Doves announce first UK shows since 2019 – without frontman Jimi Goodwin

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Doves have announced a trio of intimate UK shows for – however they’ll be performing without frontman Jimi Goodwin as he continues to work on his mental health.

READ MORE: Doves return with ‘Renegade’ and talk new album ‘Constellations For The Lonely’: “It felt like a bad curse was following us”

The Manchester indie veterans marked their return this week with the single ‘Renegades’ and the announcement of sixth studio album ‘Constellations For The Lonely’. This comes after the band were forced to pull the tour for the record so that frontman Jimi Goodwin could focus on his mental health. Now, they’ve announced shows in Stoke, Birkenhead and Hebden Bridge this month, with bandmates and brothers Jez and Andy Williams taking up vocal duties while the frontman continues his recover. The pair have leant vocals to a number of tracks throughout the band’s discography.

“I’m not going out live this time,” Goodwin told NME. “The door’s not closed on that chapter; I just have to honour my sobriety and do what I need to in order to maintain that. I’m not ready to perform yet.”

He continued: “Jez and Andy have got my complete blessing. I’m absolutely thrilled for them. They still want to be jobbing and gigging musicians. It’s part of the package for them, and it is for me too, but right now I don’t want to upset any apple carts. You’ve not heard the last of me performing again with Doves.”

Guitarist Jez Williams, meanwhile, told NME how important the shows were to the fans.

“Jimi is still working on his sobriety and mental health,” he said. “When we cancelled ‘The Universal Want’ tour, people were really fucked off that they’d bought these tickets after waiting for us since 2010, just for us to cancel. People just want to hear the songs. We never got to play that album live. Jimi’s not ready, but he gave us his blessing, so we’re going to take the songs out live with us.

“I’m singing the majority of the songs and Andy will be singing some too. It’s strange with Doves, the band is bigger than the sum of its parts. We’re going out there to play the songs for the people that want to hear them. Travelling is in our blood. We made the decision to do this between the three of us.”

Williams added: “We don’t know what the future looks like. We’ve been working really hard for these intimate gigs, so we’re really looking forward to it.

The Williams brothers will be joined by the expanded line-up of Nathan Sudders on bass, who has performed with Elbow, Nadina Shah and King Creosote and multi-instrumentalist, Jake Evans, who was a touring member of Jimi Goodwin’s own band and joined Bernard Sumner as a member of Bad Lieutenant. Long-standing touring keyboard player, Martin Rebelski, continues with the band.

Doves upcoming tour dates are below. Tickets will go on sale from 9.30am on Tuesday November 13 and will be available here.

NOVEMBER
Wednesday 27 – Stoke, Sugarmill
Thursday 28 – Birkenhead, Future Yard
Friday 29 – Hebden Bridge, Hebden Bridge Trades Club

Elsewhere in their interview with NME, Doves explained the current mood in the band and the road that led to ‘Constellations For The Lonely‘ – with Goodwin explaining that he’s currently “getting on great”.

“I create every day. I’m always making music – even in my lowest times, which I’ve experienced,” he admitted, nodding to his hip-hop project Nightjar as well as his with Doves. “Creativity is my rock to cling to.

“I’m full of gratitude about my life and the people I have in it. I’m surrounded by fantastic people who I’ve worried over the years. Not intentionally, but as part of my recovery from substance abuse. I have to realise that I’ve worried my children and partner, I’ve worried my colleagues and my brothers Andy [Williams, drummer] and Jez, our manager.”

Goodwin continued: “I’m just being candid, but now I’m on the right path and in recovery.”

The bassist and singer admitted that he “did a lot of hand-wringing” in making the decision to cancel their last tour. “I’m a people-pleaser and I didn’t want to let anyone down,” he said. “I committed to this thing, but it was making me ill to worry about whether or not I’d be match-fit. It wasn’t an easy decision to take, but it was a necessary decision to take.

“If you’re not fit for purpose for your own life and self, then how can you be fit for purpose for your obligations to other people? It’s hard putting yourself first. I felt like I didn’t deserve it. ‘Who am I? I’m nobody; I’m just a person’. You have to respect yourself and love yourself.”

Williams told NME of how the band were “absolutely mortified” to have upset fans in pulling the dates, but that Goodwin’s health took priority and the progress he’s made since has been “amazing”.

“It happens to bands. People have addiction problems and all kinds of shit,” he said. “It’s ongoing and thank god Jimi’s overcoming it. When we had cancel that tour, we thought, ‘This has probably come to its natural conclusion’. That’s how I felt anyway. It felt like a bad curse was following us.

“It was 50/50 about what the future would look like for Doves for a minute. Then we put some time in and started writing again for this album. That’s what saved us.”

Written, recorded and produced by Doves between Manchester, North Wales and Cheshire – with additional production from long-term collaborator, Dan Austin – ‘Constellations For The Lonely’ will be released on Friday February 14, 2025, via EMI North.