Hip hip hooray! ABC's Martin Fry chats to Graham Walker about a UK tour including homecoming date to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Sheffield band's iconic chart-topping debut album The Lexicon of Love.
BUY TICKETS: Tickets for all 10 dates in June 2022 -  see venue links below - are available at www.gigsandtours.com and www.ticketmaster.co.uk. For VIP packages visit sjm-vip.com.
ABC with the Southbank Sinfonia orchestra, conducted by Oscar winning long time collaborator Anne Dudley, will perform the album in it entirety which fused dance floor finesse with a post-punk attitude and spawned timeless tracks including Poison Arrow Tears Are Not Enough, All Of My Heart and The Look Of Love.
And there will be a very special homecoming at Sheffield City Hall, exactly 40 years to the day since the album was released, on June 21.
Other dates on the SJM Concerts promoted tour include London's Royal Albert Hall, on June 23, where the album's first orchestrated show won the hearts of critics and fans alike.
The show will play Oxford New Theatre, Friday, 17; Bath Forum, Saturday, 18; Birmingham Symphony Hall, Monday, 20; Sheffield City Hall, Tuesday, 21; London Royal Albert Hall, Thursday, 23; Newcastle City Hall, Friday, 24; Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Saturday, 25; Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Monday, 27; Manchester Bridgewater Hall, Tuesday, 28; Southend Cliffs Pavilion, Thursday, 30.
ABC were formed in Sheffield in the 1980’s, when they decided they wanted to fuse the world of disco funk with their own unique post punk vision
Floppy fringed frontman Martin Fry, in his trademark gold lamé suits, provided the powerful and melodic vocals with flamboyance and rock swagger, as he delivered clever lyrics dealing with treachery and heartache.
The result was the Trevor Horn produced album using real string and brass sections.
It went straight to number one upon release and sold over a million records.
ABC went on to enchant the world with their own unique brand of pop and the album remains widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of all time.
Expect other ABC hits on the tour such as When Smokey Sings, The Night You Murdered Love, Ocean Blue, plus The Flames Of Desire and Viva Love, from 2016's The Lexicon Of Love II.