Legendary Manchester band Happy Mondays have announced a 16-date UK tour for March and April 2024, which will be their only shows of 2024. They will be joined on this special run of shows by very special guests and fellow ‘90s British music icons, Inspiral Carpets and Stereo MC’s.
The Manchester legends’ first headline tour in five years will begin in Glasgow on 14 March and includes a hometown date at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse on 4 April, plus a stop at Liverpool’s Mountford Hall on 13 April.
Billed as ‘The Been There Done That Tour’, Happy Mondays front man Shaun Ryder, Bez (freaky dancing and percussion), Rowetta (vocals) Mark Day (guitar), Gary Whelan (drums) and Dan Broad (MD/guitar/keys) will perform the band’s classic hits such as ‘24 Hour Party People’, ‘Step On’, ‘Hallelujah’, ‘Loose Fit’, ‘Judge Fudge’, ‘W.F.L.’ and ‘Kinky Afro’, amongst many others.
Shaun Ryder said, “We’re really looking forward to the Happy Mondays’ first headline tour for five years. We’ll be playing all the hits for everyone, so it’s going to be a lot of fun. See you there!”
Bez said, “Can’t wait to get out on tour with Happy Mondays. Shake your maracas in the air like you just don’t care!”
Rowetta added, “Me and my voice can’t wait to sing all across the UK for a tour to remember.”
Happy Mondays became the pioneers of the Madchester sound after signing to Tony Wilson’s Factory Records in the late ‘80s, blending their love of funk, rock, psychedelia and house with the sounds of the UK’s emerging rave scene.
The band became icons of Britain’s biggest cultural phenomenon for a generation when they crossed over into the mainstream with the release of their third album, 1990’s platinum-selling ‘Pills ‘n’ Thrills And Bellyaches’.
The Happy Mondays’ reputation as one of Britain’s most influential and loved bands was recognised in 2016 when they won the Ivor Novello Inspiration Award.
Alongside Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets were one of the most popular bands to emerge from the late-’80s/early-’90s Madchester scene. Following their 1989 Indie Chart-topping singles ‘Find Out Why’ and ‘Move’, the band released their breakthrough hit ‘This Is How It Feels’, which began a run of four UK Top 20 albums, Life (#2), The Beast Inside (#5), Revenge of The Goldfish (#17) and Devil Hopping (#10) .
Nottingham’s Stereo MC’s first achieved mainstream success when their 1992 single ‘Connected’ became an international Top 20 hit. Taken from their smash hit Top 10 album of the same name, Connected was followed by hit singles ‘Step It Up’, ‘Ground Level’ and ‘Creation’, firmly cementing Stereo MC’s place in Hip Hop/Electronic Dance history.
Tickets for the Happy Mondays’ ‘Been There Done That Tour’ go on sale at 10.00am on Friday, 6 October, available from www.alttickets.com and www.happymondaysofficial.co.uk