Newton Faulkner to bring acoustic Feels Like Home tour to Roadmender this autumn

Singer songwriter Newton Faulkner will headline the Roadmender later this year as part of his 23-date Feels Like Home UK tour.

Performing with only an acoustic guitar and microphone, Faulkner will headline the Northampton venue on Thursday, September 29.

Besides regular ‘general admission’ tickets, fans will be able to buy VIP ‘meet and greet’ tickets or a ‘Guitar Academy’ ticket – the latter which will include a guitar workshop with Faulkner before the show.

He said: “On the forthcoming UK tour, I’ll be focusing on the songs that work best with just a vocal and guitar part and no musical multitasking or loops.

“I’m sure there are some big songs I have never thought of stripping back, but the ones I can’t wait to play are Longshot, Against The Grain, I'm Not Giving Up Yet, Never Alone, Been Here Before, Waiting On You and obviously Feels Like Home. Most of these songs I very rarely play on tour.”

After the mystery-cloaked ventures of recent times, Faulkner’s new ethos of ‘no secrets’ promises open lines of communications as his boldest plans to date unfold.

He said: “After the last tour – which was an immensely complicated setup, like flying a musical helicopter – this one will be really stripped back and minimal, like how I started. There’s definitely a power to that.”

The Feels Like Home tour will ‘lift the curtain’ on his touring infrastructure, with VIP tickets letting the Faulkner hardcore observe the technical prep, and guitar workshops unpicking his playing methods before the gig.

“There’s always so many questions,” he reasons, “and I started to think, ‘Well, why don’t we open up the process?’ So, people can come to the soundcheck and experience me prepare the show.

“Then there’ll be a workshop in the day, to suit all different levels of player.”

It’s a concept that flows into another of the songwriter’s biggest upcoming projects.

As a noted alumnus of Guildford’s Academy of Contemporary Music – not to mention a seasoned tutor, workshop leader and bootcamp guest – the Newton Faulkner Guitar Academy which is set to launch later this year is a logical progression.

“Playing has made me so happy for so long and I want to pass that on,” he says.

“But music theory is a huge topic and if you’re just thrown in, it puts a lot of people off.

“The Guitar Academy is about streamlining everything you need to have the most fun, work stuff out by ear and get deep in – but to the fun stuff – as quickly as possible.”

Across the songwriter’s freewheeling 15-year career, the sole constant has been Faulkner’s urge to tear down what came before, shed his creative skin and outrun industry dogma.

That rebel spirit has seen Faulkner’s music pinball from the outer-limits acoustic sorcery of 2007’s number one debut album Hand Built By Robots, through an acclaimed catalogue that takes in rock, pop, folk, soul and beyond.

A fan pre-sale will start at www.newtonfaulker.com on Wednesday, February 23 at 9am.

The fan pre-sale will include VIP tickets (£60) which include access to the soundcheck and a meet and greet.

Guitar Academy tickets (£100) will include a guitar workshop with Newton before the show.

Both options include admission to the gig.

General admission tickets cost £25 and go on sale at 9am on Friday, February 25, via www.thegigcartel.com and www.seetickets.com