2010

2010 - Shaun Ryder marries Joanne
Notes: Shaun's second wife. Joanne used to be a hairdresser and a butcher. Shaun lives with Joanne and the two kids. Shaun has a total of six children to different partners.

Domino Bones
Bez - Bez
Monica Ward - Vocals
Winker (ex-Bodines) - Bass Guitar
Simon Moore (ex-Ian Brown) - Drums
Wags (ex-Black Grape/Happy Mondays, Paris Angels) - Guitar

Domino Bones - 22 May 2010 Saturday - The Cellars, Eastney, Southsea, Hampshire * Doors Open: 20:00, The Rubicons on stage: 21:00 * Ticket Price: £9.50 (advance), £10 (on the door) * Support Act(s): The Rubicon

24 May 2010 - Monica Ward phones the police after Mark allegedly assaults her
Notes: An argument over "missing" money broke out the day after they were paid £300 for a gig.
The argument led to a confrontation between the two at their flat in Whalley Range.
25 year old former model, Domino Bones singer and mother of Bez's two year old son, Monica Ward, said Bez "flew into a rage about money and throttled her".

16 July 2010 - Positivus, Riga, Latvia
Muse / Scissor Sisters / Unkle / Happy Mondays / Stornoway / Giulia y Los Tellarini / The Miserable Rich / The Climbers / South Rakkas Crew / Benji B / Sons of Noel and Adrian / Lady Daisey / Kira Kira / Bad Apples / Spb / Happyendless / Ten Bears / Autumn Owls / Shoreline / Astronout / Goran Gora / THE GIN RIOTS / Popidiot / Svjata Vatra / Soundarcade / Crystal Sound System / Jesse (US)

11 August 2010 - Bez appears in Manchester Magistrates' Court over the assault charge
Notes: Ms Ward, 25, told Manchester Magistrates' Court that she feared for her life during the attack in May. "I told him he had put down the money somewhere and forgotten where he had put it, he has a history of mislaying things."
She said he dragged her from the kitchen to the front door. "He had both hands around my neck, he was just looking insane and squeezing me for about five seconds." "He told me he was going to kill me before the police arrived." Bez left the flat but returned later and kicked the door down, picking up a £20 note before running off again. Miss Ward said she had previously been a victim of domestic violence at his hands, but agreed there had been aggression on both sides.
Giving his evidence, Bez told the court that he had hidden the money but later found some of it missing. He said there was a history of money going missing and so told Miss Ward he was leaving her. "There was no battering, no throttling, that is her fabrication," he said. Addressing the magistrates, he said: "She has always been violent towards me. I loved the woman, I loved her with all my heart. I have forgiven and forgotten so many times. "I feel as if my reputation as a man has been destroyed. The last few months I have felt like a rapist. "I feel my soul has been ripped out of me."
Bez said he returned to the flat because he was wandering the streets in shorts and a T-shirt. He claimed the door collapsed when he pushed it with his shoulder.
Chair of the bench Marie Cash said magistrates found Miss Ward a "credible" witness and convicted her former partner of assault and using unlawful means to gain entry into a property. She added: "We are not saying it was a deliberate attack but we do believe that a technical assault took place."

25 August 2010 - Bez is found guilty of assaulting Monica Ward
Notes: Bez was convicted of assault in August for, allegedly, "flying into a rage and throttling" Ms Ward after a row about money.
Bez was originally given a community service order for the attack. But he refused to comply with the sentence and, Marie Cash, said he would be jailed for four weeks by magistrates in Manchester. After being told he would go to jail instead, he shouted "Victory is in my grasp" as he was handcuffed and led away.
He was also seved with a restraining order where he could not contact Monica for two years. Bez appealed the sentence.

August 2010 - Peter Etherall, from Howards Solicitors, lodged an appeal for Bez and made a bail application
Notes: Peter told the court Mark Berry would now like to accept the community order. Bail was refused and magistrates said Bez would have to appeal against his jail term at crown court, on a date to be fixed.

20 August 2010 - V Festival, Absolute Radio
Notes: Phone interview with Shaun Ryder. The podcast featuring the interview was available to download for free from the Absolute Radio website as an MP3. The six minute interview includes Shaun ringing in from Salford.
Official: Absolute Radio Podcasts (Free MP3)

08 October 2010 - HMV Picture House, Edinburgh * Supporting: The Charlatans
Notes: Shaun’s winter tour with The Charlatans had a guest rapper onstage and he even played forgotten Black Grape tunes like “Trazmati Party”.
11 October 2010 Monday - Academy, Liverpool * Supporting: The Charlatans
12 October 2010 - Rock City, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire * Supporting: The Charlatans
16 October 2010 Saturday - The Apollo, Manchester * Supporting: The Charlatans

October 2010 - Bez appeals his convicition of assault
Notes: Bez lost his appeal at Manchester Crown Court to overturn his conviction and was also ordered to pay £500 costs. "It's a joke," Bez said from the dock. "I'm going to take this to a higher court. I'm not paying nothing."
Judge Roger Dutton, hearing the day-long appeal with two magistrates, told Bez he would need to take legal advice before taking any further appeal to the High Court. "What a stitch-up," Bez replied, before the judge retorted: "I would be very careful what you choose to say. "If you express yourself in that way again I will have you arrested." Bez's solicitor Peter Eatherall said it was "unlikely" the case would go to the Court of Appeal.

Shaun Ryder - 2010 - Visits from Future Technology Sessions
Notes: Initially recorded in L.A, U.S.A. The recordings were finished and shelved by Shaun's management. Management advised Shaun to 'build his profile' so he appeared on TV show I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
See August 2021 for the eventual LP release.

09 November 2010 Monday - Bez is arrested over breach of his restraining order
Notes: Former Domino Bones singer, Ms Ward claimed the 46-year-old had pestered her with texts and calls after his conviction.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) had been looking for him but he had been living at a friend's house in Urmston. Bez said attended a police station on Monday after he was arrested and questioned by officers, before being bailed pending further inquiries until 17 November.
Bez would later be arrested for breaching his restraining order, see November 2010.

23 November 2010 Tuesday - Bez is fined over restraining order
Notes: Bez was fined £140 after pleading guilty to breaching a restraining order against his ex-partner and mother of his two yeard son, Monica Ward.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) put out a wanted appeal when he failed to answer bail after being arrested for breaching the order.
He was arrested on Tuesday at Euston station, London and escorted back to Manchester by British Transport Police. A transport police spokesman said: "Mark Berry has been charged with breach of a restraining order and trespass on a railway. "He has also been given a warning under the Harassment Act 1997."
Bez, 46, was also ordered to pay £85 costs at Manchester City Magistrates' Court, on Wednesday, he admitted contacting Monica by text message between 24 September and 23 October, which breached the terms of the restraining order.
The restraining order relates to his ex-partner Monica Ward, 25, who he was convicted of assaulting, see August 2010.

November 2010 - 04 December 2010 - Shaun Ryder appears on Series 10 of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
Notes: Shaun, aged 48, went into the Australian Jungle on U.K. Celebrity Reality TV show “I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here”. He was in the camp for the whole 21 days and came second place to X-Factor star Stacey Solomon. During his time in the camp he eat a crocodile's penis, luckily, for the croc anyway, it was already dead.
From What Planet Am I On? by Shaun Ryder Book:
After I came runner-up on I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here! and then my autobiography Twisting My Melon did well, I got loads of offers to do TV shows, and my manager Warren had untold meetings with various production companies and TV channels about different shows. I got asked to do Strictly but that clashed with I’m a Celebrity . . . so I didn’t do it.
From theguardian, Sat 1 Jul 2017 14.00 BST, by Tim Jonze: I didn’t want to do I’m a Celebrity at first. I was worried about the luvvies inside the jungle. But even Gillian McKeith turned out to be all right. Any woman who can blag their way to a TV career just by looking at shit has got to be half all right by me.

2010 / 2011 - Shaun Ryder appears on All Star Mr & Mrs
Notes: Shaun appears with his wife Joanna on the TV Show. They won £8,000 for their local school charity.
From What Planet Am I On? by Shaun Ryder Book:
I did do All Star Mr & Mrs with my wife Joanne, which was great, and we won £8,000 for our local school charity. But a lot of the other proposals we got were more Shaun Ryder rock’n’roll clichés, which to me were just boring. It makes me laugh how these people sit in brain-storming meetings in production companies and that’s the best they can come up with.

2011 - Shaun Ryder's UFO TV Programme
From What Planet Am I On? by Shaun Ryder Book:
...But then, along the way, my manager Warren said, ‘What would you like to do, Shaun?’ I’ve spent most of the last thirty years with people asking me to do things – Will you do this gig? Will you do this interview? Will you go on this chat show? So it was refreshing to be asked for my ideas.
I told them I’d like to make a TV series and a book investigating UFOs and everyone thought it was a great idea. So all of a sudden we’re on. Bingo! Next thing I know I’m asked to draw up a list of people I want to meet and places I want to go, and a year later here we are. It was a pretty wild road trip, and I learnt a lot. I met some fascinating people on the road and a few nutters, it has to be said, but I also got a bit more than I bargained for.

