The Proclaimers performed 61 times on the 2018 leg of their Angry Cyclist tour. 5 UK festivals,13 concerts in Canada and 43 sold out UK shows, playing in front of over 250,000 fans during the run. 5,400 minutes of Craig, Charlie, Stevie, Garry John, Zac and Clive performing on stage.
2019 will see the second leg of the Angry Cyclist tour around the World, running from April to September.
2018 – The final drum roll, capturing the last 90 seconds of the concert at Dundee Caird Hall on December 15th
ANGRY CYCLIST 2018 Tour – Media Quotes
London Palladium show on 1st November, the only time a Hibs scarf has adorned the Royal Box.
Classic Pop / Towersey Festival
The Proclaimers’ rousing football-terrace soul is powerful and engaging; their ability to tell clever stories with an accessible directness is a rare and enduring gift. This is a story that’s definitely not over and done with.
Eastern Daily Press / Norwich
There was Caledonian heart and soul in Norwich this week as The Proclaimers brought a tight, harmony-filled set to a sold-out audience at Norwich Theatre Royal and brought tears to the eyes of this cynical old hack.
A highly-individual blend of punk, folk, pop, poetry, country, soul, socialism and new wave (it’s all in there), The Proclaimers are currently on a sold-out tour of the UK and rightly so: they walk precisely the right line between romance and bitter reality and live, they knock it out of the park.
The world is a better place for bands that wear their heart on their sleeve: these are universal sentiments presented in perfect harmony by two unique voices and it’s just fabulous. When they come back to Norfolk, join us in the audience. I’ll be the one in tears when Sunshine starts.
Express & Star / Birmingham
The night saw a multi-generational turn out appreciating songs with heart, opinion and passion and however times I hear the vocal talents of our favourite twins, I will never tire of hearing their beautiful accents crystal clear above even the most crashing guitar.
The three-song encore brought both the pacy show to an end, leaving many of us feeling that we had been in some sort of a magical time machine for 90 minutes. And very happy.
York Press
SO MUCH better than a fleeting fan could hope for. The sell-out crowd gave Proclaimers Charlie and Craig Reid a hero’s welcome and they proved worthy and suitably grateful for the adulation.
The Leith twins have a veritable gold mine of great songs, newly bolstered by this autumn’s Angry Cyclist album.
Their music is a unique combination of musical theatre, punk, indie rock and soul. Throw in country and the brew is potent.
Although their contemporaries have mostly lost the plot, The Proclaimers have kept the standard high. Support act Jack Lukeman astutely called them Songwizards.
The Reids’ intertwined singing was quite something up close, giving off a starry, yet non-starry aura, all eyes were on them, despite the flair of their supporting band. A marvel.
Nottingham Post
They effortlessly took this audience from heartache to joy without breaking a sweat. Completely unpretentious and with none of the fancy trappings of some stage shows, the brothers let their music and vocal range shine through.
Delivering a set to delight both hard core and casual fans alike with the right blend of classics and new material, this crowd could not have asked for much more than that.
Newcastle Chronicle
The Proclaimers charm City Hall audience with a mixture of old and new. The Reid brothers have a back catalogue to thrill a crowd – and not just 500 Miles.
The new numbers – like Angry Cyclist and Streets of Edinburgh – were impressive and show off one of the things the band do best, singing about life in their home town, in a very catchy way.
Ipswich Star
Charlie and Craig Reid have been delighting audiences across Britain with their fantastic work for more than three decades now, but it still sounds as fresh and as distinctive as it did when they made their breakthrough in the mid-1980s.
They may play all over the world, but their message is still firmly rooted in their home country. Their’s is the voice of the Scottish industrial lowlands.
The Proclaimers’s back catalogue is a mixture of biting political satire wrapped up in accessible music and some of the finest love songs ever written.
“Life with you” is possibly the best pop love song written this century. It’s also the title track to (arguably) the best album they have produced so far. It brought the house down!
Writewyattuk / Sheffield
It’s a cast-iron opener (made from girders, perhaps), packing a mighty punch, perfectly illustrating our 21st century woes, those opening lines biting, this era truly kissed by the aura of an angry cyclist.
I’m writing this after my cross-Pennine return from South Yorkshire, Tommy Robinson’s latest attention-seeking court appearance hogging the news, blinkered grass-roots support taking me back to the lines, “Watch bigotry advance, give ignorance a chance, with fascists we will dance by and by”. Yep, that “old prejudice hasn’t gone, new energy drives it on” observation says it all.
Yet if that opening statement illustrates current reality, our Fife-born twins offer hope, and over the following 90 minutes showed a way forward, 30-plus years on the road and the skill needed to hone their songcraft ensuring that while the early tracks still hold true, the latter say all the more with added wisdom.
The Scotsman / Edinburgh
Essentially, you know what you’re getting from a Proclaimers show, yet the bargain involves much more than simply an impressive selection of fondly-remembered songs.
There are big hits; there are songs which are perfectly designed to commemorate big life events in eloquent and relatable terms; and the occasional but fully committed foray into the political.
