Post-rock juggernauts Godspeed You! Black Emperor head to Brighton Dome

Live, Godspeed You! Black Emperor are peerless, with a reputation for mesmerising shows, marked by orchestral dynamics, epic rock power and clunky, beautiful film loops - experience this here this October.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (GY!BE) began in the early 90s with guitarists Efrim Manuel Menuck and Michael Moya with bassist Mauro Pezzente playing a handful of shows and recording a self-released cassette as a trio before deciding to transform the group into a large band.

‘this is music that can make you glad to be alive.’ Stereogum

Recruiting numerous Montreal musicians through 1995-1996, GY!BE mounted sense-rattling wall-of-sound performances, featuring as many as 14 musicians and several 16mm film projectors, before recording their debut vinyl-only Constellation album in 1997. They transformed a warehouse space into the Hotel2Tango; a DIY hive of activity with band rehearsal rooms, silkscreen and wood shops, and weekend shows that took place under the radar.

‘dark genius’ The Guardian

The group settled into a permanent nine-piece line-up by late 1998, touring and recording incessantly and winning significant support from The Wire and John Peel - however, by 2003 and four records, the band announced a hiatus to pursue other musical projects.

‘challenging, intense, evocative’ BBC Music

This lasted until December 2010, when the band returned to curate and perform at All Tomorrow’s Parties followed by extensive international touring. October 2012 saw the release of Allelujah! Don't bend! Ascend!, their first recorded work in a decade, to widespread critical acclaim.

This was followed up by latest album Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress released in March 2015. The album finds GY!BE in top form; a sterling celebration of the band's awesome dialectic, where composition, emotion and 'note-choice' is inextricable from an exacting focus on tone, timbre, resonance and the sheer materiality of sound.

Book now to see Godspeed You! Black Emperor

We've some GY!BE fans in our midst and we asked them why they were so very excited....

'Having listened to their latest album Asunder, Sweet And Other Distress (which is basically one long track) in one sitting the other day, I was completely drawn in by it and think this will be amazing live experience. I love a good wall of sound, and there’s plenty of light and shade to hold the listener’s interest.'
Georgina, Marketing Manager  

'From what I’ve heard, experiencing Godspeed You! Black Emperor live is an all-out assault on the senses (they’re epic enough just on record – songs often last twenty minutes or so!). As a band they’re expansive, pioneering, anarchic, elusive, intricate, explosive, political and very, very loud.' 
Chris, Senior Press Officer