Tickets for First Aid Kit's Visions of the Past tour go on general sale tomorrow, October 9, at 10 a.m. UK time. Johanna and Klara Söderberg have nine UK and Ireland dates booked for January 2027. They start in Dublin on January 18 and finish at London's Eventim Apollo on January 28.
The Swedish sisters plan to play stripped-back shows. Their younger brother Isak Benjamin is opening for them, and the songs will range from their first EP in 2008 to material that nobody has heard yet. Hits, deeper cuts and covers are all in the advance description. The sisters have asked fans for suggestions of rare songs and covers as they prepare.
Visions of the Past comes from Ghost Town, a song on their 2010 debut album The Big Black and the Blue. It's a fitting place to look backwards from. Two years separated the first EP and the debut album. The January plans reach back to both, then forward to songs still to be introduced. That is quite a stretch of writing to bring into one show, and listeners who know only part of the catalogue may find something else to follow up afterwards.
We'd use the time before January to put on an older First Aid Kit record from beginning to end. A tour announcement can send you straight to a list of hits, but there are other songs waiting on the albums. The request invitation makes that especially relevant here. It leaves fans room to bring a less obvious choice into the conversation, even though the band will still decide what gets played.
Our recent look at Enter Shikari's new single and November tour started with a fresh release ahead of the shows. For First Aid Kit, the draw is the range of songs and the reduced arrangements. Those could put writing from different periods closer together, without each track's original production around it. We won't know how that works until the performances; no new album date or fixed setlist has come with this announcement.
The route runs from Dublin to Belfast on January 19 and Glasgow on January 20. Newcastle follows on January 22, Manchester on January 23, Wolverhampton on January 24 and Cardiff on January 25. Brighton is January 27, ahead of London. Nine nights fit into eleven days, with January 21 and 26 empty on this itinerary.
Manchester is Saturday and Wolverhampton Sunday. Those are worth considering if a weekend is easier for travel than London's Thursday finish. London lists doors at 7 p.m., rather than an exact main-act start time. With the sale coming tomorrow, choosing a workable city and date is the immediate task. There is time before January to return to a record, find a song worth requesting and wait to see what the sisters choose.
