Ed O’Brien recently announced An Evening With… Blue Morpho, a seven-date UK and European tour taking place in October 2026, culminating in a special performance at London’s iconic Barbican on 16 October (which sold out in under 24 hours). The Blue Morpho live experience will bring together a collective of musicians who performed on the album’s recording sessions, including musical director Dave Okumu. Rather than simply recreating the record in its studio form, the live show is conceived as a fluid and immersive experience – a celebration of the music in which each performance will evolve and take on a life of its own. Led by O’Brien as the central figure, the band draws inspiration from the expansive, exploratory spirit of artists such as Sly and the Family Stone, Miles Davis and Phish. A full list of live dates is below. Tickets are on sale now here. Ed O’Brien will also be appearing on a panel at The Great Escape next month called ‘Music Saved My Life’ alongside Nadine Shah. In partnership with CALM, this powerful session explores the role music plays in mental health and wellbeing. More details here. Additionally a series of Q&A events will take place in Leeds, Cardiff, and London, which will be on sale here at 10am on Friday. Q&A events: 23-May-26 – Leeds Conservatoire in association with Crash Records
24-May-26 – Cardiff Tramshed in association with Jacaranda Records
26-May-26 – London EartH in association with Rough Trade Live dates: 4-Oct-26 – Netherlands, Amsterdam, Royal Theatre Carre
6-Oct-26 – Italy, Milan, Teatro Lirico
8-Oct-26 – France, Paris, Salle Pleyel
10-Oct-26 – Germany, Berlin, Admiralspalast
12-Oct-26 – Germany, Hamburg, Laeiszhalle
14-Oct-26 – Netherlands, Groningen, Oosterpoort Main Hall
16-Oct-26 – UK, London, Barbican – SOLD OUT
O’Brien likes to quote the Kentucky poet and farmer Wendell Berry: “To know the dark, go dark.” That philosophy became both compass and catalyst for Blue Morpho – a deeply personal album produced by Paul Epworth (Paul McCartney, Adele), born from one of the most challenging periods of his life. Though he remains one of rock music’s most lauded guitarists, Blue Morpho finds O’Brien beginning anew, finally starting to figure out his approach. With its moments of hypnotic psych-folk, radiant guitars, beguiling trip-hop and luminous stillness, it reveals an artist moving beyond familiar structures and feels like a map of O’Brien navigating exciting other ways to listen, work and live. He steps into the dark, and emerges renewed, evident on the stunning and uplifting title track, “Blue Morpho”, inspired by the healing effects of nature. In April 2020, after releasing his solo debut, Earth, under his initials, O’Brien almost immediately regretted waiting nearly a decade to record those songs while balancing his schedule with Radiohead. Some of its impulses had been lost in the gap, and there was only so much he could do to support it as the world confronted catastrophe. Later that year, O’Brien entered the deepest depression of his life. Encouraged by his wife to sit in the fire of his emotions, he began a daily ritual, immersing himself in the breathing and cold-exposure teachings of Wim Hof, then retreating into his small London studio, playing guitar for hours until his brain began to fray. There were no directions or preconceptions; O’Brien was simply using his instrument to navigate 50 years of emotional trauma and turmoil that had finally rushed to the surface. Years ago, when O’Brien began writing songs, Thom Yorke had told him a secret key to the craft was being a good librarian – cataloguing ideas when they happened to find and revisit later. As O’Brien played now through his past, his spiritual connection to nature in the Welsh countryside and his beliefs in the possibility of healing, he kept a record of what he was making. Over the next four years, those moments evolved into Blue Morpho, his first album fully detached from past regrets. A series of serendipitous encounters steadily led to Blue Morpho. After a chance connection through their children’s school, producer Epworth became a key collaborator, leading to focused sessions alongside engineer Riley MacIntyre in Wales where the album’s foundations took shape. Saxophonist and composer Shabaka Hutchings contributed flutes following discussions at Glastonbury about frequency and natural resonance. And in Estonia, O’Brien bonded with composer Tõnu Kõrvits over their admiration for the classicist Arvo Pärt; Kõrvits then arranged strings performed by the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. The album was completed between O’Brien’s studio in Wales and The Church Studios in London, a 200-year-old former sacred space whose atmosphere mirrors the record’s spiritual undercurrent. Sequencing assistance came from Flood, known for his work with U2, PJ Harvey, and Nine Inch Nails, and Ben Baptie handled mixing. Blue Morpho is available on CD, cassette, LP, indies exclusive Metamorphosis Edition LP (orange vinyl) and artist store exclusive Chrysalis Edition LP (cream vinyl). A limited edition blue 7″ of the “Blue Morpho” single is available as part of the LP album bundle on the artist store while stocks last. | 