2011 - Shaun Ryder releases What Planet Am I On? book
Notes: Book includes Shaun's encounters with UFOs and related matters.

2011
S.W.R. - Shaun William Ryder
Julie E Gordon - Vocals

SWR - 16 February 2011 - Academy, Birmingham
(Incomplete set) Kinky Afro / In the Name of The Father / Dare (Gorillaz cover)
Notes: The set suffered several technical issues throughout, noticeably on the first song, the set.
From music-news.com 20 February 2011 by Ross Cotton: I've been a huge Happy Mondays fan since I can remember, therefore I couldn't think of anything more rewarding than seeing the unknowingly humorous lead singer Shaun Ryder enter the word of reality TV in November.
With a string of live performances planned after surfacing 2nd to Stacy Solomon, I had to experience the legacy of Ryder for myself. Though I can't help but feel a little disappointed with the onstage antics, which displayed more of a confusion, than cavorting to a legends finest hour.
Right at the off-set, fans eagerly awaited Kinky Afro to develop in full swing, though the repetition of technical issues were more than enough to cause a standstill, rather than a wave of groove throughout the night.
After forgetting lyrics on a number of occasions, Shaun's cracks were triumphantly covered up by the outshining Julie E Gordon, and her goose bump-inducing vocals that regained the soul of the crowd in elated glory.
While those who did consort to a forgivable Madchester scene hero, it was also clear that many had gone simply for Ryder's recent fame, with a blank approach to some truly groundbreaking back catalogue.
Black Grape's In the Name of The Father went down in overjoyed ecstasy, as Shaun took us back to the 90's for one of the most celebratory Britpop anthems ever written, with a blend of psychedelic 60's from The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows and a gospel-reworked entity to a rap-enticing transformation, way before Gorillaz were even a glint in Damon Albarn's eye.
Which brings us to Shaun's rendition of Dare, seemingly the only track performed unscathed and a target for those unfamiliar with Ryder's early work. Though again, is was all down to Julie, who sang Albarn's part even better than her predecessor. Note perfect and elegantly alluring, it's a shame Julie E Gordon's name wasn't on the ticket and merchandise instead of Shaun William Ryder.

SWR - 23 February 2011 Wednesday - ABC, Glasgow, Scotland * Support Act(s): The Twang
Notes: Solo show with a a career spanning set of Ryder related music.

SWR - 25 February 2011 Friday - Sheperds Bush Empire, London * Doors Open: 19:00 * Ticket Price: £18.89

SWR - 25 March 2011 Friday - Manchester Academy 1
Kinky Afro (Attempt) / Kinky Afro / Never Mind The Quality Feel The Width / Loose Fit / In The Name of The Father / Tamazi Party / Reverend Black Grape / Anti Warhole (On The Dancefloor) / Dare (Gorrillaz cover) / Mumbo Jumbo / Jellybean / Wrote For Luck / Hallelujah / Step On
Notes: Never Mind The Quality Feel The Width & Mumbo Jumbo are both solo Shaun William Ryder tracks and new to the tour. After a false start, monitor issues, the band pulled off a great show. I was there. The show must have been a sell out, it was packed. There was loads going on. The DJ was rolling out the hits and, despite the smoking ban, the venue was a smokescreen. Highlight of the night was hearing Dare, it was brilliant live. Female singer made a great difference to the Happy Mondays tracks too.
Bootleg: Audience Recording - (2011, Catalogue Number: SOTN164) CD-R - S.W.R. - Shaun William Ryder

2011 - The Ri - 'Nvr Go 2 A Party With The Ri' CD
Georgie Best (featuring Shaun Ryder)
Notes: Only track 1 of the LP features Shaun Ryder.

30 June - 30 August 2011 - 'AAA Shaun Ryder & Friends’ at Manchester Photographic Gallery, Karin Albinsson.
Notes: The gallery hosted several photos, artwork pieces, poster and more. Including Shaun Ryder photos, Tony Wilson, Badly Drawn Boy, Mani/Ian Brown/The Stone Roses posters, James, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, The Charlatans with Paul Weller (Manchester Versus Cancer), Noel Gallagher, David Bowie and loads more.
Below info taken from official vdocuments pdf:
1. Producing an Exhibition for a private Gallery and choosing the theme.
Karin Albinsson: I was approached by Manchester Photographic Gallery and asked to produce an Exhibition with my Manchester Music images, mainly the photos of Shaun Ryder taken 1996 - 2011.
2. Researching the space.
Karin Albinsson: I researched the space of the three floors and the staircase. I measured each wall, considered the lighting. I also made a plan for using flat screens for videos.
3. To work out the time it will take to produce the Exhibition.
Karin Albinsson: I was asked in January to make the Exhibition ready to open in March. I told them I would need six months and I could have it ready in June.
4. Budget.
Karin Albinsson: The Gallery offered to pay for the exhibition. If the Gallery paid they would decide what printer, material and frames I was using. Also, the Gallery would keep the work till I had paid the cost in full. I decided to pay myself and have full control of the material and printer I used and to be able to keep my work after the Exhibition.
5. Use of space, the amount of and the size of the images.
Karin Albinsson: From the research of the space I planned how many images I would have on each floor also their size and what material I would use.
6. Choice of material, photographic prints on paper/metal/glass.
Karin Albinsson: Considering the space; 1st floor BLACK GRAPE 24 images in mount and black metal frames. From the size of 43x60 cm to 87x59 cm.
On the 2nd floor TEN MANCS. 10, A1 lambda prints mounted on 5mm glass, one 2x1 meter image sprayed into metal and three A1 lambda prints in large black wooden frames.
3rd floor, ON TOUR WITH SHAUN 14 framed prints in mounts and black metal frames, one image sprayed into metal 2x1 meter.
7. Video projection, the film and the editor.
Karin Albinsson: Video projection, 3rd floor, An introduction of the Exhibition by Clint Boon. & 2nd screen, 'Tell me a joke Shaun' a documentary filmed while I was on tour with Shaun.
8. Cost of material, prints, mounts, frames and retoucher.
Karin Albinsson: Cost of, A1 Lambda prints 50 each, small metal frames with mounts 42, large metal frames 90 each, 100 small Ikea frames 300, retoucher 300. 300 of launch night AAA passes 1 each = 300, negative scans 100. Total cost £4,500.
9. Images for sale, cost/commission by the gallery. Karin Albinsson: Images priced by the gallery. Gallery commission 50%. Example: Noel Gallagher - Manchester Versus Cancer, MEN Arena, 2007. Limited to 1 of 10 signed £1495, unsigned £795.
10. Sponsors. Karin Albinsson: The galley organized Kopparberg to sponsor the Exhibitions launch, providing cider for 300 guests on the launch night and the neck ribbon for the AAA passes.
11. Publicity, press release. Karin Albinsson: The Exhibition reviewed in Newspapers and magazines, on the first page in Manchester Evening News and in The Big Issue and VIVA magazine. Also on- line in Louderthanwar, Kopparberg website, houseoftheorangemonkey, mmp pgr hub, Manc Mode, VIVA.
See www.karinalbinsson.com

22 July 2011 - 24 July 2011 - Java Rockin'Land 2011, Jakarta, Indonesia
Thirty Seconds to Mars / Young the Giant / Neon Trees / Good Charlotte / The Cranberries / We Are Scientists / Happy Mondays / Helloween / Blood Red Shoes / Kensington / Sheila On 7 / Frente / Ed Kowalczyk / Loudness / Franco / Float / The Trees and The Wild / Pure Saturday / L'Alphalpha / Morfem / Sir Dandy / The Dirt Radicals /

October 2011 - Shaun Ryder publishes the, memoir, book 'Twisting My Melon'
Notes: Luke Bainbridge was involved the writing of the finished book.

October 2011 - Shaun Ryder interview regarding Fabiola Quiroz Brown & Ian Brown's divorce
From The Telegraph, 18 October 2011 13:46pm by Murray Wardrop: Fellow Madchester scene star Shaun Ryder hinted over the weekend that Brown had been motivated by the recent split from his Mexican model wife Fabiola Quiroz. “It has been coming for a while. It's amazing what a divorce will make you do,” Ryder said.

18 October 2011 Tuesday - Ian mentions Shaun Ryder at The Stone Roses re-union press conference, Soho Hotel, London
Rob Hastings, The Independent said: You said how you’ve had two or three opportunities a year to do this and you’re saying there’s no reason obviously for now, but I just wondered what you had to say about Shaun Ryder’s comment that it’s amazing what a divorce...
Ian: Any comment Shaun Ryder makes is alright with me.
Rob: Is there any truth in what...
Ian: There’s always truth in Shaun Ryder’s comments.
Notes: The Stone Roses reform and take questions from the press.
From 30 July 2012 - The Guardian/Uncut Magazine: Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder: ‘We didn’t want to get as skint as the Stone Roses did!’ Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder has said he's happy his band didn't as wait as long as The Stone Roses to reform. When asked by The Guardian if he wished he had left it longer to reform the Mondays after finding out the amount of money the Roses were offered to reform, which has been estimated at £26 million, he replied: "What, and got as skint as they did? No thanks! I've got six kids who've all gotta go to private school!" Speaking about the Roses’ return, he added: “Good music always sticks around. That’s just how it is. I haven’t seen The Stone Roses, though, I’ve been away.” The singer also revealed that he’s recently given up on music in favour of a talking pig: “I don’t get involved with the music scene any more. It’s just alien to me. For at least the last four years the only artist I’ve been involved with is Peppa Pig.” He added: “We’ve done Peppa Pig World too, it was really good. It was all good! We went on all the rides. On the teacups and everything.”

