Patrick Wolf announces 10th anniversary stripped back autumn 2012 UK tour

Patrick Wolf

How time flies when you're having fun. And how time has flown for dandy and enigmatic London songwriter Patrick Wolf, ten years to be precise. Patrick Apps replaced his surname with the more canine moniker in the aftermath of ditching his A-level exams, his home and his 'white noise' group, Maison Crimineaux, becoming a regular retail worker and dreaming of making music.

The dreams became a reality when Fat Cat Records offered him additional instruments and studio time and being an already accomplished pianist and viola-player, Wolf didn't take long to dish up a debut album in 2003. Firmly rooted in the wilderness often avoided by the pop-music and avant-garde fraternity, 'Lycanthropy' and its follow-up 'Wind In The Wires' were two examples of an artist laying foundations for something bigger.

And that something bigger appeared in 2005 when he inked a deal with major-subsidiary Loog Records, once home to The Courteeners and The Horrors. The resultant album, 'The Magic Position', scored him a Top 50 album (the first of three in a row so far) and a LOT of new fans. 'The Bachelor' and 'Lupercalia' have repeated the success, rounding off a very positive 10 years for the singer. But before Wolf moves on to another ten years, riding his stallion of optimism and already armed with a new project, he's got one last thing to do before leaving 2012 - a tour.

Not just any old tour but an acoustic 'stripped' tour which will gather up previous gems and upcoming trinkets, accompanied by one other (TBC) musician and his own typically atypical assortment of instruments (grand piano, dulcimer, harp etc). He's got five albums to choose from and ten years to get through. Doddle.

Patrick Wolf's tour will begin in Salford on 6th November, followed by Cardiff, Gateshead and many more until Brighton on 11th December. We will have tickets available from 9am Friday 22nd June. For his London audience, Wolf will perform at the Old Vic Theatre on 29th August - tickets have just gone on sale for that one. You can also catch him at this year's Blissfields, Summer Well and Beacons festivals during the summer.

Paul Pledger