Scissor Sisters return for UK arena tour
By Dan Biggane | October 31, 2024
Scissor Sisters return to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their No.1 debut album.
2024 marks the 20-year anniversary of the band’s debut album Scissor Sisters, one of the UK’s 40 best-sellers of all time. To celebrate this, the era-defining pop disruptors – lead singer Jake Shears plus multi-instrumentalist Babydaddy and guitarist Del Marquis – will fill the UK’s arenas next May with their signature mix of showmanship, songcraft and galvanising queer energy.
The album Scissor Sisters was the best-selling album in the UK of 2004, selling over 3 million copies globally (a staggering 2 million of these were UK sales). Ranked as the 20th biggest-selling album of the 21st century in the UK and the 35th biggest-selling album of all time, the album went 9 x Platinum in the UK, and won three BRIT Awards in 2005, including Best International Album, Best International Group and Best International Breakthrough Act, making Scissor Sisters the first act ever to win all three international categories.
The band are already batting around setlist ideas but plan to perform every single track from the album on the tour. They will also cherry-pick highlights from their three subsequent albums, 2006’s Ta-Dah, 2010’s Night Work and 2012’s Magic Hour, which contain some of the band’s biggest hits and most cherished fan favourites.
Anything Can Happen
Jake says: “It’s the 20th anniversary of our debut album, so it really feels like the right time to revisit all the intense excitement of that moment.
“I think the impetus for this reunion was really a YouTube screening of Scissor Sisters: Live at The O2 that happened during lockdown. I don’t think I’d seen that show since it was filmed in 2007, but we were all kind of surprised by how great it was. And chatting with fans during the screening really brought back what a special moment it was for all of us.”
Babydaddy adds: “There’s something really special about us being a gay band, a queer band, who really pushed into the mainstream with that album. We want to revisit that because there weren’t as many queer acts breaking through in that way 20 years ago. I believe we did something pretty unique back then just by putting ourselves out there as queer people. We put queer culture in the mainstream at a time when there wasn’t much of it there.”
Del says: “There will always be a little bit of anarchy and chaos in our live shows. That’s the magic ingredient of the Scissor Sisters, and we’re definitely going to bring that ‘anything can happen’ energy back again. This time I want to be really present on stage and celebrate how lucky we are to have achieved what we achieved. I don’t think I was mature enough to deal with everything the first time around because it happened so fast.”
An Interesting Kind Of Different
The Scissor Sisters 2025 live experience will have a different dynamic as singer Ana Matronic has decided not to join the tour as she has other projects she is focusing on right now. “The 20th anniversary only happens once and now has to be the time for us to celebrate that album”, says BabyDaddy.
“We’ve spent a lot of time collectively thinking about what we can add to our show that isn’t a ‘replacement’ for Ana in any way,” Del says. “She’s part of the spirit of this band and we want to honour that.”
For Jake, reconvening as a trio adds to the “fun challenge” of working out what their live show looks and feels like after 12 years away. “The way I see it is this,” he adds, “If it’s gonna be different, why not make it an interesting kind of different?”
Scissor Sisters 2025 Arena Tour Dates
Fri 16 May – Nottingham, Motorpoint Arena
Sat 17 May – Glasgow, Ovo Hydro
Mon 19 May – Bournemouth, International Centre
Tue 20 May – Cardiff, Utilita Arena
Wed 21 May – Manchester, Co-op Live
Fri 23 May – London, The 02
Sat 24 May – Leeds, First Direct Arena
Sun 25 May – Birmingham, Utilita Arena
Tue 27 May – Belfast, Sse Arena
Wed 28 May – Dublin, 3Arena
Tickets will go on pre-sale on Wednesday 6 November at 9am, with the general on sale Friday 8 November at 9am here.
The album, Scissor Sisters, will be reissued on vinyl on 22 November with a deluxe expanded edition to follow next year. Fans can expect B-sides, remixes and unheard rarities alongside the original 11-track LP.
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