Ben Howard announces rescheduled Vancouver show

by V. S. Wells on February 13th, 2024 at 11:34 AM

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Indie folk icon Ben Howard is coming to Vancouver…again.

After releasing fifth full-length Is It? in June 2023, Howard was supposed to mark the occasion with an extended US and Canada tour through the fall, including a planned November 7 show at Orpheum Theatre. But the tour was called off in August for personal reasons.

“We know that many of you will have already made your travel arrangements and will suffer the double disappointment,” read the statement at the time. “We are really sorry to let so many down but hopefully can make it up to you all in 2024.”

And making it up he is. Now, the “Only Love” singer is set to return to an even bigger stage: the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, where he’ll play on August 15.

Since first making a splash on the UK music scene with his debut full-length, Every Kingdom, in 2011—which went gold in Canada—Howard’s emotive voice and complex guitar-picking has continued to win him fans in his home country and around the world. He’s racked up four million monthly listeners on Spotify and hundreds of millions of plays on singles like “Old Pine” and “Keep Your Head Up”, even as he became disillusioned with the expectations that came from success.

Last year’s Is It?—penned in the wake of two mini-strokes that affected his memory and speech—incorporates more glitch-core and electronic leanings, refracting the surreal experience into music that can be uncomfortable without melancholy.

So, exactly the light, summery vibe you’d expect to see at the Queen E in mid-August, then.