Fleet Foxes has announced New Zealand shows at last to accompany the group’s hugely acclaimed third album, Crack-Up.

The indie-folk group with almost mythical status finally get back to our shores for the first time in six years for shows at the Auckland Town Hall on 9 January and Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre on 11 January 2018.

They celebrated their return to the stage this year with four sold out performances at the Sydney Opera House and, with the aid of an album that has been called one the year’s best, tickets for these New Zealand shows will be in high demand.

Both shows go on sale via Ticketmaster at noon on Friday 29 September.

Fleet Foxes’ massive international tour has been rapturously received. The Seattle Times noted of their return, ‘It’s almost unheard of for a band to disappear for this long, and then come back as big as ever.’ The Australian called the Sydney Opera House run ‘a spellbinding display of Fleet Foxes’ originality and vocal and instrumental dexterity.’

Crack-Up comes six years after the 2011 release of Helplessness Blues and nearly a decade since the band’s 2008 self-titled debut. All eleven of the songs on Crack-Up were written by Robin Pecknold.  The album was co-produced by Pecknold and Skyler Skjelset, his longtime bandmate, collaborator, and childhood friend.
‘A rich, ideas-driven record which pulls off a pretty unlikely feat: infusing Fleet Foxes’ music with the same sense of transcendence and beauty that they managed the first time, now delivered with an added sense of expansive musical ambition.  Confirms that rarest of achievements: a group somehow hanging on to the essence of who they are, while pushing their art into thrillingly unforeseen places.’ – Q

‘At a time when indie-rock seems to be growing more culturally marginal by the day, Crack-Up is a defiant artistic statement, an album that dares to feel important.’ – New York Times

‘Fleet Foxes’ new full-length record, is chiefly concerned with finding peace amid chaos. It’s also more dissonant and plainly mesmeric than anything the band has made before, and filled with these beautiful little half-admissions of inadequacy.’ – Pitchfork 

 ‘Likely to be the most remarkable album you will hear this year… the return of one of the most original bands of this century.’ – The Times

‘Astonishing.  Crack-Up may be the most anticipated release of the year, a welcome return.  Ambitious, mature, meticulous.’ – Uncut

Fleet Foxes’ self-titled debut made a profound impact on the international musical landscape, earning them Uncut’s first ever Music Award Prize, and topping numerous ‘Best of” lists’, including Rolling Stone’s 100 Best Albums of the 2000s and Pitchfork’s 50 Best Albums of 2008.  Fleet Foxes is certified Gold in North America and Platinum in both the UK and Australia.  The follow-up album Helplessness Blues was met with the same critical praise as its predecessor (Mojo five stars, Rolling Stone four stars, Pitchfork Best New Music); that album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200, went Gold in the UK, and earned the band a GRAMMY nomination.

Fleet Foxes is Robin Pecknold (vocals, multi-instrumentalist), Skyler Skjelset (multi-instrumentalist, vocals), Casey Wescott (multi-instrumentalist, vocals), Christian Wargo (multi-instrumentalist, vocals), and Morgan Henderson (multi-instrumentalist).

CRS and 95bfm present
FLEET FOXES

9th January 2018       Auckland Town Hall
11th January 2018     Michael Fowler Centre

Tickets go on sale midday Friday 29th September from www.ticketmaster.co.nz