Crooks have confirmed seven shows across Europe and the UK for April and May 2027, their first live appearances since 2016. The Cheltenham post-hardcore band will begin at Gebäude 9 in Cologne on 22 April, travel through Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and Italy, then finish at Oslo Hackney in London on 8 May. We’re stoked to announce it and give you some more details behind the “I Still Hear You” tour.
Crooks never formally announced a breakup or hiatus. They simply stopped appearing on live bills after 2016. More than ten years have passed since their last documented live appearances, and their recorded catalogue has barely changed in that time.
IDIOTEQ was posting about Crooks back in January 2012, when they were touring Europe with Welsh hardcore band FOXXES. Our first tour report covered a run through Belgium, Germany, Austria and France, with dates in places including Aachen, Stuttgart and Marseille. That summer the two bands arranged another run, including shows in Spain, and we shared a video diary from their earlier European trip, filmed by Sean Delahay. It is still there in the archive.
Those early years involved small shows, plenty of van time and handmade copies of their first EP, “Nevermore”, sold at gigs. In February 2012, we were already sharing “Nevermore” alongside the band’s 2011 demo and “Stand Against” single. Their music belonged to the melodic hardcore end of the UK scene, with Josh Rogers’ clean singing already a recognisable part of their sound. Their own Bandcamp page now gives 3 July 2012 as the EP’s release date.
The next releases were “Above Me” in October 2013 and the two-song “Still” in August 2014. By then Crooks had also begun reaching audiences outside the small DIY rooms where they started. They supported Being as an Ocean and later toured with Coheed and Cambria and Glassjaw. Their first full-length, “Are We All the Same Distance Apart”, arrived digitally on 30 October 2015 through Equal Vision Records, with physical editions following on 27 November.
That album pushed the cleaner vocal approach further. In a March 2016 interview with Punktastic, drummer Jack Batchelor explained that the band had consciously left screaming off the record, while Josh spoke about wanting to become a stronger singer. The guitars retained their melodic hardcore background, but the writing gave far more space to sung lines. By this point Crooks were playing headline shows across the UK and Europe.
The last stretch of 2016 was uneven. Ill health forced the postponement of most of a planned UK and European run, although Crooks did play London’s Garage on 4 March. A contemporary live report described Josh holding back on some of the vocals as people at the front sang along. The band were subsequently listed at 2000trees near Cheltenham in July 2016 (check out our recent feature on the festival at this location), and released the single “.NEVAREHT” that October. It remains their latest release on Bandcamp.
The seven announced 2027 dates are:
- Thursday 22 April: Cologne, Germany, Gebäude 9. Tickets
- Saturday 24 April: Berlin, Germany, cassiopeia. Tickets
- Sunday 25 April: Prague, Czech Republic, CROSS. Tickets
- Tuesday 27 April: Vienna, Austria, Flex. Tickets
- Thursday 29 April: Milan, Italy, Magnolia. Tickets
- Saturday 1 May: Munich, Germany, Rites of Spring Festival. Tickets
- Saturday 8 May: London, UK, Oslo Hackney. Tickets
Tickets go on sale Wednesday 28 October 2026.
Photos: Theodore Swaddling
