly Up Tavern - Solana Beach, CA
7/13 - Lodge Room - Los Angeles, CA
7/14 - The Independent - San Francisco, CA
7/15 - The Independent - San Francisco, CA
7/16 - California Worldfest - Grass Valley, CA
7/22 - Paleo Festival - Nyon, Switzerland
7/23 - Trasimeno Blues Festival - Trasimeno, Italy
8/5 - Dexmantal Festival - Amsterdam, NL
8/6 - Festival Du Bout Du Monde - Crozon, France
8/27 - Moovin Festival - Manchester, UK
9/24 - Format Festival - Bentonville, AK
