Andy Bell, frontman for the legendary pop duo Erasure (“A Little Respect,” “Chains of Love,” “Ship of Fools”) will make his Las Vegas solo debut at The Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas on Saturday, October 26. Bell says the show will be a full-band concert of Erasure favorites, some of his solo hits, plus burlesque dancers, the country duo Steele Fountain, and more.
I recently had the chance to chat with the forever-young pop star about his upcoming gig in Sin City, new music in the works, giving back to the LGBTQ community and the 40th anniversary of Erasure. Listen to the full chat below.
Bell is currently working on new solo material with Grammy Award winner Dave Audé. His recent release – a rocking remix produced by Audé of the U2 classic “Pride (In The Name of Love)” with other guest vocalists such as Crystal Waters, Sarah Potenza, Wyn Starks, Plumb, and Zee Machine – hit #7 on the UK’s Pop Top 30 chart.
Dave Audé appears to be a great collaborative fit for Bell, telling Instinct the creative process with the Grammy winning producer/DJ has been “fantastic. He totally deserves the recognition. We work so well together and I have really good expectations for our project.”
Throughout his music career, Andy has become an icon within the LGBTQ community having been out and proud since he hit it big at the age of 21. Known for his honesty and compassion, he’s given back to the community with a long list of support for various LGBTQ causes including serving as an ambassador for the Terrence Higgins Trust in the UK as well as New York’s Hetrick-Martin Institute; donating the proceeds for his latest release to GLAAD; working with women’s charity ONE25 in Bristol; and much more.
Related: Instinct Exclusive – Spending Time With Erasure’s Andy Bell
Bell also shares he will be reuniting with Vince Clarke to start work on a new Erasure album in 2025, which marks their 40th anniversary as a band. “I don’t know where the time goes,” he tells Instinct. “I think being a musician, it just definitely keeps you young. There’s a saying that whichever age that you became famous, which for me was 21, that’s the age that you stay forever. And that’s how I feel.”
His upcoming gig in Las Vegas will be his first performance on the Strip as a solo artist, but it won’t be his first visit to Sin City. He shares that he traveled to Vegas a few years ago just to see Britney Spears, but hit a small snag. “Unfortunately, the guy that had booked tickets for us booked the wrong year. So we were a year early. Bless him, he was crying – this big bear, he was crying. But, they let us in and they gave us a table right on New Year’s Eve. Can you believe it?”
On his last trip to Vegas he and his husband took in the wild, sexy circus show Absinthe. But again – there was “a moment.”
“We got picked out in the audience without them even knowing who we were,” Bell shares with a laugh. “And he was going to try and get me to come on stage and pretend to do [an oral act] on my husband. And I was like, no way in the hell am I getting up there.”
Who knows what surprises await Andy Bell on his next trip to Las Vegas? Find out on October 26 when he takes the stage at The Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas. For more info, click over to his official website here and follow him on social media here. And you can check out “Pride (In The Name of Love)” below.
