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The legendary British band THE THE is coming to AB !
Anyone who experienced the 1980s musically cannot but be delighted with the arrival of British band THE THE at AB. Founder Matt Johnson launches his ‘Ensouled World Tour’ in 2024 with a mix of new wave, rock, blues, soul and so much more.
THE THE began in the late 1970s as a multimedia art collective inspired by The Plastic Ono Band. Matt Johnson gains experience within the post-punk landscape as a studio engineer and gradually develops a unique sound by linking his love for soundtracks to legends such as John Lennon, Hank Williams or Robert Johnson. The debut ‘Burning Blue Soul’ (1981) opens the door for recordings in New York of ‘Uncertain Smile’ (1982), released on CBS which at the time also hosted Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Springsteen and Johnny Cash.
The big leap forward came with ‘Soul Mining’ (1983), a sonic masterpiece full of synths, violins and drum machines by a 21-year-old with tons of talent as he shows in ‘This Is The Day’.
With the songs ‘Infected’ (1986), ‘Mind Bomb’ and ‘(1989) and Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)’ (1989) he talks about desire, inner reflection and religion in which he warns against religious wars. An emotional high came with ‘Dusk’ (1993) after the sudden death of his brother. Things went quiet for a long time after that until The The fan David Bowie invited him to the Meltdown Festival (2002). Johnson then moved to Sweden and focused mainly on soundtracks
He highlighted the impact of the death of his mother and second brother Andrew and his troubled relationship with fame and creativity in the 2017 documentary ‘The Inertia Variations’. A year later, he surprises everyone with ‘The Comeback Special Tour’ after sixteen years ‘off stage’ – including a concert film – and launches new work drop by drop.
As he predicted nearly forty years ago in the iconic single ‘The Beaten Generation,’ today’s society is increasingly living on a ‘diet of prejudice and disinformation.’ The upcoming “2024 Ensouled Tour,” then, refers to “the inspiration of the soul,” to the question of how strongly the soul resides in a body as AI technology increasingly questions the meaning of “being human. Johnson’s philosophical expressions provide food for thought but are carried by rock-solid old and new songs that will be given plenty of space in AB.(source AB)
