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Bob Dylan’s 17th studio album Desire was released 50 years ago this January. To celebrate, Pitchblack Playback is hosting a series of unique album listening parties. As the name suggests, Pitchblack Playback events take place in the dark – yes, you take a seat at a venue with an incredible sound system, the lights go out, the music starts and suddenly you’re hearing an old favourite in a completely new light (or maybe lack of?).

To find out more about this intriguing concept, I spoke to Pitchblack Playback founder Ben Gomori.

What was the spark for Pitchblack Playback?

Ben Gomori: Back when I was a music journalist, the record label Ninja Tune invited me to a press preview for Amon Tobin’s album, ISAM. I’ve been to many listening parties where they play the album in a bar and everyone talks over it. But this one was in a lovely boutique cinema in London’s Soho. While they had visuals on the screen, it was very much just about sitting down, shutting up and listening to the music. It was the first time I’d been in any sort of environment where a group of people sat together listening to recorded music like that with no distractions. I was really taken with it and how detailed it sounded.

After that, I had the idea to create a version of that experience for the public. Like maybe getting a group of superfans to come together to hear their favourite band’s new album. I was explaining the idea to a friend, who mentioned that he’d recently seen a production of the Samuel Beckett play, Endgame, where the opening was set in the dark. He suggested that I could do the same for my album sessions idea and that was my aha moment. Listening to a record in the dark was the hook that would make the experience more immersive and special.

How did you get the Pitchblack Playback events up-and-running?

BG: We did a few pre-release playbacks for new albums – typically during the week leading up to the release date. For me, that’s the ultimate way to listen to something for the first time. It gives any record its best shot to impress you. If you don’t like it when you’ve heard it in the dark on a great sound system, you’re probably never going to like it.

After that, we started doing back catalogue classics, which is when Pitchblack Playback really took off, as it’s just easier to sell people something they already know. Now we do lots of both. We’ve had album premieres for Christine and the Queens, MGMT and Max Richter, as well as premiering new remastered mixes of albums by Nirvana, Metallica and Suede. We’re currently working on something with a big reggaeton artist, which we’ll be announcing soon.

Many of your January events in the UK and around the world are celebrating the 50th anniversary of Bob Dylan’s Desire. Is this the first Dylan record you’ve done?

BG: Last year, we did the 50th anniversary of Blood on the Tracks. It was perfect timing because it was around the time that A Complete Unknown came out, so Dylan-mania was everywhere. We had a range of people coming along, from teens and early 20s up to those in their 60s and 70s, who would have heard the record when it first came out. Some had brought their kids or come as a family. Dylan hits that sweet spot as his music continues to be appreciated and passed down the generations, so it made sense to follow up this year with Desire.

What can Dylan fans who attend a Pitchblack Playback of Desire expect from the experience?

BG: It’s a bit like going on the theme park ride of your favourite album. You’re in the middle of the music and get completely consumed by it. Sometimes, the experience can become quite transformative. I’ve noticed this myself countless times. Hearing an album I know inside out in that environment is like hearing it again for the first time. A great example for me is Air’s Moon Safari, which is one of my all-time favourites. I grew up with that album and had listened to it in so many different environments. But hearing it in the dark in a cinema, I just felt like I finally got it somehow. I appreciated the record in an entirely new way. It became this 4D force, like a physical presence in the room that you can’t replicate with two speakers at home or on headphones.

Any Dylan fans who have been to one of his recent Rough and Rowdy Ways concerts will know that they are phone-free shows. Do you have a similar policy for Pitchblack Playback events?

BG: Yes, we treat our playbacks as like cinema for the album and we make this intention clear at the start of each event. You turn your phone off. You don’t talk or sing along. It’s about having that same reverence for the music as you would a film. When you create that same bubble where you’re in a dark room listening to a song and you’re shut off from the world, your imagination can run wild.

Sounds great. I’m looking forward to my first Pitchblack Playback experience in Brighton on Thursday. Thanks for your time Ben.

If you want to hear Desire in the dark, here’s where it’s playing in January 2026. Check out the Pitchblack Playback website for more details and to buy tickets.

Jan 12th
Sheffield, UK – Showroom Cinema

Jan 13th
Mexico City – Shhh!

Jan 14th
Bristol, UK – We the Curious Planetarium
Manchester, UK – Cultplex

Jan 15th
Brighton, UK – The Old Market
London, UK – The Castle Cinema, Homerton

Jan 16th
Christchurch, New Zealand – Lumière Cinema

Jan 17th
Helsinki, Finland – Elokuvateatteri Gildassassa
Schiedam, The Netherlands – KODA

Jan 20th
Los Angeles, USA – The Aster Hotel Cinema

Jan 21st
Aarhus, Denmark – Øst for Paradis
Auckland, New Zealand – The Capitol Cinema
Paris, France – Listener

Jan 22nd
Cardiff, UK- CULTVR

Jan 27th
Copenhagen, Denmark – Empire Bio