Press Release Date: Monday 16 July 2018, 10:00am Contact: Phoebe Gardiner [email protected] / 020 7921 0967 ​ ​ ​ Images: Downloadable here ​ ​ Paul Weller announces exclusive shows with orchestra at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall Paul Weller. Credit Nicole Nodland Southbank Centre announces today (16 July) that Paul Weller makes his debut solo performance at the ​ ​ Royal Festival Hall with two exclusive live shows on 11 and 12 October where, for the first time, Paul and his band will be joined by an orchestra. Special guests will also appear on both nights. ​ These two Royal Festival Hall debuts are the only indoor live performances of 2018 for the British music icon, who turned 60 this year. They support his upcoming new album True Meanings, due for release ​ ​ this September. The fourteenth Paul Weller solo album and twenty sixth studio album of his entire career, True Meanings ​ is a record characterised by grand yet delicate orchestration, for which the world-class acoustics of the Royal Festival Hall provide the perfect setting. The performances feature tracks from the new album and ​ from across his distinguished and decorated career. “Performing two nights in a venue as iconic as the Royal Festival Hall is a significant moment for me” ​ ​ says Paul Weller. “It’s going to be a special two shows performing tracks from the new album and ​ ​ ​ adding some older tracks into the set, all backed with a brilliant orchestra.” ​ One of the most revered music writers and performers of the past 30 years, Paul Weller achieved fame with the hugely popular and influential band The Jam. He had further success with The Style Council, ​ ​ before establishing himself as a solo artist in 1991. He has received four Brit Awards, including Best British Male twice, and Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2006, whilst in 2010 Paul picked up the highly covetable Ivor Novello award for Lifetime Achievement. Bengi Unsal, Senior Contemporary Music Programmer, Southbank Centre, says: “We’re incredibly ​ ​ proud that Paul Weller would choose Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall to present his new album in this way. It’s always exciting to welcome an artist of Paul’s calibre to our venue, but particularly when they’re offering fans something as special as these gigs promise to be. I can’t wait.” ​ Weller previously joined Bassekou Kouyaté and The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians when he performed at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall as part of Refugee Week 2016. # ENDS # Tickets go on sale to Southbank Centre Members at 10am on Thursday 19 July and to the general public at 10am on Friday 20 July. www.southbankcentre.co.uk / 0203 879 9555 ​ ​ ​ See Southbank Centre’s gigs and contemporary music listings from August - October 2018 here. ​ ​ See the Paul Weller True Meanings album release here. ​ ​ ​ ​ For further press information and images please contact: Phoebe Gardiner, ​ [email protected] / 020 7921 0967 ​ NOTES TO EDITORS About Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 17 acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most ​ vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery as well as The National Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. For further information please visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk. ​ ​ ​ .