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Example is Playing in the Shadows and UK arenas in April 2012 - tickets on sale Friday 16th September

Posted: 12 years ago
Example

When he was 10, Elliot Gleave i.e. 'e.g.', ergo Example (stay with it), won a national poetry competition. Crowned Royal Mail Poet of the Year, Elliot won his school a new computer (a big deal in 1992).

The themes of rhymes and electronics have been close allies ever since, influencing his song-writing and performance style and bearing witness to a sensational rise to fame in the last two years.

The Londoner's Twitter account neatly sums up his career to date: "Started off singing. Then rapping. Now back to singing. But still rap occasionally." Not that he hasn't tried anything else. He has studied film directing and also dabbled in stand-up comedy, but it has been singing-rapping-and-then-singing-again-with-a-bit-of-rapping that has proved most fruitful.

The breakthrough came in 2009 with the single 'Watch the Sun Come Up', followed by a handful of hit singles in 2010, all from that year's 'Won't Go Quietly', his second album. 2011 has been even better, with the first two singles from his latest record, 'Playing in the Shadows', topping the UK singles chart along with the album itself.

Elliot Gleave was seemingly always going to make a name for himself. He has done so with the clever synthesis of his initials and with a tenacity and work ethic that is an example to wannabe singers, rappers, singers and singer-rappers everywhere.

Example's 2012 arena tour kicks off at the AECC in Aberdeen on Tuesday 24th April, moving on to Nottingham, The O2 in Greenwich and Manchester's MEN Arena, before the final date of the run at the BIC in Bournemouth on Monday 30th April 2012.

We will have tickets for all the new shows when they go on sale at 9AM on Friday 16th September 2011, priced £25 for London and £23.50 for all other dates.

In 2010, Example made around 100 gig or festival appearances and, as he announces his 2012 dates, he is showing no signs of slowing down in 2011. The live shows keep coming thick and fast, beginning in Edinburgh on 13th September (tomorrow), before Brighton's Shakedown Festival on Saturday 17th September.

The 2011 dates continue into December, taking in a range of venues across the UK and Ireland, and also two DJ sets at the Big Reunion 2011 in Skegness. A number of them have sold out, but we have tickets remaining for a range of 2011 Example gigs, including festival appearances, from as little as £6.50.

Stewart Darkin