‘Good friends are made and sometimes lost
A fellowship can fall to dust
But brothers, sisters found at last
Guide me from a wilderness’
To celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the original release of their sixth album, The Underfall Yard, Big Big Train have today released a new Winter Version of the song "Brew & Burgh". "Brew & Burgh" was first released as part of the remixed and expanded reissue of The Underfall Yard in spring 2021 and is regarded by the band as forming an important part of the definitive version of the album.
Stream/download the song here, and watch a visualizer below:
“The Underfall Yard was a pivotal album for Big Big Train,” drummer Nick D’Virgilio comments. “It was our late, great friend David Longdon’s debut for the band and represented the start of an upwards curve, which apart from leading us to record a series of great albums, eventually resulted in us playing live from 2015 onwards.”
“'Brew & Burgh' has a universal message, but it’s also a very personal song and has become even more poignant following the loss of David in late 2021,” adds bassist Gregory Spawton. “As a band we’ve been through a lot over the last few years and we are very grateful that our audience has been there for us. In this season of goodwill we thought that releasing what we’ve called a ‘Winter Version’ of the song with a new arrangement would be a nice way to thank our fans for their steadfast support.”
“I love the original version of 'Brew & Burgh',” says lead vocalist Alberto Bravin. “We didn’t want to simply re-record the song but instead decided to re-arrange it to suit the winter season. Oskar Holldorff played a lovely piano part, Clare Lindley supplied some beautiful violin and Paul Mitchell, who toured with us in the autumn, makes his recording debut with us playing trumpet on this song.”
The original recording 'Brew & Burgh', featuring David Longdon, Gregory Spawton, Nick D’Virgilio, Rikard Sjöblom and former BBT band members Rachel Hall and Danny Manners, can be heard below:
Big Big Train recently announced seven shows to take place in April 2025 in North America. In addition to returning to the United States (following a successful short run of shows in March this year), where the tour will include shows in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, New York State, Massachusetts and New Jersey, the band will also make its debut in Canada (with details expected to be announced shortly). The majority of these shows will take place following the band’s co-headlining appearance on board Cruise To The Edge. In addition, the band will play for the first time in Portugal at the beginning of May at the Gouveia Art Rock festival.
At these performances the seven piece band will be promoting their recent studio and live albums The Likes Of Us and A Flare On The Lens, which were released by InsideOut/Sony in March and September respectively this year to great critical acclaim. These are are likely to be band’s only appearances in 2025.
Tickets for all shows are on sale now. Head here for ticket links.
Tour dates:
April
2 - Sweetwater - Fort Wayne, IN
4-9 - Cruise To The Edge
10 - Des Plaines Theatre - Des Plaines, IL
11 - The Token Lounge - Westland, MI
13 - Electric City - Buffalo, NY
17 - Regent Theatre - Arlington, MA
18 - Rivoli Theater at The Williams Center - Rutherford, NJ
19 - Rivoli Theater at The Williams Center - Rutherford, NJ
May
4 - Gouveia Art Rock - Gouveia, Portugal
