The New Pornographers at Empire Live | October 2, 2026

The New Pornographers have been making dense, melodic power-pop since 1999, and The Former Site Of — their tenth studio album, released March 27 on Merge Records — sounds like a band that still has something urgent to say. Ten narrative-driven tracks about people facing personal and societal extremes, developed by A.C. Newman in his own studio before bringing the songs to the full band. Albany gets one of the final dates on the fall leg of The Former Site Of Tour when the band plays Empire Live on Friday, October 2 at 8:00 PM.

About The New Pornographers

The Vancouver indie supergroup built its reputation on the push-and-pull between Newman’s songwriting and Neko Case’s vocals — a combination that made them one of the most critically acclaimed Canadian rock acts of the 2000s. The Former Site Of earned a Metacritic score of 78 — generally favorable reviews — and produced four singles: “Votive,” “Ballad Of The Last Payphone,” “Pure Sticker Shock,” and “Spooky Action.” Newman described the album’s process in Rolling Stone: “Having time in my studio really opened things up. I don’t like wasting my bandmates’ time, and always felt guilty when I’d give them a song, ask them to do something with it, and then change my mind about what it needed.”

About Empire Live

Empire Live is a two-floor multi-genre venue in downtown Albany — Empire Live upstairs and Empire Underground downstairs — on North Pearl Street. Doors open at 7:00 PM for the 8:00 PM show. For a standing-room night with a band this good, arriving at doors is the right call.

Tickets & Pricing

The Albany date falls second-to-last on the full fall tour run, which stretches from September 12 in Tucson through October 3 in Portland, Maine — this is close to the end of the road for this tour cycle. A portion of presale ticket proceeds benefits People’s Place. Tickets start at $57 and are on sale now. Buy tickets here.