The Academic announce Irish and UK tour dates

Westmeath indie rock band The Academic have announced Irish and UK tour dates in celebration of their upcoming album I'm Not Crying You Are.

The European and UK run will include shows in Limerick's Dolans Warehouse on March 20, Cork's Cyprus Avenue on March 24, Galway's Black Box on March 25 and Dublin's Vicar Street on March 27.

I'm Not Crying You Are is out January 22, 2027. In September, they released the lead single off the album, 'Keeping Up Appearances'.

It was recorded in Dublin at Hellfire Studios with producer Pete Robertson, whose credits include The Vaccines, Beabadoobee and Clairo.

"I think with this record we wanted to get closer to the kind of albums that made us fall in love with music in the first place," lead singer Craig Fitzgerald said of I'm Not Crying You Are. "There's a real love of melody and arrangement in it, and I think you can hear some of that Beatles instinct for taking a song somewhere unexpected.

"We were also listening to a lot of Dylan and Lou Reed while making this record and were inspired by the honest storytelling and how they both could look at everyday life without dressing it up or trying to make it more sentimental than it needed to be."

The group were also announced as performers for the New Year's Festival Countdown Concert in Dublin Castle on New Year's Eve. They will be playing alongside Aaron Rowe, THEATRE, KK Lewis and DJ Shelly Gray.

The Academic released their debut album, Tales from the Backseat, in January 2018. It was nominated for Album of the Year at the Choice Music Prize in 2019. Their second record, Sitting Pretty, dropped in February 2023 and entered the Irish Albums Chart at No. 1.

The last time they played in Ireland was in August, when they played a set at Electric Picnic. Earlier this year, they performed at the Malahide Castle Summer Concerts, Cork's Virgin Media Park and Dublin's Trinity Ball.

Tickets for their Irish and UK tour dates go on sale Friday at 10 am here.