Swansea will host the opening night of Gregory Porter’s 2027 UK tour, with the jazz and soul star playing the Swansea Building Society Arena on 24 June.
Tickets go on sale at 9am this morning, Friday 11 September, through Ticketline and directly from the venue.
The tour runs to six dates: after Swansea, Porter plays Manchester’s O2 Apollo on 26 June and Glasgow’s SEC Armadillo on 27 June, before finishing with three nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 30 June, 1 July and 4 July.
Swansea, in other words, gets him before the Albert Hall does.
Porter’s two Grammy Awards both came for Best Jazz Vocal Album, for 2013’s Liquid Spirit and 2016’s Take Me to the Alley, and his baritone has been described by critics as “liquid gold”.
The announcement lands as Porter marks ten years of Take Me to the Alley, with a limited-edition double vinyl released in May to celebrate the anniversary, according to the tour’s announcement.
His promoters say the 2027 shows will span his career, drawing together songs from across his back catalogue, in his first UK dates since 2025.
Last year Porter received the Edison Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award, the Dutch music prize, the announcement says.
His most recent work reached beyond the concert hall: he wrote Good Goodbye for Goodbye June, the Netflix film directed by Kate Winslet.
Porter will find a city in good jazz voice. Days before the announcement, the Swansea International Jazz Festival wrapped what the council called one of its most successful ever runs: four days of ticketed shows, more than 50 free gigs and jazz cruises up the Tawe, in a city whose weekly jazz club has been running since 1949.
The booking also joins a Swansea live calendar filling up fast for 2027: this week the council announced Singleton Live, a concert series promising Wales-exclusive acts in Singleton Park.
Between the park and the Arena, next summer is shaping up to be the city’s biggest for live music in years.
For one night in June, one of the coolest voices in jazz starts his UK summer in Swansea. The queue forms at 9am.
Related stories from Swansea Bay News
- SWANSEA: Jazz festival takes a bow after ‘most successful ever’ run, closed by the man who started it all — The four days that just filled the city with jazz.
- SINGLETON LIVE: Big-name concerts return to Singleton Park in 2027, and every act promised as a Wales exclusive — The other half of Swansea’s 2027 live music summer.
- More from Swansea Arena — Every show and announcement from the Copr Bay venue.
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