Elvis Costello confirms ‘Radio Soul: The Early Songs of Elvis Costello’ UK tour with ex-Bob Dylan guitarist, Charlie Sexton

Elvis Costello and The Imposters will head on tour with Charlie Sexton next year for a four-date tour of the UK.

Costello and The Imposters, as well as ex-Bob Dylan guitarist Sexton, were confirmed earlier this year as the opening acts for Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts’ 2026 tour. The Pump It Up hitmaker and veteran guitarist will join together on the stage to play “the early songs” of Costello’s career in the lead-up to their performances with Young. Radio Soul, the four-date Costello tour, will feature “special guests” according to a press release confirming dates in Birmingham, Portsmouth, and Newcastle. A special show at the Royal Albert Hall has also been confirmed.

Speaking of the tour, Costello said: “For any songwriter, it has to be a compliment if people want to hear songs written up to fifty years ago. Among them, Radio Soul, the first draft of what eventually became Radio Radio.

“You can expect the unexpected and the faithful in equal measure. Don’t forget this show is ‘Performed by Elvis Costello & The Imposters’, an ensemble which includes three people who first recorded this music and two more who bring something entirely new.

“They are nobody’s tribute band. The Imposters are a living, breathing, swooning, swinging, kicking and screaming rock and roll band who can turn their hands to a pretty ballad when the opportunity arises.” Sexton will join Costello and The Imposters for the four-date tour. A full list of shows can be found below.

• Saturday, June 13 – Birmingham, Symphony Hall
• Monday, June 15 – London, Royal Albert Hall
• Friday, June 26 – Portsmouth, Guildhall
• Monday, July 6 – Newcastle, O2 City Hall

Tickets will be on sale from December 12 and can be purchased here. Pre-sale for the shows begins tomorrow (Wednesday 10). Costello, The Imposters, and Sexton will open for Rockin’ in the Free World hitmaker Young, who is touring in summer 2026. A full list of those shows can be found below.

• Friday, June 19 – Manchester, Heaton Park
• Monday, June 22 – Nimes, Festival de Nimes
• Wednesday, June 24 – Nancy, Nancy Open Air
• Saturday, June 27 – Chelmsford, State Fayre, Hylands Park
• Monday, June 29 – Glasgow, Glasgow Summer Sessions, Bellahouston Park
• Wednesday, July 1 – Cork, Virgin Media Park
• Friday, July 3 – Oxfordshire, Blenheim Palace Festival
• Sunday, July 5 – Cardiff, Blackweir Fields
• Wednesday, July 8 – Weert, Evenemententerrein Weert-Noord

Costello played a series of stripped-back shows across the UK in 2024. In a four-star review of Costello and Steve Nieve’s performance at Leeds City Varieties, the veteran hitmaker was described as “chameleon-like on stage and offers wonderful variations of his best-known works and yet has a whole order of deep cuts and oddities right there, dying for a playthrough… a golden opportunity to hear the pair detail their best creative efforts.”