Sparks

Sparks land at The Blackpool Opera House in Blackpool on 15 June 2026. Behind the name are brothers Ron and Russell Mael, nursed on the West Coast but long linked to the UK since the jolt of Kimono My House in 1974 and the sharp jolt of This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us. Their set crosses decades of shape-shifting pop: Ron’s precise, structured keyboards and Russell’s agile, high-register vocals steering from early art-pop and glam into their electronic turn with Giorgio Moroder on No. 1 in Heaven, then towards the minimalist, orchestral writing refined on Lil’ Beethoven.

On stage, the duo push their catalogue with a mix of wit, tight arrangements and theatrical timing, threading synth lines, piano figures and stacked vocal hooks. Expect cuts that map their many lives, from oblique disco and new wave textures to recent material from The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte and Mad!, alongside songs written for cinema and collaborations that have fed their appetite for reinvention. A chance to catch a band that keeps moving while sounding instantly like itself, in a room built for clarity and detail.