Yet what’s really impressive is how keen a songwriting ear the pair retain for new music of equal quality. This tour is in support of their recently-released eleventh album Angry Cyclist, a top 20 hit in the UK, and the songs from it are strong indeed. Among them, the title track bemoans the state of politics in 2018 as a metaphorical cycle ride on treacherous roads, Streets of Edinburgh is a tender love letter to this city.
“We’re happy people, we don’t have many songs in the minor key,” we were told before the atypically downbeat Restless Soul, a sound which suits them in its recall of Northern Soul’s groove. In their plain jeans and T-shirt, with their humour as wryly masked as only people partly raised in Fife can manage, the Reids still haven’t learned how to act like stars.
Yet when they led the audience in a roaring singalong of Sunshine on Leith, or careened through Joyful Kilmarnock Blues by way of a finale, their abilities as songwriters and performers of heart and quality remained transcendent.
The Skinny / Edinburgh
At times singing louder than the band, the audience this evening is a swirling, slightly tipsy sea of electricity as they sing every word.
Tonight, feels like a party. Everyone in attendance came together to celebrate one of Scotland’s legendary musical exports, to celebrate this great country and sing with thick Scottish accents. This evening The Proclaimers put on an act of remembrance that no one will forget any time soon.
Daily Record / Edinburgh
In the city of their birth, just down the road from Easter Road and their beloved Hibs, the Reid brothers held the crowd at the Playhouse in the palm of their hands from the start.
Middle Eight / Glasgow
A Friday night in Glasgow saw yours truly head to the O2 Academy in Glasgow to see Scottish legends The Proclaimers on the first of their sold-out two-night run in the City. It was my first time catching the band live and it was everything I could’ve hoped for and more.
What you’ll notice when you go and see The Proclaimers is the huge demographic they appeal to. The bar was deep with everyone from all age groups – Adidas tracksuit tops mixed seamlessly with Marks and Spencer leisure wear and a few suits who had made their way straight after work. As the lights dipped, the crowd roared as the band, led out by the Reid brothers, smiled and waved their way to their respective positions and burst into a career-spanning set that rocked the Academy from the first note to the last.
I smiled as I looked around the room, seeing the joy that the band brought to generations of fans, who were all united and singing as one was a wonderful feeling. About an hour in, there was an anticipatory hush about the audience (they must have checked the setlist too) as they caught their breath enough to ready themselves for what is probably the best 3-run collection of songs I’ve seen performed live this year: “Sunshine On Leith”, “Life With You” and “I’m On My Way” had the crowd in hysterics; this trio of tracks had it all – phone torches on, arms waving, grabbing anyone to put your arms round a sing your heart out with – it was tremendous. What a feeling it must have been to be on that stage looking out at your legacy being adored by decades of fans.
Inverness Gigs
The Proclaimers have a formidable songbook, one that captures a cross section of society, whether they touch on politics, life, love and all that surrounds that, they connect. Connect to such a level that to just about everyone in the sports hall it was 90 minutes that flew by.
Crowd? It’s more like family as the songs are sung back and dedications are read out for different songs.
Society Aberdeen
The Proclaimers proved their appeal is as strong now as ever. At the AECC on Saturday the duo played to a full house, with fans of all ages turning out.
It was clear the second The Proclaimers rocked up to the stage just how loved they are by the Granite City. The audience’s thunderous applause and cheers shook the AECC.
The Modern Record / Dunfermline
The sense of anticipation and excitement before this gig was clear. As soon as you got within a block of the beautiful old Alhambra Theatre you were serenaded with some ‘interesting’ renditions of their better-known hits. What was also very apparent is broad appeal the band still command as grannies, grandads, grandkids and every age in-between excitedly filed into the venue.
Walking on stage to a deafening roar, the band launched into ‘Angry Cyclist’, title track from their new album. What the twins lack in stage presence, they make up through the power of the lyrics and faultless songwriting and it was soon perfectly demonstrated with the first big number of the night ‘Letter from America’. This melancholic anthem bemoaning the decline of Scotland’s industrial heritage still resonates – especially if you’ve been anywhere near Methil recently!
It’s striking how songs like ‘Sunshine on Leith’, ’I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)’ and ‘I’m on My Way’ are now part of the subconscious of the nation – they’re omnipresent, at sporting events, in TV ads, on movie soundtracks and latterly, musicals. So it was fitting that ‘Sunshine on Leith’ triggered a 2000 strong collective karaoke session that gave us one of those special moments where the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end and you just know you’re going to remember it forever.
The Courier / Dundee
The Fife-raised twins brought their superb band to the Caird Hall on Saturday night for a sell-out concert deserving of a place among 2018’s highlights.
Fittingly, the final gig of an epic UK tour following August’s release of the Proclaimers’ 11th album Angry Cyclist was a career celebration. And that was exactly what the bumper Dundee faithful craved.
Eschewing the Christmas parties taking place elsewhere, the multi-generational gathering kick-started the festive season on a dismal winter’s night with a shindig worthy of the grand old venue.
A massed vocal accompaniment to romantic ode Sunshine On Leith — of course — stole the show, with the deafening ovation appearing to move even the normally stoic Reids.
The quality didn’t let up as Life With You, I’m On My Way, Then I Met You and I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) upped the party ante, with a thoroughly deserved and energetically delivered encore satisfying the hungriest of Yuletide appetites.