Neil Hannon: New album and autumn tour. Picture: Kevin Westerberg
NEIL Hannon will promote The Divine Comedy’s 13th studio album, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, on a 16-date autumn tour that visits York Barbican on October 21, preceded by Sheffield City Hall on October 16.
Tickets will go on sale at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/the-divine-comedy-2025/ on Thursday, April 17 at 10am for Hannon’s return to the Barbican for the first time since April 30 2022.
Much has happened to Northern Irishman Hannon, 54, in the wake of his last studio set, 2019’sTop Five-charting Office Politics. The Divine Comedy’s entire back catalogue was lovingly remastered and rereleased in 2020, followed by the Top Five success of February 2022 compilation Charmed Life – The Best Of The Divine Comedy, marking the completion of the Derry-born singer, songwriter, musical score composer and cricket enthusiast’s third decade as a recording artist.
Hannon then wrote all the original songs for Paul King’s 2023 musical fantasy film Wonka, pronounced by the Official Charts Co as “the UK’s most popular film of 2024”.
Rainy Sunday Afternoon will be released on September 19. Written, arranged and produced by Hannon and recorded at Abbey Road Studios, the album spans his usual range of emotions: sad, funny, angry and everything in between.
“My musical output is, for better or worse, a representation of my personality,” says Hannon. “A good chunk of that personality revels in the rumbumptious; celebrates the silly. And I made ample use of that for the Wonka songs.
The sleeve artwork for The Divine Comedy’s September 19 album, Rainy Sunday Afternoon, one that “works through some stuff: mortality; memories; relationships; political and social upheaval”
“I have, though, like everyone, a darker, more melancholy side. And for one reason or another it has been much in evidence of late. I needed to use this album as an outlet for those feelings.
“To work through some stuff. Mortality; memories; relationships; political and social upheaval. Everyone should get to make an orchestral pop album once in a while. It should be available on the NHS.”
Rainy Sunday Afternoon is available to pre-order now via www.thedivinecomedy.com. Album formats include standard black and limited-edition colour LPs, standard CD and a limited-edition deluxe CD with a bonus disc, Live In Paris & London.
The Divine Comedy’s autumn tour will take in: October 6, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool; October 7, Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham; October 8, Forum, Bath; October 10, The Glasshouse, Gateshead; October 11 and 12, Barbican, London; October 13, Dome, Brighton; October 15, Corn Exchange, Cambridge; October 16, Sheffield City Hall (box office, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk).
The itinerary will continue with: October 17, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton University; October 18, Swansea Arena; October 20, Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow; October 21, York Barbican; October 23, New Theatre, Oxford; October 24, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, and October 25, Beacon, Bristol. European and Irish dates will follow next year.
Hannon’s visit to York Barbican on his Spring 2022 tour was his first York concert since May 2011. That bygone night, the Irish chamber-pop leprechaun performed at York Minster, but the “divine” in The Divine Comedy was not the reason he could be found in northern Europe’s largest Gothic cathedral.
The Dean and Chapter had agreed to allow Tribeca Arts impresario Ben Pugh to run a series of rock/world concerts in the Minster, and if Hannon let slip a couple of X-rated words – one to describe Minster arsonist Jonathan Martin, the other in a lyric – the wrath from above did not befall him. He looked up heavenwards only when sipping red wine from a glass, mouthing “sorry” playfully.
