The Divine Comedy has shared the video for new single ‘The Best Mistakes’ ahead of the release of compilation album ‘Charmed Life – The Best of The Divine Comedy’ on 4 February, 2022. It’s a song that finds Neil Hannon looking at the tumultuous and uncertain nature of life and how it all combines in the end: ‘I began writing The Best Mistakes around 2007/8″. I got stuck after the first chorus and put it to one side. It wasn’t until I was putting together this compilation that the concept of ‘my best mistakes’ suddenly made sense. Success and failure are two sides of the same coin. You can’t have one without the other.’
In typically boisterous baroque pop fashion and with plenty of soaring strings plus a nod in the lyrics to ‘That’s Life’ (‘I’ve been a poet, a preacher, a fool, and a rake’), Neil Hannon looks back on his own decisions in almost Dickensian fashion: ‘I’ve thumbed the dog-eared pages of my paperback life, re-read confusing passages that never worked out right, all the muddles and miscommunications that landed me here’.
Neil doesn’t hold back from responsibility, admitting his mistakes – ‘I don’t regret a single day, they were the best mistakes I’ve ever made’ – before then looking at how things go so fast the older you get and how nostalgia can be a warming emotion: ‘I kind of like remembering the young man sitting at the station in a world of his own. The new sound, the overnight sensation.’ The video plays into this with Neil delivering the lines against a presentation of highlights from The Divine Comedy’s long-lasting and far-ranging career.
Following the release of this compilation album, Neil’s original songs will form the soundtrack to the film ‘Wonka’, starring Timothée Chalamet, set to open in cinemas on March 17th, 2023.
March 2022
Sunday 6th – Teatro Kursaal San Sebastian, Spain
Monday 7th – Casa da Música Porto, Portugal
Tuesday 8th – Aula Magna Lisbon, Portugal
Wednesday 9th – Teatro Nuevo Apolo Madrid, Spain
Thursday 10th – Palau de la Musica Catalana Barcelona, Spain
Sunday 13th – Le Bikini Toulouse, France
Tuesday 15th – Les Docks Lausanne, Switzerland
Wednesday 16th – Volkshaus Zürich, Switzerland
Thursday 17th – Triennale Milano Milan, Italy
Saturday 19th – Paloma Nîmes, France
Sunday 20th – La Coopérative de Mai Clermont-Ferrand, France
Monday 21st – Le Rocher de Palmer Bordeaux, France
Tuesday 22nd – La Sirène La Rochelle, France
Thursday 24th – Stereolux Nantes, France
Friday 25th – Le MeM Rennes, France
Saturday 26th – Philharmonie Luxembourg Luxembourg
Sunday 27th – La Laiterie Strasbourg, France
Tuesday 29th – Le Grand Rex Paris, France
Wednesday 30th – Théâtre Sébastopol Lille, France
Thursday 31st – De Roma Antwerp, Belgium
April 2022
Saturday 2nd – Gloria-Theater Cologne, Germany
Sunday 3rd – TivoliVredenburg Utrecht, Netherlands
Monday 4th – Admiralspalast Berlin, Germany
Tuesday 5th – Gruenspan Hamburg, Germany
Thursday 7th – Bremen Teater Copenhagen, Denmark
Friday 8th – Rockefeller Music Hall Oslo, Norway
Saturday 9th – Nalen Stockholm, Sweden
Monday 25th – Symphony Hall Birmingham, England
Tuesday 26th – The Bridgewater Hall Manchester, England
Wednesday 27th – Usher Hall Edinburgh, Scotland
Friday 29th – Dome Brighton, England
Saturday 30th – Barbican York, England
May 2022
Sunday 1st – Philharmonic Hall Liverpool, England
Tuesday 3rd – Palladium London, England
Thursday 5th – Corn Exchange Cambridge, England
Friday 6th – Regent Ipswich, England
Sunday 8th – New Theatre Oxford, England
Monday 9th – O2 Guildhall Southampton, England
Tuesday 10th – The Forum Bath, England
Thursday 12th – St David’s Hall Cardiff, England
Friday 13th – Victoria Theatre Halifax, England
Saturday 14th – O2 City Hall Newcastle, England
Sunday 15th – Royal Concert Hall Nottingham, England
Tuesday 17th – Cork Opera House Cork, Ireland
Thursday 19th – Olympia Theatre Dublin, Ireland
Friday 20th – Olympia Theatre Dublin, Ireland
Saturday 21st – Waterfront Hall Belfast, Northern Ireland