VIA PRESS RELEASE | Today (2/23), on the exact two-year anniversary of The Past Is Still Alive—named one of the Best Albums of the 2020s So Far by Pitchfork, and one of the Best Albums of 2024 by The New York Times, The Atlantic, Associated Press, NPR Music, Rolling Stone, Billboard, OUT, Mojo, Uncut and a multitude of others—Hurray for the Riff Raff announces the release of a new live record.
Arriving digitally on March 20th, and physically on May 8th via Nonesuch, Live Forever was captured over the course of two sold-out summer nights at the Old Town School of Folk Music in bandleader Alynda Segarra’s new home of Chicago, Illinois. Spanning 14 songs, Live Forever presents The Past Is Still Alive in its entirety, as well as a selection of Hurray for the Riff Raff’s show-stopping, set-defining staples: decrying ICE on the poetic “Precious Cargo” and The Navigator’s anthemic “Pa’lante”; the prescient digital age critique of “Pyramid Scheme”; and ripping through a folk-rock rendition of LIFE ON EARTH’s “Rhododendron,” which is out today with a new video shot at Old Town School of Folk Music.
“I moved to Chicago in September 2024, the year I released The Past Is Still Alive and hit the road with a new band—a group of musicians recommended by my front of house/production manager, Johnny Wilson. Everyone had ties to the city, and had been playing together in the DIY scene for over a decade.
Since then, we’ve traveled the world together, becoming family, playing the best shows of my life. Chicago has become home for me, and I feel grateful for the welcome I’ve gotten into the best music scene in the country.
I wanted to capture this time and this brilliant band, a moment that won’t last forever. This record is a love letter to the working class musicians out there, we who slug it out on the road against all odds. We deserve so much more from an industry built to exploit us. It’s a thank you to all the fans supporting live music, you who believe songs made by human beings are a vital life force. Thank you.” —Alynda Segarra
Fronted by Alynda Segarra (they/them), Live Forever features the musicians from Hurray for the Riff Raff’s latest touring lineup—Parker Grogan (electric guitar, vocals), Nnamdi Ogbonnaya (bass, backing vocals), Marcus Drake (drums), and Sen Morimoto (saxophone, keyboards), produced by Johnny Wilson.
In addition to hundreds of tour dates behind The Past Is Still Alive, they have played the stages of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Austin City Limits, The Kelly Clarkson Show, CBS Saturday Morning, Newport Folk Festival and more, while recently sharing bills with everyone from Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman to Ani DiFranco, Bright Eyes, Orville Peck, Soccer Mommy, and The Head and the Heart.
This summer, Hurray for the Riff Raff will headline a series of East Coast shows added today, ahead of Green River Festival and other dates to be announced.