S.W.R - 18 November 2011 Friday - Tokyo, Lincoln/shire * Doors: * Ticket Price: £20
(Incomplete set) Kinky Afro / Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width / Step On
Notes: Tickets went on sale 21 September 2011. During the show Shaun asks "Did anyone buy my book?" "Fuckin' 'ell. I was gonna be signing some but they haven't turned up."

S.W.R - 19 November 2011 Saturday - Tokyo, Huddersfield * Doors: * Ticket Price: £20
Notes: Tickets went on sale 21 September 2011.
S.W.R - 23 November 2011 Wednesday - The Magnet, Liverpool * Doors: * Ticket Price: £20
Notes: Tickets went on sale 21 September 2011.

S.W.R - 26 November 2011 Saturday - Factory 251, Manchester * Doors: * Ticket Price: £20
A Big Day In The North
Notes: Tickets went on sale 21 September 2011. FAC 251. I was there. It was a good mix of material, refreshing to hear the Black Grape stuff too.

S.W.R - 28 November 2011 Monday - Fibbers, York * Doors: * Ticket Price: £20
Notes: Tickets went on sale 21 September 2011.

S.W.R - 17 December 2011 Saturday - The Castle, Oldham * Doors: * Ticket Price: £20
Notes: Tickets went on sale 21 September 2011.

2012

'The Definitive Line Up'
Shaun Ryder - Vocals
Paul Ryder - Bass
Gary Whelan - Drums
Mark Day - Guitar
Paul Davis - Keyboards
Rowetta - Vocals

30 January 2012 - Rowetta Satchell appears on BBC Radio Manchester & Radio 5 live Breakfast
Notes: Rowetta chats about the reformed Happy Mondays. The drive to bring the original members back together had come from Shaun and his manager. "We decided it would only be special and work if it was the total, original line-up,"

29 January 2012 - XFM Radio, Shaun announces Happy Mondays re-unite with the original line up.
Notes:
BBC Interview: "We all met up last week and some of the lads haven't seen each other in 10, 15 years," said singer Shaun Ryder. "It's as if we've never been apart,"
13 September 2021 -The Big Issue EASY RYDER (7 MINUTES) Shaun Ryder Interview: TBI: Have Happy Mondays been happier since they reformed? SWR: It’s 10 years since we got the original Happy Mondays band back together and we’ve been touring since then. Every time we tour people say, “The Mondays are back!” We’ve been touring together for years but telling everyone we’re on a comeback tour is a better story for the press. Everyone was grateful to be back in the band in 2012 but sooner or later those old problems started coming back up. I mean me and our kid [brother and fellow Happy Mondays member Paul Ryder] still don’t like each other. But we are playing better than ever. We are older and wiser and the bullshit is gone. We don’t travel together as a band – I travel separately and Bez does too. But we go on stage and do a professional job because the sex and drugs have gone out the window. It’s just pure rock and roll.

2012 - Double Double Good - The Best Of Happy Mondays
Step On
Wrote For Luck 6:05
Kinky Afro
Hallelujah (Club Mix)
Loose Fit
24 Hour Party People
Boys Are Back In Town (Clean Mix) 3:44
Stinkin' Thinkin'
God’s Cop
Bob's Yer Uncle
Judge Fudge (12inch)
Delightful
Freaky Dancing (7inch)
Dennis & Lois
Olive Oil
Lazyitis (LP Version)
Stayin' Alive (12inch Mix) 5:29
Notes: Lazyitis is listed as the (One Armed Boxer Remix) but is actually just the LP version.

2012 - Hallelujah! It’s The Happy Mondays CD & DVD U.K. Release Date
CD & DVD
16 December 2004 - Razzmatazz, Barcelona, Spain
Kinky Afro / Loose Fit / Reverend Black Grape (Black Grape cover) / Bob's Yer Uncle /Step On / Donovan / Hallelujah / Mad Cyril / W.F.L (Wrote For Luck) / encore: Stinkin' Thinkin' / 24 Hour Party People
Notes: Re-issue of August 2005 - Step On CD & April 2005 - Live In Barcelona DVD together in one release with new sleeve art.

2012 - Happy Mondays appear on the various artists DVD compilation 'Cities In The Park 1991'
Beckmann Visual Publishing BDV298
Kinky Afro (Live 04 August 1991 Sunday - Cities In The Park, Heaton Park, Prestwich, Manchester)
Notes: Only one live track is included.

06 March 2012 - NME Awards
Notes: Bez appears on the red carpet and tells the media he won't be dancing on the upcoming Mondays' tour. Bez said he was carrying too many injuries and was feeling the effects of "big motorbike crashes and all that".
"I'm not actually performing with the Mondays this time around," the dancer said. "Unfortunately age has caught up with me. I'm an old man now. "Sometimes you've got to hang your boots up gracefully."
Bez, 47, will DJ and act as compere on the May tour.

May 2012 - BBC Breakfast Show, TV Studios, London
Notes: Interview with Happy Mondays & Inspiral Carpets
Bootleg: Audience Recording - (2012, Shared with Inspiral Carpets support set.) 2 CD-R - Madchester Re-United Disc1: Introduction (Granada Reports ITV News, Late April 2012) / Bez Speech / Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis And Lois / Donovan / Gods Cop / Judge Fudge / 24 Hour Party People / Rave On / Cowboy Dave / Halelujah / Bob’s Yer Uncle / Holiday / Mad Cyril / Step On - Disc2: Jellybeans / Wrote For Luck / BBC Breakfast Show Interview Mondays - Carpets 7:46 / Stuart Maconie Show, BBC Radio 6, 26 March 2012 Carpets - Ritz Review / Stuart Maconie Show, BBC Radio 6, 26 March 2012 Carpets - Interview / Joe (fade in) / She Comes In The Fall / Directing Traffik’ / You’re So Good For Me / This Is How It Feels / Generations / I Want You / Move / Dragging Me Down / Sackville / Saturn 5

Greatest Hits Tour
03 May 2012 Thursday - Academy, Newcastle * Support Act(s): Inspiral Carpets
Notes: Sold Out Show.

04 May 2012 Friday - Academy, Glasgow * Support Act(s): Inspiral Carpets
Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis and Lois / Donovan / God's Cop / Judge Fudge / 24 Hour Party People / Rave On / Cowboy Dave / Hallelujah / Bob's Yer Uncle / Holiday / Mad Cyril / Step On / Jellybean / Wrote For Luck
Notes: Sold Out Show.

05 May 2012 Saturday - M.E.N. Arena, Manchester * * Support Act(s): Inspiral Carpets
Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis And Lois / Donovan / Gods Cop / Judge Fudge / 24 Hour Party People / Rave On / Cowboy Dave / Halelujah / Bob’s Yer Uncle / Holiday / Mad Cyril / Step On
encore: Jellybeans / Wrote For Luck
Notes: Bez made a speech before the set started. Inspiral Carpets supported the show. I was at the show. Inspiral Carpets came on earlier than expected. The show was busy, not sure if it was a sell out though. Everyone flocked to the bar during Cowboy Dave. The set was filled heavily with Pills, Thrills album tracks.
Bootleg: Audience Recording - (2012, Shared with Inspiral Carpets support set.) 2 CD-R - Madchester Re-United Disc1: Introduction (Granada Reports ITV News, Late April 2012) / Bez Speech / Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis And Lois / Donovan / Gods Cop / Judge Fudge / 24 Hour Party People / Rave On / Cowboy Dave / Halelujah / Bob’s Yer Uncle / Holiday / Mad Cyril / Step On - Disc2: Jellybeans / Wrote For Luck / BBC Breakfast Show Interview Mondays - Carpets 7:46 / Stuart Maconie Show, BBC Radio 6, 26 March 2012 Carpets - Ritz Review / Stuart Maconie Show, BBC Radio 6, 26 March 2012 Carpets - Interview / Joe (fade in) / She Comes In The Fall / Directing Traffik’ / You’re So Good For Me / This Is How It Feels / Generations / I Want You / Move / Dragging Me Down / Sackville / Saturn 5

06 May 2012 Sunday - Academy, Sheffield * Support Act(s): Inspiral Carpets
Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis and Lois / Donovan / God's Cop / Judge Fudge / 24 Hour Party People / Rave On / Cowboy Dave / Hallelujah / Bob's Yer Uncle / Holiday / Mad Cyril / Step On / Jellybean / Wrote For Luck
Notes: Sold Out Show.

