Arab Strap announce new Scottish dates celebrating 25 years of Philophobia

Arab Strap have announced a new series of Scottish live dates this winter celebrating 25 years of Philophobia - the pair’s classic second album, originally released on 20 April 1998 via Chemikal Underground Records.

Philophobia Undressed will see Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton ‘quietly celebrate’ the album’s quarter-century milestone by performing it live in full as a duo, presenting its 13 tracks in their most intimate form in suitably intimate settings across Scotland in December - following UK/EU dates earlier this year.

While never ones to dwell too much on the past, the two found it difficult to ignore the magnitude of this particular anniversary and decided to honour the album with a fitting tip of the cap. Or as the band themselves put it:

“With a new album about halfway ready for release next year, we thought we could easily ignore our second album’s 25th birthday. But we find it hard to say no to Philophobia. If our first album was a ramshackle oddity filled with in-jokes and formerly private tape moments that we never expected to bother many ears, it was Philophobia where everything started to come together, when we began to realise making music might have a future for us, and the Arab Strap sounds and themes began to take shape. If you’ve seen us play in the past few years, you’ll know we still include quite a few of its songs in our set lists. These tunes seem to have endured, and it’s probably the only album we’d ever consider performing all the way through.

“But, with our new forward-facing philosophy and 8th album on the way, we didn’t want to make too big a deal of it. We hummed, we hawed. Venues for a bells-and-whistles full-band Philophobia tour were on hold for a while, but those plans were abandoned because it just didn’t feel right and, as Aidan said on our last album, we don’t really give a fuck about the past. But, as we say, it’s hard to say no to Philophobia, and we couldn’t just let its 25th birthday shuffle by unmarked … so we’ve decided to celebrate it after all, but quietly. The Philophobia Undressed tour will feature the album in full, but performed by just the two of us – Malcolm & Aidan with a guitar or two, some drum machines and probably a digital Mellotron – as we sing our old songs about being young, in intimate surroundings and, in some cases, visiting towns we haven’t played in a long, long time. We’ll probably play some new songs too.”

Philophobia Undressed Tour 2023 Scotland

Mon 4 Dec - V&A - Dundee

Tue 5 Dec - PJ Molloys - Dunfermline

Wed 6 Dec - Lemon Tree - Aberdeen

Thu 7 Dec - MacArts - Galashiels

Fri 8 Dec - Tolbooth - Stirling

Sat 9 Dec - Saint Luke’s - Glasgow

Tickets for all Philophobia Undressed shows are on sale here.