IST IST return to the boat on Friday 24th April 2025.
Last month, IST IST announced their fifth full-length studio album ‘DAGGER’. Set for release on 6th February next year, the new record arrives on the heels of last year’s acclaimed top 30 ‘Light a Bigger Fire’. The band have now announced their plans to take the album out on tour next spring with a run of shows across the UK.
Ahead of their huge homecoming show at Manchester Albert Hall in May, IST IST will spend April on the road, kicking things off at The Waterfront in Norwich on 9th April. From there, the band will play at the O2 Academy2 in Oxford, The Grove in Newcastle, Bristol’s cargo ship turned venue Thekla and more. The Speaking about the tour, bassist Andy Keating shared, “Taking ‘DAGGER’ on the road is something we’ve been building up to for a long time, even before we’d finished recording and named it. Our ambition with this album was to create songs primarily suited to the live environment, ones that would excite us to play live and we’re sure our love for them is being passed on to the crowds. We’ve been playing a handful each night on our recent European run and they’re being greeted with the same enthusiasm as our older tracks.”
“The tour is going to be our most extensive yet,” he continued, “and even a decade in it’s cool to be playing places such as Oxford and Exeter for the first time. Then of course the big homecoming show in Manchester. There’ll be a lot of memorable nights for sure.” The tour will be made all the more memorable by support band The Youth Play, the next generation’s favourite British band who will be joining IST IST for all dates.
Led by Mexico City-born Diego Bracho, The Youth Play stand proudly as a testament to the importance of multiculturalism, particularly in British music. His songwriting draws from shoegaze pioneers such as Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine, while his lyrics tackle migration, reinvention and resistance. Fresh off a European tour with Been Stellar, the band will share the stage with IST IST next spring.
About ‘DAGGER’
With a swelling fanbase across Europe and some of their biggest UK shows to date on the horizon, including a totemic hometown show at Manchester’s Albert Hall, the hungry, anthemic quality of ‘DAGGER’ feels destined to cut through even the most capacious of spaces.
Alive with ambitions for the band’s next evolutionary stage, IST IST approached esteemed producer Joe Cross (Hurts, Courteeners, Slow Readers Club), tasking him with creating a conduit with which to conduct their big ideas. Rekindling the chemistry that had spawned their previous work together, pretty soon, something special began to materialise from the partnership again.
From the lightning bolt pop immediacy of “Warning Signs”, to the skyscraping synth reachings of “The Echo”; the loping rock swagger of “Burning”, to the scintillating sci-fi soundtrack-primed “Encouragement”, and the spacious ambience of “Song For Someone”, ‘DAGGER’ glitters from the darkness with luminescent melodies and incisive hooks. While ‘DAGGER’ charts another seismic step forward for the band in terms of confidence, control, and execution, fans will be reassured to hear that it has come at no sacrifice to their modus operandi. Completely self-funded, and due to be released completely independently via their own Kind Violence Records imprint, five albums in, ‘DAGGER’ symbolises the driven DIY ethic that has been programmed into IST IST’s DNA since day dot.
Presented by Pink Dot. Tickets available on Alt Tickets from October 22nd.
