Gigspanner Big Band announce April tour

The Gigspanner Big Band are a unique force in British folk music… their high-energy, virtuosic performances appeal equally to traditionalists
and to those looking for something more experimental, and they have
garnered praise from publications as varied as fRoots, The Telegraph and The
Wire, where they were described as ‘melodically folk-rooted yet open and
innovative beyond the constraints of genre’.

Beginning life as a trio – with legendary Steeleye Span fiddle player Peter
Knight being joined by percussionist Sacha Trochet and guitarist Roger Flack
– the line-up has been expanded to form The Gigspanner Big Band, with
acclaimed multi-instrumental duo Edgelarks (Phillip Henry and
Hannah Martin – BBC Folk Awards Best Duo), and Bellowhead co-founder
and melodeon player extraordinaire, John Spiers, joining the fray.
While Peter Knight, as part of Steeleye Span’s classic 1970s line-up, helped
invent a brand of folk rock that is still influential today, John Spiers has had an
equally profound impact on the landscape of traditional music over the last
two decades.

2025 has been a highlight year for the band, marked by the release of their
album Turnstone and subsequent tour dates. As FATEA Magazine
comments, “any thoughts that the live performance would struggle to match
the almost messianic reviews that the album received were quickly and
emphatically dispelled. What we witnessed was a truly spellbinding
experience with six masters who succeeded in seamlessly weaving individual
virtuosity into a collective sound that wrought the full range of emotions from
those listening”.

Characterised by riotous inventiveness, technically gifted individual playing
and subtle collaborative interaction, this coming together of several of the
biggest names on the folk-roots scene combines a deep knowledge of roots
traditions with a ceaselessly boundary pushing approach.

Artists’ website: https://www.gigspanner.com/

April 2026 Tour Dates

03: Bristol/Lantern Hall at Bristol Beacon
04: Tewkesbury/Roses Theatre
05: Buxton/Pavilion Arts Centre
06: Settle/Victoria Hall
07: Whitby/Pavilion
09: Milton Keynes/Stables Theatre
10: London/Kings Place
11 Tunbridge Wells/Trinity Theatre
12 Cambridge/Storeys Field
14 Farnham/Maltings
15 Emsworth/St James Church ️
16 Lyme Regis/Marine Theatre
17 St Germans (Cornwall) Priory
18 Wells/Cedars Hall
19 Exeter/ Barnfield Theatre

‘Sovay’ – official video:

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