Iconic 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.
Happy Mondays’ first headline tour in five years will begin in Glasgow in March and end in Brighton in April, and includes a hometown date at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse on Thursday 4 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 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!”
Everyone’s favourite maraca-shaker and once-political candidate, Bez, added: “Can’t wait to get out on tour with Happy Mondays. Shake your maracas in the air like you just don’t care!”
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 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.
Also warming up for Happy Mondays, Nottingham’s Stereo MC’s first achieved mainstream success when their 1992 single ‘Connected’ became an international Top 20 hit.
Tickets for the Happy Mondays’ ‘Been There Done That Tour’ go on sale at 10am on Friday 6 October here.