09 May 2012 Wednesday - Academy, Bournemouth * Support Act(s): Inspiral Carpets

10 May 2012 Thursday - Academy, Brixton * Support Act(s): Inspiral Carpets
Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis and Lois / Donovan / God's Cop / Judge Fudge / 24 Hour Party People / Rave On / Cowboy Dave / Hallelujah / Bob's Yer Uncle / Holiday / Mad Cyril / Step On / Jellybean / Wrote For Luck
Notes: Official Concert Live Series?
Bootleg: Audience Recording (Tape / CD-R)

11 May 2012 Friday - Academy, 211 Stockwell Rd., Brixton, London * Doors Open: 19:00 * Ticket Price: £37.50 * Support Act(s): Inspiral Carpets
Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis and Lois / Donovan / God's Cop / Judge Fudge / 24 Hour Party People / Rave On / Cowboy Dave / Hallelujah / Bob's Yer Uncle / Holiday / Mad Cyril / Step On / Jellybean / Wrote For Luck
Notes: Sold Out Show.

12 May 2012 Saturday - O2 Academy, Birmingham * Doors Open: 19:00 * Ticket Price: £35.00 * Supporting: Inspiral Carpets *
Notes: Sold Out Show. Co-headline tour with Inspiral Carpets.

13 May 2012 Sunday - Carl Stanley interviewed life-long fan Phil Grunshaw regarding unreleased demos and early band memories, Carl wrote an article for Louder Than War, 13 May 2012:
Louder Than War uncovers never seen before or heard before Happy Mondays material from a dedicated fan.
At the recent Factory Records exhibition, on the same weekend as the Manchester Happy Mondays gig I luckily bumped into Phil Grunshaw who was not only at the early Mondays gigs but befriended the band and ‘Horse’ aka Paul Ryder through taping the gigs and taking pictures. Phil probably has one of the best early/rare Happy Mondays recordings of anyone, and the images and sounds he possess are pure gold; so LTW was real lucky when he talked about the old days and shared with LTW some rare photos as well as a treat of a recording of a really early version of ‘The Egg’, from a 3 track demo the band did back in the day (never heard), this is the story of a Mondays fan who was not only there but managed to get some of it down in photo and sound…
Hi Phil…it’s great to ask you about the early days of the band, you following them about, it was the old Happy Mondays photo’s that I first saw of yours? Great images…
Hi Carl, well the Mondays pics I have were taken at The Boardwalk, Manchester on the 31st January 1987, it was my first Mondays gig in Manchester and Inspiral Carpets were support that night, it was probably my first time at The Boardwalk too though I’m not 100% sure!. I’d first seen the band in Blackburn the previous September, when it kicked off in the middle of the gig, I’d somehow sneaked backstage after that show and got talking to Horse (Paul Ryder), telling him how me and my mates had tickets to see them in Birmingham supporting New Order in 3 weeks time. Horse said “give us your names and I’ll put you on the guest list” – my very first guest list aged 17, I was well pleased. They played in Blackburn again supporting ACR at the end of October 86, so The Boardwalk gig was my 4th Mondays gig and the band knew who I was by then. I think it was a Sunday night, me and a friend had come over from Blackburn on the train and we had no idea how we were going to get home, but details like that didn’t bother us then, we ended up getting a lift home off a workmate after the gig, 7 of us squeezing into a Vauxhall Chevette!.
What point were the band up to around the time you got on to them? This was a few months before their first album Squirrel And G Man was released, I’d bought Freaky Dancin in the summer of 86, I remember hearing it being played by the DJ at The Festival Of The 10th Summer at GMEX in July 86 and thinking to myself ” I’ve got that !”.
Tell me about you on that scene back then, taping the gigs and taking the photos? To begin with I got into New Order at the end of 1983, aged 14, hearing them at the Youth Clubs we used to go to. That then led me to retrospectively discover Joy Division and Factory Records and other artists on the label such as ACR and the Stockholm Monsters. I went to my first gig in January 1985, New Order at King Georges Hall in Blackburn, I’d already started going to record fairs and buying (or thieving) bootleg cassettes of New Order gigs, there were loads knocking about back then and record fairs were pretty regular events in town. I can’t really remember how I started recording my own gigs but the first one I remember myself or one of my mates recording was Section 25 and New Order at Preston Guildhall in October 85, so by my 3rd gig we were making our own recordings, most of them were pretty poor but we didn`t care, they were ours…. We weren`t the only ones doing it, in fact we were just kids playing at it really, I remember meeting a lad called Alex and his friend John at a gig in 86, I think Alex was doing the same as us and we soon became friends.. Taking photos was the next step I guess, I was brought up by my grandparents and my granddad always had a decent camera, a Canon SLR I recall, and he was quite keen on photography I guess, looking back, though all I could get my hands on was an aunt`s Kodak Pocket Instamatic, which meant you had to be right at the front to have any chance of getting a decent photo. I did manage to take the Canon SLR to a couple of Mondays gig in May (Wolverhampton) and August 87 (Platt Fields Free Festival, Manchester) but I had dropped the camera at some point and when I got the shots from both gigs developed (on the same roll of film) I was gutted to see they were all out of focus!
You actually have the first Spirit Studio recordings of the band, as well as some unreleased material don’t you?
I only got hold of this myself a couple of years ago, I lost touch with the Mondays in 1988 really, my lifestyle changed and gigs were replaced by clubs and parties and then warehouse parties as the numbers grew, though I still went to the odd gig between `88 and `91 (GMEX twice, Wembley, Whitley Bay Ice Arena, Heaton Park). I went on Myspace about 5 years back and got back in touch with Horse, wondering if he remembered me from 86/87 (I saw them 15 times in 87 and tagged along for a week when they were touring the 24 Hour Party People 12? release in October 87), “of course I remember you” came the reply. Horse`s new band Big Arm were coming to Blackburn shortly after I made contact and we met up before and after the gig and I was surprised at how much Paul remembers of those early gigs. I mentioned one particular gig to him (The Princess Charlotte in Leicester), probably less than 50 people there and Horse was like “that`s the one were the roof was leaking and the stage was wet”. Anyway, I told him of the early recordings I had of the band and further down the line I finally converted them from cassette to digital format and sent them over to Horse in L.A. Soon after this he put me in touch with a serious collector of all things Happy Mondays, called T, he had loads of rare stuff and live bootlegs but none of the early gigs myself or my friends had recorded, I’d not really shared them much, they`d been quietly collecting dust with my New Order bootleg tapes, or more specifically, the NO bootlegs that had survived, cos I’d recorded over many of the inferior ones, making house mix tapes in 88/89/90. T was helping Horse out with his Green card Application, cos he had extensive press clippings charting the bands career, so he put me and T in touch and we started swapping Mondays stuff including the Spirit Studio Sessions from the 17th and 24th March 1985, which had 3 tracks I’d never heard before. The full recording consists of; 1 Comfort & Joy, 2 The Weekend Starts Here, 3 Oasis, 4 You And I Differ, 5 This Feeling, 6 Anyone With A Battle, 7 Delightful.
3 track demo? Again, this is off T and I believe this was being given in to radio stations by Horse in the early days of the band (84/85). It consists of The Weekend Starts Here, The Egg and Delightful.
Bummed Demo’s: That man T again, providing some more rare demos;…1. Do It Better 2. Fat Lady Wrestlers 3. Bring A Friend 4. Wrote For Luck 5. Braindead 6. Performance 7. Country Song 8. Lazyitis 9. Moving In With
And that final ever recording session…un-finished tracks: This was a real surprise when I got this off T, I think Horse had only just got a copy of it himself! 6 demos with no vocals from after Yes Please, with names too;….1. Did You Ever 2. Opportunity Knows 3. Dirty Bitch 4. Bass & Drum Idea #1 5. Bass & Drum Idea #2 6. Walking The Dog
I bet the technology was a bit different then wasn’t it? Just a bit, yes, the analogue years, I couldn’t afford a Sony Professional Recording Walkman, they were over £200 even back then I think, when gigs were as little as £2 for the Mondays so I made do with what I had, and I stopped doing it pretty quickly when I realised you had to stand still, be quiet etc, i.e. not much fun!
Did you think at the time they’d really blow up like they did, was there already a following behind the band? I don`t know whether I thought they would be as big as they were but I always remember thinking I missed Joy Division and New Order early on, this is my time and I’m not gonna miss these, they were my band, they looked like a gang of lads on stage, it could have been my gang or any number of gangs of casuals in the mid to late 80`s. They had a healthy following in Blackburn, Leeds and obviously Manchester, particularly Gibbo and Fitzy and the M9 Blackley lads, who I’ve become friends with due to my posting of the Mondays photos on Facebook a few years ago, it`s a small world really, we were at a lot of the same early gigs when the audiences were small, so it`s great to have met after all these years and compare stories.
As well you DJ’d the Fac exhibition today didn’t you and went to the MCR Mondays gig after, a bit like the old days hey! I’m not really a DJ, I like my music and I make mixes with my PC/laptop and have done a few Factory Nights in Blackburn, but when I got asked to do it I was honoured. It was great to see the proper lineup, because I’ve seen probably every reincarnation since the 1999 MEN show, though most of my memories are of the pre-Rowetta Mondays and the first 2 albums, but I had a top night, I like a dance, so I had one!

