Death has always been at the heart of The Tiger Lillies’ extraordinary world.

Throughout his career, Martyn Jacques has written songs about countless aspects of the human condition—love, vice, religion, politics, madness, and desire—but death is perhaps the theme that has inspired him more than any other. In Songs for the Dead, The Tiger Lillies draw on their vast repertoire of songs about mortality, the afterlife, grief, murder, memory, and the strange comedy of our inevitable end.

“The collection of songs is very conceptual,” explains Martyn Jacques. “I sat and considered how I could write songs to dead people — different ideas, different messages, different types of people. Songs about murder, cemeteries, undertakers, sadness and loss. Death is very different — accidents, malice, old age, suffering, disease — so in a way, it’s a rich and easy subject to write a collection of songs about.”

“One of the most unique and subversive acts in contemporary performance.”
The New York Times

The programme features classic Tiger Lillies songs including Heroin, Gin, and Crack of Doom, alongside new compositions created especially for this programme.

The band returns to Greece following this summer’s performances of The Bacchae, a bold contemporary interpretation of Euripides’ ancient tragedy, directed by acclaimed Bulgarian theatre director Javor Gardev. Featuring original music by Martyn Jacques and The Tiger Lillies, the production brought the band to some of Greece’s most remarkable ancient theatres, including the legendary Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus. Blending the raw power of Greek tragedy with the band's distinctive musical universe, The Bacchae marked another extraordinary chapter in their long-standing relationship with theatre and Greek audiences.

With their unmistakable blend of dark cabaret, anarchic opera, and black humour, The Tiger Lillies transform the macabre into something both haunting and uplifting. Grammy-nominated cult legends Martyn Jacques, Adrian Stout, and Budi Butenop invite audiences into a world where the dead sing, the living listen, and laughter walks hand in hand with tragedy.

More information about The Tiger Lillies: tigerlillies.com