Bright Light Bright Light announces UK tour and drops Ana Matronic collab ‘Cold Sweat, Hot Boys’
Titled Not Like All The Other Boys, the cabaret-leaning, conversational live show will travel across the UK from 12 March
By Callum Wells
Bright Light Bright Light has announced a brand new UK tour for March, alongside a sparkling new single with Scissor Sisters icon Ana Matronic.
Titled Not Like All The Other Boys, the cabaret-leaning, conversational live show will travel across the UK from 12 March, while new single ‘Cold Sweat, Hot Boys’ lands on 29 January.
The track is the first taste of Rod Thomas’s forthcoming duets EP Duets, which reimagines previously solo Bright Light Bright Light songs as collaborations with long-standing creative partners.
Not Like All The Other Boys is described as a cabaret-style confessional
The new single was inspired by one of Matronic’s DJ sets at Wet Noise in New York, and marks the beginning of a wider 14-year retrospective of the Bright Light Bright Light project, which launched with debut album Make Me Believe in Hope in 2011.
Rather than a traditional pop gig, Not Like All The Other Boys is described as a cabaret-style confessional developed over the past two years at New York’s iconic Joe’s Pub. The show revisits 12 to 14 songs from across Thomas’s catalogue, pairing them with the personal stories, collaborators and cultural moments behind the music.
“It’s somewhere between a greatest hits show and an Edinburgh Fringe-style confessional,” Thomas says, with humour, visuals and a constantly evolving setlist shaping each night.
Over the past decade and a half, Bright Light Bright Light has built a devoted international following through a string of independent releases, dancefloor anthems and high-profile collaborations, including appearances alongside Cher, Elton John and Scissor Sisters.
“Sessions with Rod are always seamless, joyful and galvanizing. I always feel like I belong when I work with him” – Ana Matronic on working with Rod Thomas
Speaking about the new single, Matronic says: “There are maybe three or four people in the entire world who can get me into the studio, no questions asked, and Bright Light Bright Light is one of them. Sessions with Rod are always seamless, joyful and galvanizing. I always feel like I belong when I work with him.”
“That joyousness and sense of belonging is exactly what this song is about: those nights on the dance floor that stick with you and become core memories,” she adds.
Thomas describes ‘Cold Sweat, Hot Boys’ as a tribute to the euphoric atmosphere Matronic creates behind the decks.
Not Like All The Other Boys UK tour dates:
12 March – Neath – Gwyn Hall
13 March – London – Royal Vauxhall Tavern
15 March – Brighton – Komedia
16 March – Birmingham – Hare & Hounds
17 March – Manchester – Night & Day Café
18 March – Glasgow – Stereo
“I wrote the song after one of Ana’s many amazing DJ sets at Wet Noise in NYC – about the total euphoria she creates with her sets that really take you out of the everyday and into such a magical world,” he says. “After hanging out in 2025, I thought: why not ask Ana to re-record my vocals, since the song was written about a night she created? Suddenly it felt like it was in its final form.”
‘Cold Sweat, Hot Boys’ (feat. Ana Matronic) is released on 29 January. Bright Light Bright Light’s duets EP Duets follows later in 2025.
Not Like All The Other Boys tickets are available from www.brightlightx2.com/live.
Subscribe to Attitude magazine in print, download the Attitude app, and follow Attitude on Apple News+. Plus, find Attitude on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X and YouTube.