15 May 2012 Tuesday - Olympia Theatre, Dublin, Ireland * Support Act(s): Inspiral Carpets
(Bez speech) / Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis & Lois / Donovan / God's Cop / Judge Fudge / 24 Hour Party People/ Rave On / Cowboy Dave / Hallelujah / Bob's Yer Uncle / Holiday / Mad Cyril / Step On / Jelly Bean / Wrote For Luck
Notes: Bez introduces the show with a short speech.
Bootleg: Audience Recording - Master (DAT, CD-R) - Intro [By Bez] / Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis & Lois / Donovan / God's Cop / Judge Fudge / 24 Hour Party People/ Rave On / Cowboy Dave / Hallelujah / Bob's Yer Uncle / Holiday / Mad Cyril / Step On / Jelly Bean / Wrote For Luck

17 May 2012 Thursday - Academy, Leeds * Support Act(s): Inspiral Carpets
Notes: Sold Out Show.
18 May 2012 Friday - Rock City, Nottingham * Doors Open: * Ticket Price: £35 * Support Act(s): Inspiral Carpets
Notes: Sold Out Show.
19 May 2012 Saturday - Academy, Brixton * Doors Open: 19:00 * Ticket Price: £37.50 * Support Act(s): Inspiral Carpets
Notes: Additional date added due to popular demand. Final night of the Greatest Hits co-headline tour with Inspiral Carpets.

25 May 2012 - Teatro Caupolican, Santiago Metropolitan, Chile

26 May 2011 - Shaun Ryder speaks to The Sun Newspaper regarding The Stone Roses reunion rumours.
Notes: Speaking to the Sun, former Happy Monday star Ryder said: "I think it'll happen, I really do. There is more of a chance now than ever of them getting back together. Ian's just split with his missus and I bet she's hit him for a few quid. "The only reason they will get back together is if Ian needs the cash. He never has before, he's a millionaire."

*Cancelled* 01-02 June 2012 - Titanic Lockdown Festival
Notes: The event, which was due to take place at a former shipyard hangar in the Titanic Quarter of the city was set to be headlined by Happy Mondays and New Order, with Ghostpoet, Factory Floor, Lee Scratch Perry and Anna Calvi also scheduled to appear. A statement on Titanic Lockdown’s website read: “Due to poor ticket sales in a challenging economic climate, it is with great regret and disappointment that we must announce the cancellation of the 2012 Titanic Lockdown summer festival.” It added: Despite a huge wave of goodwill, ticket sales have been significantly slower than forecast for an event featuring such high profile acts. As a result, it will not be possible to deliver the event."

June 2012 - Rehearsal Sessions
From 30 July 2012 - The Guardian/Uncut Magazine: Last week, the band confirmed that they are planning a new album, which will be the first time all the original line-up have recorded an album of new material since 1992’s Yes Please!. The band’s manager Warren Askew told NME: “Yes, we are now planning to record a new album, after the success of the tour and with the band all getting on so well. Shaun has been writing and the band have been getting together in the studio putting ideas down. I’m sure it will be a great Happy Mondays album.”

23 June 2012 Saturday - Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches Promo CD given away with The Guardian newspaper.
Notes: A card sleeve edition was given away free with copies of The Guardian newspaper to coincide with Happy Mondays UK tour. The card sleeve featured a reworking of the original artwork by Central Station Art Limited.

2012 - Warren Askew manages the band.

08 July 2012 Sunday - T In The Park Festival, Balado, Kinross, Scotland * Supporting: Nicki Minaj
Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Ride On / God's Cop / 24 Hour Party People / Rave On / Cowboy Dave / Hallelujah / Bob's Yer Uncle / Step On / W.F.L.
Notes: The Stone Roses headlined the previous night.
Bootleg: FM Recording ()

13 July 2012 - Madchester 89' - David Crausby Photography Exhibition - Mellow Gold, Karl-Eilers-Str, Bielefeld, NRW, Deutschland * Doors Open: 20:00
Notes: Exhibition open 13 July - 10 August 2012, Free enty. Photographer David Crausby was there on the opening night and on Friday the 20th too to discuss the exhibitihion. Includes photos of The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays. Included photos The Stone Roses - 30 June 1989 Friday - Leeds Polytechnic, Ents Hall, Leeds. Prints went on sale, printed on Kodak paper. I have the set of small photo prints, 6x6cm, without the metal magnet frame.

29 July 2012 Sunday - Camp Bestival, Lulworth Castle, East Lulworth, Dorset, Bournemouth
Gemini / The 2 Bears / Spector / To Kill A King / Jenny O / Duke Special / 2:54 / Ryan Keen / Random Impulse
Notes: Happy Mondays headline.
Shaun said: "Me and the band are mega-excited to be playing at Camp Bestival. We have heard the crowd are amazing and we will definitely put on a great show."

18 August 2012 - V Festival,
19 August 2012 - V Festival,
Hylands Park, Chelmsford / Weston Park, Weston-under-Lizard
Eminem / Ed Sheeran / Nicki Minaj / David Guetta / The Killers / Childish Gambino / Snow Patrol / Keane / Olly Murs / Ben Howard / Tinie Tempah / LMFAO / Rita Ora / Emeli Sandé / Labrinth / NERO / The Ting Tings / James Morrison / Example / Cher Lloyd / The Stone Roses / The Human League / Friendly Fires / DJ Fresh / Gossip / Madness / Noah & The Whale / The Proclaimers / Tom Jones / Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds / Pixie Lott / The Stranglers / Rizzle Kicks / Sub Focus / Frank Turner / Professor Green / Wretch 32 / Rodrigo y Gabriela / Maverick Sabre / Newton Faulkner / Miles Kane / Happy Mondays / The Feeling / The Enemy / Lawson / Dappy / Reverend and The Makers / Stooshe / Angel / Jack Beats / Tulisa / Inspiral Carpets / Shed Seven / The Rifles / Beverley Knight / Dodgy / The Twang / Random Impulse

21 August 2012 Tuesday - Mallorca Rocks, Spain
22 August 2012 Wednesday - Ibiza Rocks, Spain

28 August 2010 - Wizard Festival, New Deer, Scotland * Supporting Act(s): Alabama 3, Sandi Thom, Peatbog Faeries and Pearl and the Puppets
Notes: James headlined the other day of the weekend.
Festival director Roy Thain said: "The Happy Mondays have always been one of the top requests from Wizard fans."

01 December 2012 Saturday - Le Trabendo, Paris, Île-de-France, France
03 December 2012 Monday - Het Depot, Leuven, Flanders, Belgium
05 December 2012 Wednesday - Debaser, Malmo, Sweden
06 December 2012 Thursday - Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway
07 December 2012 Friday - Kvarteret, Bergen, Vestland, Norway
09 December 2012 Sunday - Debaser Medis, Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
10 December 2012 Monday - Huxleys Neue Welt, Berlin, Berlin, Germany
11 December 2012 Tuesday - Effenaar, Eindhoven, North Brabant, Netherlands

12 December 2012 Wednesday - Rowetta
Notes: M.E.N. Newspaper prints The Diary article, regarding an upcoming autobiography by Rowetta. Rowetta says the inspiration for writing the book was meeting George Michael at the M.E.N. Arena in 2012.

14 December 2012 Friday - Mareel Arts Centre, Shetland *Cancelled*
Notes: The reason given for the postponement is that one of the band members needs to have an operation.

15 December 2012 Saturday - Mareel Arts Centre, Shetland * Ticket Price: £50 *Cancelled*
Notes: Sold Out Show. Gwilym Gibbons, director of Shetland Arts, said: "This demonstrates Mareel's potential to attract renowned acts to Shetland as they tour Europe."

19 December 2012 Wednesday - Roundhouse, Camden, London * Support Act(s): 808 State
Notes: The band’s manager Warren Askew told NME: “Yes, we are now planning to record a new album, after the success of the tour and with the band all getting on so well. Shaun has been writing and the band have been getting together in the studio putting ideas down. I’m sure it will be a great Happy Mondays album.”
20 December 2012 Thursday - Roundhouse, Camden, London * Support Act(s): 808 State

22 December 2012 Saturday - WHP Warehouse Project, Victoria Warehouse, Trafford, Manchester * Support Act(s): 808 State

2013
11 January 2013 - Shaun Ryder appears in The Guardian
From theguardian, Fri 11 Jan 2013 17.49 GMT, Nick McGrath: Interview: Shaun Ryder: My family values. The Happy Mondays singer talks about becoming a better father - and how he used to be the dad of the band.
I'm from a close-knit Catholic family. All me mam and dad's brothers and sisters had nine, 10 or 11 kids and they thought that was all just too chaotic, so it's just me and me brother, Paul, in our family. All the cousins were close and we were in and out of each other's houses all the time growing up. We still go round to each other's houses. We're still quite close. Me mam's coming round this afternoon. She comes for a swim in my pool.

