The Horrors announce ‘Primary Colours’ 10th anniversary show at Royal Albert Hall

A modern classic

The Horrors have announced details of a special show at London’s Royal Albert Hall to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of their seminal album ‘Primary Colours’.

Released in 2009, the band’s second album contained the tracks ‘Sea Within A Sea’, ‘Mirror’s Image’ and ‘Who Can Say’ and was met with universal acclaim. Produced by Portishead‘s Geoff Barrow, Craig Silvey and music video director Chris Cunningham, the album is now considered to be among one of the best of the decade.

To mark the anniversary, the band will be performing the album in full at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Thursday May 9. Tickets go on sale at 9am on Friday November 9, and will be available here.

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“’Primary Colours’ was a pivotal album for us and we are excited to give it a deserved celebration as it reaches its 10th year,” said the band in a statement. “We welcome with open arms our friends, fans and supporters from throughout the universe to come to the Royal Albert Hall, one of the most beautiful venues in London, to enjoy this very special evening with us.”

“It’s no surprise that The Horrors’ ‘Primary Colours’ is the frothing-at-the-mouth critical hit of the year so far,” wrote NME back in 2009. “It does, after all, quarry all the influences music journalists traditionally cream their jeans over – drums by Neu!, guitars by My Bloody Valentine, vocals by The Psychedelic Furs – in such a way that allows the deployment of words rock scribes love to use, such as ‘motorik’, ‘lysergic’ and ‘dronescapes’ (although only The Oberver saw fit to use the phrase “meta-textual frisson”).

“This album could be no more critically adored were it to be penned by Dylan, produced by Kevin Shields, and topped off with a guest spot by Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators. As it is, it’s produced by Portishead’s Geoff Barrow, who surely deserves much of the credit for turning the band’s ramshackle live sound into something so unutterably sleek and exhilarating.”

NME added: “Because it is, cynicism aside, an astonishing record. But it seems much of the critical hysteria derives from the fact that so little was expected. NME excepted, most publications were pretty cool on The Horrors’ debut album ‘Strange House’, and subsequently wrote them off as Shoreditch hipsters with exemplary record collections but little talent.

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“Yet those critics have been perfectly happy to be proved wrong by ‘Primary Colours’. That’s because there is a special thrill in witnessing a band take such a massive step up on their second album. Think of Nirvana following up the cheerless sludge-punk of ‘Bleach’ with ‘Nevermind’. Or Neil Young outflanking his bloodless debut with ‘Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere’. Or The Strokes transcending the… OK, maybe not the last one.”

Last year, The Horrors released their acclaimed fifth album ‘V‘.

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