Our great friends Barbara kick off their 2026 Autumn Tour on Friday 6th November. With a whole shipment of new fans scrambling for tickets and a steady flow of new songs into the band’s repertoire, this year’s tour promises to be something rather special. We’ll be going along and we strongly recommend that you do too.

BARBARA – ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Here at At The Barrier we make no effort to hide our admiration for Brighton’s premier fop-pop band, Barbara. Indeed, it seems as though every time they cross our radar, that admiration takes another leap forward. Whether it’s a tour, a new album, a new single or a truly astonishing appearance at our favourite festival, Barbara always seem to nail it. So, we’re particularly looking forward to catching up with Barbara once again, as they hit tyhe road for their 2026 Autumn Tour.

The tour kicks off this Friday (6th November) at Beverley’s East Riding Theatre. From there, the band will be heading to The Greystones, Sheffield (7th November|), The Mill Arts Centre, Rayleigh (8th November), Le Pub, Neport – that’s South Wales, not the Isle of Wight – (27th November), Forest Arts Centre, New Milton (28th November) and 229, Regent’s Park, London on 5th December. The tour concludes with a home town show at Dust in Brighton on Saturday 12th December.

We’ll be at that last one, and we’ll be providing a comprehensive match report – but don’t wait to see what we think; every Barbara show is a sensory experience. As Mr Kite was wont to say: “A splendid time is guaranteed for all.”

TREATS IN STORE…

Tickets for the shows are selling at a rapid rate, encouraged no doubt by Barbara’s powerhouse performance at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention, after which they surely added a few thousand more Barbarettes to their growing entourage of followers. Tickets for all shows on the coming tour can be bought here.

What can we expect from Barbara this time around, I wonder…

Well, for starters, a solid chunk of Barbara’s excellent 2025 self-titled debut album is a dead cert. Songs like Mein Fräulein, Master Narrative, Property Owning Democracy and Pretty Straight Guy have become live show favourites over the past couple of years, as have newer songs like Beryl and The Contented Commuter. Then, of course there’s the songs that have appeared in recent months – showstoppers every one – particularly recent singles The Lycra We Live In, Father Before Me and the hilarious Stag Do. Then, of course, there’s the inevitable smattering of favourites from Barbara’s early days – Golden Oldies as they’re starting to become known. I’m talking about songs like Don’t Send Me Messages, Waiting Outside Alone and my personal, enduring favourite, Rainy Days in June.

A VISUAL FEAST

And every song will be presented as a visual feast. Frontman John prowls the stage like a pepped-up Park Ranger and Henry on the keys plays Ron to his lively brother’s Russell. Dean and Jack (respectively guitar and bass) are musicians at the top of their game and also add to the visual gala, and Lawrie on the drums holds everything together – just like a good drummer should. Barbara don’t hold back once they’re under the power of the stage lights…

Don’t miss this one!

Watch Barbara perform Rainy Days in June – live at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention, 2026:

Barbara: Website

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