I'm 18 months older than Paul. We got on great as kids and I was sort of the boss but it was like most brothers – half the time we were like a little gang, the other half we were at each other's throats. As we got older, we joined a band together and that was that. It ruins your relationship doesn't it? We didn't speak for about 15 years and we don't even know what we fell out about; we've made up now and become friends again recently.

The values me mam and dad tried to drum into us were no stealing, go to church, go to school – all of which we ignored. We'd fight, we stole, we cheated and we didn't go to school. But we did still go to church. They were relaxed on some things and strict on others, but let's just say I got away with murder unless I got the police brought round to the house. Then I got a good beating off me dad.

Me mam and dad understood the difference between the entertainment industry and the bullshit. All this sort of cartoon character that came out while we were making it and trying to grab headlines and stuff – that was just part of the game, part of the business. He did the clubs. He was a stand-up comedian. He did the folk scene. He did the Irish clubs. Me old bloke had a go at it from the late 60s up until the early 80s, then when we first started he would drive us to gigs, and later on he was one of the techs and, like with Paul, working together wasn't great for our relationship. Me and me dad sort of grunted at each other for years. Now it's brilliant, just how it should be but there were definitely problems.

When the Happy Mondays started I was like the dad of the band. Then with the drugs came the egos and then it all went a bit pear-shaped. But Bez and me, we were like a married couple that didn't have sex. We understood the business and we understood that me and him were a double act so even when we fell out we did the business even when other people didn't. We've had our fall-outs and then we make up again, and that's how it is today.

I've got six kids from three mums. They go from – I'm gonna get bollocked here if I get this wrong – from three to 22. I think. The older ones are grown up now. We've got one at university, one who lives in New York, one who lives in Spain and at the moment all we've got at home now is the two young'uns. My little girls are three and four and believe me when I go to work – and I've just come back from Chile where we had no sleep at all for almost two weeks – it was easier there than it is at home.
I'm a great dad. They love me. To tell you what a good dad I am; I can sit watching kids' telly all day with them if I have to. My older kids didn't see me. I was out trying to make a career. I was a hell of a lot younger and more stupid so the kids this time are getting a grown-up father. Not a child raising a child.

Shaun Ryder
Paul Ryder (Bass)
Mark Day (Guitar)
Bez (Bez)
Gary Whelan (Drums)
Rowetta (Vocals)

24 Hour Party People Australian Tour
*Rescedhuled* 03 May 2013 Friday - The Tivoli, Brisbane * Support Act(s): DJ Peter Hook
Notes: See 07 June 2013. The tour was initially cancelled due to 'Medical Issues'. The dates were rescedhuled shortly after to June, dropping Peter Hook from the support slots but bringing 808 State to the tour. Shaun revealed in an interview, the dates were cancelled due to invalid Visas (see 22 May 2013). The tour would be cancelled a second time after issues with the promoters (venue managemnet, tour logistics and poor ticket sales). Promo poster read 'The First Time In Australia The Definitive Original Line Up! 24 Hour Party People Australian Tour'.
From tonedeaf.thebrag.com, 29 April 2013: A statement from the band reads: “The Mondays are upset and apologise for not being able to make these original shows but are pleased to announce that along with the new dates they will now have seminal Madchester outfit 808 State joining the bill for a special DJ set at each of the rescheduled Australian shows.”

*Rescedhuled* 04 May 2013 Saturday - UNSW Roundhouse, Sydney * Support Act(s): DJ Peter Hook
Notes: See 10 June 2013.
*Rescedhuled* 05 May 2013 Sunday - Palace Theatre, Melbourne * Support Act(s): DJ Peter Hook, Underground Lovers
Notes: See 06 June 2013.
*Rescedhuled* 08 May 2013 Wednesday - The Capitol, Perth * Support Act(s):DJ Peter Hook, Death Disco DJs
Notes: See 05 June 2013. Venue and support were changed for the rescedhuled date.

22 May 2013 - Shaun Ryder Interview
Notes: Phone Interview.
From tonedeaf.thebrag.com, 22 May 2013 by John Dean: “You sound like you’ve got your head under a bath,” Ryder jokes through the crackling phone connection. “We don’t really have a good signal here when we’re speaking to someone in Manchester so, er…,” he pauses, trailing off. “You can understand when we’re speaking to someone in Australia.” Technical problems persist throughout the conversation, but first things first. The Happy Mondays have pushed their Australian tour dates back a month; can he explain why? “No idea,” he offers. “I mean it might have something to do with visas? I think. I think that’s what it is, the visas [for] some certain members of the band.” Ryder is vague and abrupt with a few of his answers, some of which feel pre-prepared. The man I’m speaking to is focussed on a single message, spruiking his latest projects and avoiding discussion of his outrageous history. (The interview even came with a caveat not to mention “past controversies”, of which there are many.)... They were working-class hedonists, who collected drug habits like other people collect memorabilia. “Back in the days there was a lot of drama, a lot of issues, all that comes with being a young kid… We’re just old men now, there’s no drama, there’s no drugs, there’s no sex.”...“I do spend a lot of time writing lyrics,” he explains. “The new stuff I’ve just done I spent a lot more time writing and crafting the songs. It all depends where I am and what I’m at. I get ideas from the television, from what people say, from what I hear [and] I write when I’ve got the music there. I scribble little lines down, or little phrases, but I don’t start constructing ‘til I’ve got music.”
Does the new stuff include a sixth Happy Mondays record? “We haven’t been doin’ it – we’ve got Mondays shows for the next couple of years, and we’ll probably do Mondays shows for the next 20 years,” he confidently asserts. “We’ll but we’ve got the rest of our lives to do it. I’ve got a solo album that’s going to come out at the end of the year, but no Mondays album yet.”
The Happy Mondays reformed last year for the third time, although it was the first reformation to feature the band’s original line-up, who last performed together in 1993. Begging the question: How has the dynamic changed?
“We were boys when we started. We’re now all 50-year-old men. Back in the days there was a lot of drama, a lot of issues, all that comes with being a young kid,” he reasons. “We’re just old men now, there’s no drama, there’s no drugs, there’s no sex. It’s just rock and roll and it’s just a pleasure to go and play the songs.”
Ryder’s celebrity in the UK has been resurgent in recent years, and a tamer version of his former self has prevailed. He appeared on the Gorillaz track “Dare”, from 2005’s Demon Days and was a contestant on the reality television series I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here in 2010, where he was sent into the ‘jungles’ of Murwillumbah, New South Wales.
“I didn’t want to do the jungle. I fought against it, but my managers wanted me to do it. My record company wanted me to do it because I had a greatest hits album to promote. My family wanted me to do it. So I did it and I fully enjoyed it.”
Now a father of six, can he appreciate the contemporary tastes of his children? “I’ve got a five-year-old and a four-year-old at home, they listen to the Top 40 and Rihanna, all that stuff that’s in,” he says. “I’ve got a lad who’s at university, he’s got all sorts of stuff that just sounds like what was made in the ‘90s. If I have music on it’s Dean Martin, or Frank Sinatra, or James Brown. I don’t listen to new music; I should do, but I don’t.”
As a reality show survivor, what then does he think of reality singing contests, where celebrity can be manufactured for a vocalist overnight? “I didn’t come from that, when I got into it, it was just rock ’n’ roll and rock ‘n’ roll headlines,” Ryder proposes.
“There’s a place for things like that. We sit around with my family on a Saturday when I’m home and we watch The Voice. As far as The Voice goes, it’s just never been about the voice,” he elaborates. “But it’s entertainment, and we watch it. I’m not gonna start slagging it, when I was a kid we had Opportunity Knocks so it’s nothing new. There’s a place for it.”
It isn’t a stretch to suggest Ryder wouldn’t make it through the blind auditions of The Voice. Not simply because his rough, disassociated Mancunian bark is foreign to manufactured pop, but because he didn’t always enjoy performing live.
“Now it’s enjoyable [but] for a long time I was going through a lot of shit, and still had to go around doing shows, and it wasn’t enjoyable. I hated it. I had 12 years of serious,” he heavily emphasises, “serious court cases, where every penny I earned was took away from me, so it was fucking horrible. A horrible time, and obviously you’re just going out there and doing it. I’m in a totally different place in life [now]. So it all helps.”
While the Happy Mondays sound is specific to a scene and bygone era, it nonetheless has a timeless quality. As for their image, the decadence serves both as a cautionary tale for some and escapism for others.
Either way, their history is clouded by hyperbole, misinformation, and stories too bizarre to be fabricated. Is it odd to be talked about as part of a greater mythology?
“You know, it’s not at this point. I have a problem saying whether it was true or not because I can remember the 1960s better than I can remember the 1990s. You hear all sorts of shit, stuff that’s true, stuff that’s not. I don’t really care.”

