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The Cat Empire to farewell original lineup with national tour
"Deepest thanks for sharing this journey with us, for your devotion, for playing our music, sharing it with your friends and family, carrying it around the world in your backpacks, allowing it to be the soundtrack to your big life moments, for attending our shows, and for making it all so worthwhile and enriching."
Much-loved Australian musical experts and absolute party starters The Cat Empire have announced that their original six-piece lineup with play their final shows together in December 2021.
The lineup, which has been together for 20 years, have played close to 1500 live shows across the globe and amassed a dedicated following along the way.
Australian audiences will have the chance to say goodbye to the original The Cat Empire band members at a series of, what are sure to be, huge farewell shows.
Will Hull-Brown (Drums), Ryan Monro (Bass-departed the band March 2021), Harry Angus (Vox/Trumpet), Jamshid (Dj Jumps) Khadiwala (Decks/Percussion), and career-long Manager Correne Wilkie will all be celebrating their final moments with The Cat Empire on this tour.
The Cat Empire Original Lineup Farewell Shows
- December 5, 2021, – Sandstone Point Hotel, Queensland
- December 11, 2021, – Red Hill Auditorium, Western Australia
Tickets go on sale Tuesday 21 September @ 10am (local time)
While long-time supporters may be saddened over the news, The Cat Empire will continue in the hands of founding members Felix and Ollie, taking the band’s renowned live shows to fans far and wide as a “re-imagined, vibrant, cross-cultural, and joyful collective of musicians and artists.”
Sounds mysterious, but we’re definitely in!
In the meantime though, The Cat Empire aren’t slowing down for a second – announcing two new songs for release in October, following the four singles they’ve already released in the last two months.
After 20 incredible years of touring and making music together, we have made the decision to disband, and to make way for a new incarnation of The Cat Empire to come to life fronted by Felix Riebl and Ollie McGill.
Best Wishes from The Cat Empire
The Cat Empire began as a musical jazz project in Melbourne, Australia in 2001, and took on a life of its own, so much bigger than any of us could have even dreamed or imagined. As we look back on the past two decades, we are so proud of what we achieved; from the (almost 1500) live shows and festivals we have played around the world, to the seven studio albums which resulted in global chart success, as well as our cherished independence, and more importantly the interpersonal experiences we amassed and grew from. We directed our own musical adventure and created our own opportunities along the way.
We’ve played Letterman and Leno, Bonnaroo and SummerStage NYC, opened the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, performed at Bluesfest 15 times, Falls Festival 11, Woodford Folk 10, Winnipeg Folk Festival 8 times, and Blues Balls (Switzerland) and Adelaide Fringe 7 times each. More than half of our live audience lives in Europe. We hold the record for the most shows played in a row at Edinburgh Festival (16), and in 2019 we played Glastonbury twice.
In the meantime, deepest thanks for sharing this journey with us, for your devotion, for playing our music, sharing it with your friends and family, carrying it around the world in your backpacks, allowing it to be the soundtrack to your big life moments, for attending our shows, and for making it all so worthwhile and enriching.
The Cat Empire will farewell their original lineup with a series of shows in December. Tickets are on sale via Ticketmaster.com.au.
