Ben Lee Announces 'Awake Is The New Sleep' 20th Anniversary Tour

Ben Lee is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his fifth album, Awake Is The New Sleep, with a massive national tour this September and October.

The tour announcement arrives as Lee releases a surprise new version of his hit Catch My Disease, teaming up with Phantom Planet for a reworking of his “unlikely 2005 anthem.”

The new version of Catch My Disease stars guest vocalists Lara Meyerratken, Sadie Dupuis, Alex Lahey, Khatumu, and FVNERAL’s Tim Blunt. Lee has amended some of the lyrics, giving shoutouts to some of his favourite Australian artists, Mallrat and Miss Kaninna.

For the upcoming tour, Lee and his band will perform Awake Is The New Sleep in its entirety and share stories of how the songs came to be. Playing in 2005 style, there will be “no backing tracks, no click tracks, no video screens.”

The tour begins at Canberra’s UC Refectory on Thursday, 25 September. It continues at Newcastle’s King Street Bandroom on Friday, 26 September, Sydney’s Liberty Hall on Saturday, 27 September, Byron Bay’s The Beach Hotel on Thursday, 2 October, Brisbane’s Princess Theatre on Friday, 3 October, Gold Coast’s Miami Marketta on Saturday, 4 October, Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal on Thursday, 9 October, Torquay Hotel on Friday, 10 October, Melbourne’s Northcote Theatre on Saturday, 11 October, Adelaide’s The Gov on Friday, 17 October, and wraps up at the Fremantle Arts Centre on Saturday, 18 October.

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Frontier Members can access pre-sale tickets on Tuesday, 20 May, at 2 pm local time ahead of the general sale opening on Thursday, 22 May, at 2 pm local time. You can find more ticketing information on the Frontier Touring website.

Reminiscing on Awake Is The New Sleep’s impact as it celebrates 20 years, Lee said:

I’m not really a nostalgic person, I prefer to keep pushing forward with new projects and ideas, but this feels weirdly right to me. I’ve done so much touring in the last couple of years, averaging about 100 shows a year, and it's become abundantly clear to me that this album Awake was a really vital part of so many people’s lives and emotional journeys. I’ve chatted to so many people about the wide-eyed exploration and optimism of the record, and how it still seems to find people at the exact right time that they need that kind of energy.
For me, it’s an album of endings and beginnings. I made it when I’d just left a major romantic relationship, had no record deal for the first time in my career, and was getting into spirituality, philosophy and the occult (but wasn't in over my head just yet - that would come soon enough lol).
It’s an album that seemed to change a lot of lives, including mine. I’m looking forward to facing that, head on, and exploring what these songs mean to me and the audience today, 20 years on. They still feel potent.

Presented by Frontier Touring