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Father John Misty returns with baroque single ‘The Payoff’ and lines up London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire show
Father John Misty shares ‘The Payoff’, a harpsichord-led new single, and announces a London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire show for June 12.
Father John Misty has kicked off the next stretch of his 2026 run with a new single, the baroque, harpsichord-heavy ‘The Payoff’, and a sizable London headline date to match. Joshua Tillman last put out fresh music in January with ‘The Old Law’, and this follow-up keeps leaning into the kind of ornate, old-world detail that has long made his records feel a little unruly in the best way.
‘The Payoff’ is billed as a bold, vintage-rock track with touches of psych rock and late-period John Lennon. It was written by Tillman and arranged by Drew Erickson, with the pair also handling production. Michael Harris mixed and engineered the song at Fivestar Studios in Topanga, California, and Adam Ayan Mastering handled the mastering.
Check it out here:
On the live front, Tillman has now announced an Evening With Father John Misty show at London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire for Friday, June 12. The gig is set to stand in for his cancelled LIDO Festival appearance, which had been due that same day before being called off last month over concerns about the grounds at Victoria Park.
Tickets for the West London show go on presale at 10am on Wednesday, May 13, with general sale following at the same time on Friday, May 15. Find yours here.
He still has a string of North American dates coming up in May, with tickets available find tickets here, followed by a batch of European shows in June, with tickets here tickets here. He was also recently added to All Things Go in Maryland.
Earlier in 2025, Father John Misty marked the 10th anniversary of his second album, I Love You, Honeybear, with a remastered reissue. He even nodded to the timing of the celebration landing on the same day as Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, writing: “Today of all days.”
His last studio album was Mahashmashana, released in 2024, which earned a four-star review from NME. The review said: “The lush ‘Mahashmashana’ doesn’t quite mainline the zeitgeist in the same way that ‘Honeybear’ and ‘Pure Comedy’ did. Then again, there’s something to be said, in 2024, for logging off in favour of self-reflection.
“On the swooning ‘Mental Health’, Misty rejects the hive mind, concluding that his own particular ‘insanity‘ is ‘indispensable‘. Whoever the folk he is underneath that beard, the good Father can’t help but share words of wisdom.”
