Pigeon are busy building a universe. The Margate-rooted psychedelic five‑piece have spent the past year quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) becoming one of the most talked‑about new live acts in the UK. Now, fresh off the release of their acclaimed debut album OUTTANATIONAL, the band are levelling up again with a run of January 2027 UK headline shows, a brilliantly unhinged new video for “Future Country”, a Later… with Jools Holland debut, and a full arena tour supporting Duran Duran.
For a band once known for 30‑minute improvisational jams in seaside studios, this is a serious ascent, and it feels like they’re only just getting started.
Recorded between The Albion Rooms in Margate and Big Jelly Studios in Ramsgate, OUTTANATIONAL is a widescreen collision of afro‑disco, krautrock, punk‑funk, post‑punk and free‑form improvisation. It’s a record that moves with instinct rather than design, cosmic, communal, and defiantly joyful even when wrestling with heavy themes.
At the centre of it all is Falle Nioke, whose voice, shifting between English, French, Susu, Fulani, Malinke and Coniagui, carries the emotional weight of migration, belonging and identity. Written during his naturalisation process after relocating from Guinea‑Conakry, the album turns personal upheaval into something celebratory and expansive.
The Times have already called Pigeon “the most exciting band in years”, and for once, the hype feels justified.
Today’s big drop is the video for “Future Country”, one of the album’s standout tracks, a jerky, percussion‑heavy blast of mutant disco imagining what immigration might look like centuries from now.
Director Tom Dream describes the video as:
“A fake TV news documentary investigating the growing crisis of bands illegally immigrating to the future because there’s no work left in the present.”
Shot in a dead‑serious GB News style, it follows Pigeon slipping through illegal time portals, bribing immigration officers, and landing in Margate 2126, where, brilliantly, nothing has changed. Future citizens complain about “young men coming over here” and taking the jobs of local bands. DIY sci‑fi chaos meets real street vox pops, blurring satire and reality in a way only Pigeon could pull off. It’s funny, pointed, and weirdly profound — exactly the kind of world‑building that sets this band apart.
Another milestone: Pigeon will make their Later… with Jools Holland debut on 7 June, bringing their ecstatic, percussion‑driven live energy to national TV for the first time. Given their reputation for turning venues into sweat‑soaked, communal dance rituals, this could be the moment the wider world finally clocks what’s happening.
As if that wasn’t enough, Pigeon join Duran Duran across a run of UK and Ireland arena dates this October — Glasgow, Belfast, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds — the works. It’s a huge platform for a band whose sound thrives on scale, rhythm and collective energy. Expect them to win over thousands of unsuspecting pop fans every night.
After selling out London and Bristol this December, Pigeon return in January 2027 for their biggest headline run yet:
07 Jan – The Drill Shed, Margate
21 Jan – The Lantern, Bristol
22 Jan – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
23 Jan – YES Pink Room, Manchester
28 Jan – Village Underground, London
29 Jan – Bodega, Nottingham
30 Jan – Arts Centre, Norwich
2026
02 Aug – Wilderness Festival, Oxfordshire
15 Oct – OVO Hydro, Glasgow (w/ Duran Duran)
18 Oct – SSE Arena, Belfast (w/ Duran Duran)
20 Oct – Utilita Arena, Birmingham (w/ Duran Duran)
23 Oct – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool (w/ Duran Duran)
24 Oct – First Direct Arena, Leeds (w/ Duran Duran)
07 Nov – Sonic City, Kortrijk, Belgium
02 Dec – The Dome, London (SOLD OUT)
03 Dec – Strange Brew, Bristol (SOLD OUT)
OUTTANATIONAL is a debut album that feels like a mission statement, expansive, borderless, and alive with possibility. Stream it, buy it, live inside it.
