Veteran synthpop duo Erasure this morning offered up a double shot of news, announcing both “Total Pop!,” a seven-date greatest-hits tour of “spectacular woodland locations” in the U.K. next summer to coincide with the release of their next studio album, as well as a new version of “A Little Respect” recorded to raise awareness about gay bullying and teen suicides.
Running June 10 through July 1 at sites in British forest preserves and parks (see full dates below), Erasure’s first tour in four years is part of the U.K.’s Forestry Commission Live Music series, set at the same venues as the Simple Minds greatest-hits tour announced last week. According to its website, Erasure will be “playing their hits” on the trek, which is timed around the duo’s new record, “planned for release in summer 2011.”
Frontman Andy Bell said, “This wonderful opportunity to perform for the fans in such a unique backdrop feels like just the right way to jump back in to Erasure after a four-year break. We’re excited to be playing in the woods and really hope it doesn’t rain.”
Also this morning, Bell and bandmate Vince Clarke announced the release of “A Little Respect (HMI Redux),” a newly re-recorded version of their 1988 single that will benefit both the Hetrick-Martin Institute, an LGBTQ youth service organization that’s home to the Harvey Milk High School in New York, and the True Colors Fund.
The track — due out digitally in the U.K. today and in the U.S. on Tuesday — features a youth chorus from the Hetrick-Martin Institute and will be accompanied by a new music video filmed in New York City. The band says that “in the wake of all the gay bullying and related suicides” in the U.S. recently, they “wanted to do something special to spread a message of tolerance” and raise money to combat such prejudice.
See Erasure’s ‘Total Pop!’ tour dates after the jump…
Erasure ‘Total Pop!’ tour dates:
June 10: Thetford Forest, Nr Brandon, Suffolk, UK
June 11: Bedgebury Pinetum & Forest, Nr Goudhurst, Kent, UK
June 17: Sherwood Pines Forest Park, Nr Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, UK
June 18: Westonbirt Arboretum, Nr Tetbury, Gloucestershire, UK
June 24: Cannock Chase Forest, Nr Rugeley, Staffordshire, UK
June 25: Dalby Forest, Nr Pickering, North Yorks, UK
July 1: Delamere Forest, Delamere, Cheshire, UK
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
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- Download new Erasure track ‘Symphony,’ make your own music video for it
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- Yazoo, with Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet, to release ‘Reconnected Live’
- Q&A: Erasure’s Andy Bell on ‘Non-Stop’ solo album, working with Vince Clarke
- Video: Erasure’s Andy Bell and Vince Clarke recording new album
