The tour was announced in early June 2013, following the announcement of the release of their new album through their official website. The band announced dates in Europe and Australia. The first concert was a warm up show in Bristol at the Trinity Centre, with 2 further shows at the Albert Hall in Manchester, England as part of the Manchester International Festival and was the premiere of all songs from the new album along with some additional goldfrapp tracks. Also announced was a date at Somerset House as part of the "Summer Series" and 2 festival dates. The tour officially kicked off in Amsterdam in October, 2013.
For the first 5 dates each set list varied. The Manchester shows was a showcase of their new album and included each song from it and a few others specifically from their previous albums Felt Mountain and Seventh Tree. London's Somerset House concert featured a selection of songs from Tales of Us, in addition to tracks from all their previous studio albums – including "Number 1", "You Never Know", "Ooh La La", "Paper Bag", "Shiny and Warm", "Ride a White Horse", "A&E", "Caravan Girl", "Black Cherry", "Train", "Strict Machine" and others.
Main tour set list
The following set list is representative of most dates on the tour.
The reviews for the tour were extremely positive. Billboard.com gave a positive review of the Beacon Theatre show in New York City and ended by saying "By the time the entire Beacon stood up for the celebratory finale, "Caravan Girl", it was clear that the magic of Goldfrapp and the orchestra on Tuesday night would be hard to duplicate, even by a likely return to the States in 2014." The Independent reviewed the Somerset House with 4/5 rating although never criticising the band's new music, they stated "They may find it a challenge touring their delicate new material, but Goldfrapp still put on a heck of a show." The London Evening Standard reviewed Goldfrapp as part of their sum up of the Lovebox festival in London, by stating "Alison Goldfrapp re-established herself as Madonna's stranger sister and her band brought Lovebox to a thrilling close". At the end of their review they went on to say "None was better than Goldfrapp, who sent the punters home on a high. Without them, this would have felt less like a super Sunday and more like a superfluous one".
Tour dates
Cancelled shows
An Australian Festival Tour was announced in June 2013 but was cancelled on 16 September 2013 due to poor ticket sales of the Harvest Festival. Whilst some of the bands performed a headline tour of Australia instead of the festival, Goldfrapp tweeted that they were unable to tour Australia.
Date
City
Country
Venue
10 November 2013
Melbourne
Australia
Harvest Festival
16 November 2013
Sydney
Australia
Harvest Festival
17 November 2013
Brisbane
Australia
Harvest Festival
Box score
Critical reception
Reviews for the tour have all been positive. With The Guardian giving the Manchester show 4/5 stars. Similarly, The Independent gave their Somerset House show 4/5 and acknowledged that the delicate new material may be challenging live, but they "still put on one heck of a show."
Sold-out shows
Eight of the 14 shows sold out. Tickets for London's Somerset House concert sold out very quickly.