23 May 2013 - Gary Whelan breaks his leg
Notes: The band continue with their line up dates with a stand in drummer.

25 May 2013 Saturday - Vegfest UK 2013, The Amphitheatre and Waterfront Square, Bristol, BS1 5DB * Doors Open: 18:30, Curfew 00:00 * Ticket Price: £25, £14 (Children under 14) * Support Act(s): The Farm, 808 State, DJ Peter Hook
Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis and Lois / Donovan / God's Cop / Judge Fudge / 24 Hour Party People / Rave On / Cowboy Dave / Hallelujah / Bob's Yer Uncle / Holiday / Mad Cyril / Step On / Wrote For Luck
Notes: Event was part of VEGFESTUK - Europe's biggest Begeterian & Vegan Festival, taking place from Fri 24 - Sun 26 May.

26 May 2013 Sunday - The Centre, King's Rd, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 2GR * Doors Open: 18:00-23:00 * Support Act(s): 808 State *
Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Step On / Mad Cyril / Sunshine & Love
Notes: U.K. Bank Holiday weekend, tickets were available on the door only. No tickets were sold in advance, there was a que forming from about 17:30. 808 State were billed as '808 Soundsystem'.
Review by Stuart Huggett, 03 June 2013 published on brightonsource, included: Well, that’s the myth surrounding this Bank Holiday bash, but it’s not quite the truth. A half-hearted version of the band (leader Shaun Ryder, sidekick Bez, drummer Gaz Whelan plus session musicians) played a secret gig on the pier for The Great Escape 2007, and, although the proper line-up are now back together, Whelan’s broken his leg two days before the gig. There’s a stand-in drummer filling his shoes, but when Ryder introduces him he’s clearly forgotten his name. Anyway, forget splitting hairs, for the couple of thousand punters here, this is the big Mondays show Brighton never had, a baggy celebration of their youth. Some nostalgic DJ support, including the 808 State Soundsystem, sets the mood with dozens of welcome house, bleep and techno classics from the Haçienda heyday. We’ve been seated up in the balcony, but skip that and descend into the rave mass below. Cheered onto the stage by Bez, the Mondays slide into ‘Loose Fit’ from their peak Madchester album ‘Pills ‘N’ Thrills And Bellyaches’, played almost in its entirety tonight. Ryder’s cheerful, lucid, puffing on an electric cigarette and revelling in the attention. You could never say he’s in good voice, cos he never had one, that’s his mate Rowetta’s role. But he knows his strengths, flattering the crowd (“These are all my mates. I think I met every one of you in the lobby today.”) and his band...If there’s one disappointment, it’s that Bez hasn’t got the stamina to shake his maracas for a whole gig these days. Absent from most of the night, he only leads the dance through ‘Kinky Afro’ and ‘Step On’. The crowd adore him nonetheless, phones held aloft by the hundred.

24 Hour Party People Australian Tour
*Cancelled* 05 June 2013 Wednesday - Metropolis, Fremantle, Perth * Support Act(s): 808 State
Notes: Rescedhuled date from 08 May 2013. The tour was cancelled again, this time due to Gary Whelan's medical issues (He broke his leg on the 23 May). There was also mention of poor ticket sales and poor tour management causing the tour to be cancelled before Gary's injury, rather than rescheduling.
From tonedeaf.thebrag.com, 03 June 2013: Australian promoters KillRockStar Big Dog Entertainment have issued a statement stating that the Happy Mondays tour “has now been cancelled by the band’s management citing medical issues with drummer Gary Whelan.” The statement continues to read: While details remain hazy, a mutually agreeable solution could not be found to rescue the tour. Happy Mondays management officially cancelled the tour over the weekend. KRBD would like to apologise to all fans and ticket holders for any inconvenience caused. Patrons who purchased tickets via credit card will be automatically refunded and do not need to do take any action. Patrons who purchased tickets with cash at an outlet need to return their tickets to the point of purchase for a full refund. Happy Monday…”
*Cancelled* 06 June 2013 Thursday - Palace Theatre, Melbourne * Support Act(s): 808 State, Underground Lovers
Notes: Rescedhuled date from 05 May 2013.
*Cancelled* 07 June 2013 Friday - The Tivoli, Brisbane * Support Act(s): 808 State
Notes: Rescedhuled date from 03 May 2013.
*Cancelled* 10 June 2013 Monday - UNSW Roundhouse, Sydney * Support Act(s): 808 State
Notes: Rescedhuled date from 04 May 2013.

13 June 2013 - June 2013 - Isle of Wight Festival, Seaclose Park, Isle Of Wight
The Killers / Ellie Goulding / Bastille / Bon Jovi / The Script / Fun. / Bloc Party / Ben Howard / Blondie / Emeli Sandé / Jake Bugg /
The Stone Roses / Paloma Faith / The Maccabees / Lianne La Havas / Rizzle Kicks / Sub Focus / Paul Weller / Bonnie Raitt / Everything Everything / Happy Mondays / Modestep / Delilah / The Boomtown Rats / Palma Violets / Benga / Young Guns / Republica / Kids In Glass Houses / Levellers / Alex Metric / The Farm / Willy Moon / Imperial Teen / Damian Lazarus / Russ Chimes / Steve Forbert / Liz Lawrence / The Blockheads / Hugh Cornwell / Tankus the Henge / The Greg Foat Group / Plastic Mermaids / Smokey Bastard / Ian Hunter & The Rant Band / Knocking Ghost / Newton Faulker / Pip Mountjoy / Bitr8 / The Bear Social / Ba•Dow / Weatherkings / Floella Grace (Band)

22 June 2013 - Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Scarborough

31 July 2013 - Sandown (Racecourse) Park, Esher, Surrey * Ticket Price: £37.00 *
Notes: The band play after the final horse race. Ticket included access to the race course and the show too.
From getsurry 17 July 2013, Kitty Dann wrote: ...What’s On caught up with lead singer Shaun Ryder ahead of the event. Asked if he had played in Esher before, Shaun ‘wasn’t sure’ but said he had ‘done quite a few racecourses.’ On other subjects he was more effusive, and spoke about the evolution of the sound of the Happy Mondays. He said: “The music, it is a lot easier now. The drama that comes with being young, it is just gone. “Now it is just basically no sex, no drugs, just rock and roll. It is a lot easier, it is far less complicated. Now it does sound better than it ever did.”...Shaun said: “We never stopped doing live performances. “What happened was last year we got asked to do the original line up of the Mondays, and we just said yes, we would give it a go.” However Shaun, who came second in reality show I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here in 2010, said he had doubts about all the band members signing up. He said: “I didn’t expect Bez to do it. All he does is dance on stage – with a bit of arm twisting he did it.” The Happy Mondays are spending the summer touring festivals, and went to the Isle of White last month to play to big crowds. Shaun said: “We have been doing shows now for about a year in the original line up. “The only album that doesn’t get much air play is the first one, but we pretty much cover them all.” For the younger audience member who will have missed the Happy Mondays the first time round, Shaun is unapologetic. He said: “Download it or something, and make your own mind up.”.

04 August 2013 - Féile an Phobail (People's Festival), Falls Park, Belfast
Notes: The Charlatans and Faithless also headlined over the 11 days, beginnging 01 August.. 25th Anniversary Festival.

11 August 2013 - Junction 16 Festival, Betley Court Farm, Crewe, Cheshire * Doors Open: 11:00am * Ticket Price: £35 * Supporting: Peter Hook & The Light
Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis and Lois / Donovan / Rave On / 24 Hour Party People / Hallelujah / Mad Cyril / Bob's Yer Uncle / Step On / Wrote For Luck
Notes: The ticket stub indicated Happy Mondays headlined the festival, where as the promo posters show Peter Hook & The Light above them on the bill.
Bootleg: Audience Recording (Tape / CD-R)

15 August 2013 - Leopardstown Live, Leopardstown Racecourse, Leopardstown, Leinster, Ireland
Loose Fit / Kinky Afro / Dennis and Lois / Donovan / Rave On / 24 Hour Party People / Mad Cyril / Step On / Sunshine & Love

August 2013 - Bez backs the urban bee scheme in Manchester
Notes: The 49-year-old, real name Mark Berry, helped install two bee hives on the Printworks in Manchester city centre. The self-confessed "full-time honey monster" has been keeping bees for about a year on a commune in South Wales. A rapid decline in honey bee numbers is thought to be due to last year's prolonged winter and wet summer.
Bez said: "It has been a big part of our family life since my granddad came back home from the war with four tins of honey. "It's magical really because the bees have been around since the days of the dinosaurs. They are a great part of our diversity."
Four beehives have also been installed on the roof of Manchester Cathedral to help boost numbers. 2012's winter losses of honey bee colonies were the worst since records began six years ago, according to the British Beekeepers Association. It said more than a third of hives did not survive the cold, wet conditions.
The city of Manchester incorporates the insect in its coat of arms as a symbol of industry, community and teamwork.

06 November 2013 - Birmingham
15 November 2013 - The Ritz, Manchester
Bootleg: Audience Recording (Tape / CD-R)

Bummed The 25th Anniversary Tour
20 November 2013 - Sub89, Reading * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground, Sulk
Notes: Additional tour date, not featured on initial poster press.
21 November 2013 - Kings Hall, Herne Bay, Canterbury * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground, Sulk
Notes: Additional tour date, not featured on initial poster press.

