Arena dates for En Route To Normal

Bill Bailey has announced a new arena tour for December next year.

The comic – who is about to go into Strictly Come Dancing – has unveiled 12 big dates for the new show En Route To Normal, including a Boxing Day gig at Wembley Arena in London.

As the title suggests, material will include lockdown and how to ‘see a way through the strange unreality of our new world’ – but the comic says he came up with the name ‘before we’d even heard of Covid’.

According the show’s description: ‘Tracing lines through chaotic moments in history, Bill seeks out parallels where human resilience and our ability to endure has got us through times of strife.’

Bailey says that for him the pandemic led to a greater appreciation of birdsong and how nature has inspired many great composers. Lockdown also prompted him him to create dance remixes of video-calling ringtones.

Bailey’s last tour was Larks In Transit, which toured the UK, Australia, and New Zealand  – including a  five-week residency at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre - starting in 2018 and playing to more than 350,000 people.  In a  final European leg of the Larks In Transit tour was pulled because of the coronavirus.

His new book, Bill Bailey’s Remarkable Guide to Happiness, a collection of essays exploring the nature of happiness, will be published next month and can be ordered here.

Some tickets for En Route To Normal go on sale from 10am next Wednesday, with general release at 10am next Friday, priced from £35.

The tour dates are:

Sunday December 12: Plymouth Pavilions
Monday December 13: Plymouth Pavilions
Tuesday December 14: Bournemouth BIC
Wednesday December 15: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena
Thursday December 16: Bournemouth BIC
Saturday December 18: Leeds First Direct Arena
Sunday December 19: Hull Bonus Arena
Monday December 20: Newcastle Utilita Arena
Tuesday December 21: Birmingham Arena
Wednesday December 22: Manchester AO Arena
Thursday December 23: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Sunday December 26: London SSE Arena Wembley

Published: 30 Sep 2020