A Flare On The Lens (Live) Big Big Train

• 1Folklore (Live in London 2023)07:25
• 2The Connection Plan (Live in London 2023)04:14
• 3Curator of Butterflies (Live in London 2023)08:21
• 4Summoned by Bells (Live in London 2023)10:24
• 5Drums & Brass 2023 (Live in London 2023)05:34
• 6Love Is the Light (Live in London 2023)07:02
• 7A Boy in Darkness (Live in London 2023)08:29
• 8Apollo (Live in London 2023)08:31
• 9Acoustic Medley (Live in London 2023)13:57
• 10East Coast Racer (Live in London 2023)16:12
• 11Victorian Brickwork (Live in London 2023)14:18
• 12Oblivion (Live in London 2023)05:53
• 13Swan Hunter (Live in London 2023)06:43
• 14Keeper of Abbeys (Live in London 2023)07:46
• 15Brooklands (Live in London 2023)13:23
• 16Hedgerow (Live in London 2023)08:36
• 17Telling the Bees (Live in London 2023)07:30
• 18Judas Unrepentant (Live in London 2023)08:00
• Total Runtime02:42:18

Info for A Flare On The Lens (Live)

In 2023, BIG BIG TRAIN were enthusiastically received by audiences across the UK and Europe, capping off their tour with two triumphant performances at London's Cadogan Hall. ‘A Flare On The Lens’ features the band's full show at Cadogan Hall from the second of their two performances last year and also includes seven songs that were only played on the first night.

Around 3 hours and no less than 17 songs plus an acoustic medley of 3 songs, including favourites from the back catalogue such as ‘East Coast Racer’, ‘Hedgerow’, ‘Folklore’, ‘Judas Unrepentant’, ‘Curator Of Butterflies’ and ‘Victorian Brickwork’, the instrumental live tour de force ‘Apollo’ and future classics ‘Love Is The Light’ and ‘Oblivion’. The latter two songs can be heard on the highly acclaimed studio album ‘The Likes Of Us’, which was released in March this year. ‘A Flare On The Lens’ is proof that BIG BIG TRAIN are on the way up and have established themselves as one of the most convincing live bands on the rock music scene.

Lead singer Alberto Bravin comments: A Boy In Darkness is one of the most emotional and difficult Big Big Train songs to sing and interpret. It's amazing how the mood of the song completely changes from a very dark place to a crowd-pleasing clapping part that leads to a tragic and powerful finale.’

Bassist Gregory Spawton says: ‘A Boy In Darkness takes the listener - and the band - on a historical and musical journey. We'd never played it live until last year and it was a little overlooked in our back catalogue. I always thought it was one of David Longdon's most accomplished songs and deserved more attention. The audience reaction at each of our gigs has reinforced that view.

Violinist Clare Lindley comments: ‘A Boy in Darkness has a certain weight to it, a sustained tension that is there from the start and builds as the song progresses to the magnificent final chorus. It's a great song to play live, full of interesting lines and melodies and, for me, an exciting instrumental section where I play all the violin and flute solos. I think the music carries the theme perfectly.’

BIG BIG TRAIN

Big Big Train
was founded by songwriter Gregory Spawton in 1990 and went through several line-up changes during the course of five albums. In 2009, with the recruitment of a new lead vocalist, David Longdon, and drummer, Nick D’Virgilio, the band embarked on a fresh start. Since then, Big Big Train have earned significant critical acclaim in both the mainstream and music press, won numerous Progressive Music Awards, played sold out shows and seen their albums reach number 1 in the Official UK rock charts and break into the top 40 in the Official UK album charts.

After a lengthy period as a studio band, Big Big Train returned to live performances in 2015. Following successful mini-residencies in London in 2015 and 2017, the band headlined the Night Of The Prog festival in Germany in summer 2018. They toured the UK for the first time in 2019, culminating in a sold out show at London’s Hackney Empire, subsequently released as the critically acclaimed Blu-ray Empire. The band also released two studio albums in 2021 and 2022, Common Ground and Welcome To The Planet.

Tragedy struck Big Big Train in November 2021 with the death of David Longdon. After careful consideration, and with the full support of David’s partner, in spring 2022 the band decided to continue and brought Italian vocalist Alberto Bravin on board.

Big Big Train played their first live shows in almost three years in September 2022 in the UK and the Netherlands. Joining Spawton, longstanding American drummer Nick D’Virgilio (Genesis, Spock’s Beard, Tears For Fears), Swedish guitarist/keyboardist Rikard Sjöblom (Beardfish, Gungfly) and the Big Big Train brass ensemble, these shows marked the live debuts of Alberto Bravin (PFM), Norwegian keyboardist Oskar Holldorff (Dim Gray) and British violinist Clare Lindley (Stackridge) and guitarist Dave Foster (The Steve Rothery Band, Mr So & So).

For their shows in August & September 2023, Italian guitarist Maria Barbieri is deputising for Dave Foster, who has prior commitments with the Steve Rothery Band.

In August and September 2023 the band played 17 shows in nine countries over the course of 21 days, with Maria Barbieri deputising for Dave Foster. The band will release their first album featuring Alberto Bravin as lead vocalist on 1st March 2024. This will be the band’s recording debut for the InsideOut/Sony label. The album will be issued as a limited edition media book, featuring Dolby Atmos and 5.1 mixes by The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord as well as the regular stereo mixes by Rob Aubrey and Alberto Bravin, as well as a standard CD and in four different vinyl formats (black, tangerine orange, olive green and sky blue), as a Bandcamp hi res download and via all major streaming platforms. The band has announced a number of live shows for 2024 including four shows in the United States, co-headlining Cruise To The Edge in March and Night Of The Prog in July and performing at Cropredy in August.

This album contains no booklet.