Scottish indie-pop band Belle and Sebastian have released "What Happened To You, Son?" as a standalone single ahead of their upcoming North American tour. Listen below.
Belle and Sebastian- "What Happened to You, Son?"
Featuring a buoyant melody, retro-style guitar riffs, tight harmonies and a "Rio"-style bassline, the song according to frontperson Stuart Murdoch in a press statement, was nixed from 2023's Late Developers.
"'What Happened to You, Son?' got pulled rather randomly from the last LP because the LP felt one track too long. Out it came," he said.
"The song is about my youth, and the funny hole I fell into in my late teens. I was failing at my university course, failing in almost everything I tried around then. I was obsessed with the music of the time, I used to hang so much on the lyrics and message and feeling of certain bands of the 80s era – it probably wasn’t healthy."
The band will be on the road for much of the spring and summer.
The group will begin their North American trek starting April 23 at The Eastern in Atlanta, Georgia and wrap up on May 19 at the Moore Theatre in Seattle, Washington. Tickets for all the shows (with supports Haley Heynderickx and The Weather Station) can be purchased here. They'll then head over to Europe for a run of dates beginning May 25 in Madrid, Spain and concluding July 2 in Stockholm, Sweden. Check out tickets for those here.
They had a planned 2023 tour, but that had to be canceled due to the illness of frontperson Stuart Murdoch, who posted in January: "As you might be aware my health took a dive around November 2022. While I am hoping that I will improve over the coming months, we felt it would be a safer route to cancel this tour and leave a clear path to recovery, rather than take a risk and have to cancel at the last minute."
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A Bit of Previous (2022) | Late Developers (2023)
From August 2–3, the band will host a brand new 'Bowlie' event, The Glasgow Weekender. Held at Glasgow’s SWG3, the two-day concert series will include live music, DJs, street food, exclusive merchandise and two headline Belle and Sebastian sets as well as performances by Camera Obscura, The Vaselines, CMAT, and many more.
Belle and Sebastian 2024 Tour Dates
Apr 23 – Atlanta, GA @ The Eastern #
Apr 24 – Richmond, VA @ The National #
Apr 26 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer %
Apr 27 – Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre %
Apr 28 – Montreal, QC @ M Telus %
Apr 29 – Toronto, ON @ History %
May 1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount %
May 2 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem %
May 3 – Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre %
May 4 – Chicago, IL @ Salt Shed %
May 6 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Eccentric Cafe #
May 7 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom #
May 8 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue #
May 10 – Denver, CO @ The Fillmore Auditorium %
May 11 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Block Party
May 13 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether %
May 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Bellwether %
May 15 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel #
May 16 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater %
May 18 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall %
May 19 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre %
May 25 – Madrid, ES @ Tomavistas Festival
May 27 – Merignac, FR @ Le Krakatoa
May 28 – Paris, FR @ Salle Pleyel
June 7 – Berlin, DE @ Admiralspalast
June 8 – Hamburg, DE @ ELBJAZZ 2024
June 9 – Koln, DE @ Gloria-Theater
June 11 – Feyzin, FR @ L’Epicerie Moderne Feyzin
June 12 – Nimes, FR @ Paloma - Grande Salle
June 13 – Donostia, ES @ Kursaal
June 29 – Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Belgique
June 30 – Amsterdam, NL @ Amsterdam Bostheater
July 2 – Stockholm, SE @ Cirkus
August 2 – Glasgow, UK @ The Glasgow Weekender
August 3 – Glasgow, UK @ The Glasgow Weekender
# w/ Haley Heynderickx
% The Weather Station
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