22 November 2013 - The Forum, Kentish Town, London,
Performance / Do it Better / Lazyitis / Bring A Friend / Fat Lady Wrestlers / Clap Your Hands / Movin In With / Mad Cyril / Tart Tart / Wrote For Luck
encore: Hallelujah / Kinky Afro / Step On

23 November 2013 Saturday - Ritz, Whitworth Street, Manchester * Doors Open: 18:00-22:00 * Ticket Price: £33.50
Performance / Do it Better / Lazyitis / Bring A Friend / Fat Lady Wrestlers / Clap Your Hands / Movin In With / Mad Cyril / Country Song / Tart Tart / Wrote For Luck
encore: Hallelujah / Kinky Afro / Step On
Notes: This was an additional date. The original flyers and tour posters did not include this show to promote ticket sales.

25 November 2013 - University Of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground, Sulk
Notes: Additional tour date, not featured on initial poster press.

28 November 2013 Thursday - O2 Academy, Leicester * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground, Sulk
(Bez speech) / Performance / Do It Better / Lazyitis / Bring A Friend / Fat Lady Wrestlers / Clap Your Hands / Moving In With / Mad Cyril / Country Song / Tart Tart / Wrote For Luck
Encore: Halellujah / Kinky Afro / Step On
Bootleg: Audience Recording - (Bez speech) / Performance / Do It Better / Lazyitis / Bring A Friend / Fat Lady Wrestlers / Clap Your Hands / Moving In With / Mad Cyril / Country Song / Tart Tart / Wrote For Luck / (Encore) / Halellujah / Kinky Afro / Step On

29 November 2013 Friday - O2 Academy, Newcastle * Doors Open: * Ticket Price: £ * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground & Sulk *

30 November 2013 Saturday - O2 Academy, Leeds * Doors Open: * Ticket Price: £ * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground & Sulk *

01 December 2013 Sunday - O2 Academy, Glasgow * Doors Open: * Ticket Price: £ * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground & Sulk *
Bootleg: Audience Recording (CD-R)

04 December 2013 Wednesday - The Forum, Hertfordshire * Doors Open: * Ticket Price: £ * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground & Sulk *
05 December 2013 Thursday - O2 Academy, Bournemouth * Doors Open: * Ticket Price: £ * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground & Sulk *
06 December 2013 Friday - O2 Academy, Birmingham * Doors Open: * Ticket Price: £ * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground & Sulk *

07 December 2013 Saturday - O2 Academy, Liverpool * Doors Open: * Ticket Price: £28 (Advance) * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground & Sulk *

12 December 2013 Thursday - O2 Academy, Sheffield * Doors Open: * Ticket Price: £ * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground & Sulk *
Performance / Do It Better / Lazyitis / Bring A Friend / Fat Lady Wrestlers / Clap Your Hands / Moving In With / Mad Cyril / Country Song / Tart Tart / Wrote for Luck / Hallelujah / Kinky Afro / Step On

13 December 2013 Friday - Academy, 190 Cowley Road, Oxford, OX41UE * Doors Open: 19:00 * Ticket Price: £28.00 * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground & Sulk *

14 December 2013 Saturday - O2 Academy, Bristol * Doors Open: * Ticket Price: £ * Support Act(s): The Sunshine Underground & Sulk *
Notes: Last 'official' night of the Bummed The 25th Anniversary Tour.

M - December 2013 - Shaun & Bez feature on the cover of Free Sheffield Listings Magazine 'Toast' Issue 44

19 December 2??? Friday - Hacienda Christmas Party, Fac251 * Supporting: 808 State (DJ Set)
Notes: Unconfirmed year. Bez DJs. Resident DJs also include Adam Shelton, Jim The Grin.

2014
2014 - Gary Whelan lives in Toronto
2014 - Horse, Paul Ryder, lives in L.A.
2014 - Mark Day works in schools, teaching kids to play guitar, around Manchester.

08 March 2014 - Culture Room, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
15 March 2014 - The Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA

16 March 2014 - Bez is planning to stand for Parliament at the next election.
Notes: Bez was hopeful to win as an independent in Salford and Eccles in the next General Election, which was held by Labour.
Mark Berry, aka Bez, said he wanted "free energy for everybody" when he visited Barton Moss in Salford to offer fracking protesters his support. Exploratory drilling for shale gas is being carried out at the site. Around 60 Protesters set up an anti-fracking camp in Barton Moss in November 2013. Energy company IGas had permission to build a vertical test well, near the M62 and Barton Aerodrome and it is exploring potential energy reserves beneath the area. Bez returned to the site to join the daily slow walk in front of IGas' vehicles. IGas said (at the time) it has "no plans" for fracking. "The bigger people's voice[s] get the stronger we become... Power to the people." The 49-year-old added: "I can give free energy. I'm going to give free energy for everybody."
The British Geological Survey estimates there may be 1,300 trillion cubic feet of shale gas present in the north of England. But the process to extract it - called fracking, which is short for "hydraulic fracturing" - has led to protests, with environmentalists fearing the technique could cause small earth tremors, water contamination and environmental damage. Fracking involves drilling deep underground and releasing a high-pressure mix of water, sand and chemicals to crack rocks and release gas stored inside.

23 March 2014 - Bez appears on Sunday Politics, TV Show, BBC 1
Notes: Bez spoke to the BBC, Andrew Neil, about his plans to fight for the Salford and Eccles seat on an anti-fracking ticket. He told the BBC: "It's my duty to get into people's minds and make them realise what they are doing."
Bez offered to talk to party leaders David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg if he is elected to Parliament. He also promised to continue to "shake my maracas against fracking" as an MP.

Speaking on BBC One's Sunday Politics, Bez, who is focusing instead on environmental campaigning, described fracking - the extraction of shale gas - as "dangerous" and damaging to the environment "all in the name of profit". Asked about his aims, Bez said: "With a bit of luck, I might be able to shame Labour politicians to do the job properly and stick up for the rights of the people." If elected, Bez promised a sensible use of parliamentary allowances, saying: "There would be expenses, like buses and trains. I would not live in a cocoon."
Broadcast: BBC 1

04-06 July 2014 - Godiva Festival, Memorial Park, Coventry * Buzzcocks / We Are Scientists / Happy Mondays / Funeral for a Friend / Lightning Seeds / Selector / Nina Baker
Notes: 05 July 2014?

19 July 2014 - Splendour Festival, Wollaton Park, Nottingham * Supporting: Scouting for Girls, Tom Odell *

20 July 2014 - Beat Herder Festival Grounds, Sawley

26 July 2014 - Stockton Weekender 2014, Stockton-on-Tees * Public Enemy / Happy Mondays / Martha Reeves And The Vandellas / Reverend and The Makers / Peter Hook & The Light / The Amazing Snakeheads / Red Kite

25-27 July 2014 - Forever Sun Festival, Came House, Dorchester * Support Act(s): Toploader, * Support Act(s): Buzzcocks, Toploader, Glen Matlock And The Philistines, Some Velvet Morning, Dub Pistols, Gerry Cinnamon

01 August 2014 - 03 August 2014 - Kendal Calling 2014, Lowther Deer Park, Penrith
Jul 31, 2014 –
Athlete / Clean Bandit / Craig Charles / De La Soul / Dub Pistols / Example / Findlays / Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls / Happy Mondays / Miles Kane / Razorlight / Reel Big Fish / Simon and Ocscar from Ocean Colour Scene Acoustic / Suede / The Feud / The Lancashire Hotpots
Notes: 02 August?

22 August 2014 - Albert Hall, Manchester
Notes: Rescheduled to 11 October.

23 August 2014 - The Rainbow, Birmingham
Notes: Rescheduled or cancelled?

05 September 2014 - The Forum, Kentish Town, London
Notes: Rescheduled to 18 October
06 September 2014 - King George's Hall, Blackburn
Notes: Rescheduled to 10 October.

14 September 2014 - Heartlands, Pool * Support Act(s): Stereo MC's

10 October 2014 - King George's Hall, Blackburn
Notes: Rescheduled from 06 September.
11 October 2014 - Albert Hall, Manchester
Notes: Rescheduled from 22 August.
18 October 2014 - The Forum, Kentish Town, London
Notes: Rescheduled from 05 September.

25 October 2014 - Louder Than War Excess All Areas review
Louder Than War article by Carl Stanley: Excess All Areas – New Happy Mondays Biography Reviewed By Carl Stanley, Including Excerpts
‘Excess All Areas’ – the new Happy Mondays biography reviewed by Carl Stanley, who concludes … “this is surely the Mondays biography we’ve all been waiting for”.
Excess All Areas has a back-story which took the swag of the Stones and the shock and stubbornness of the Pistols and played it against the backdrop of Manchester’s late 80s Acid House explosion. Even though Happy Mondays came way before acid house arrived, it’s an era which not only defined them but also crowned their position as one of the most unique and exciting British guitar groups ever. It’s also a story which was only ever really told by Shaun Ryder and his co-accused Bez, through their outrageous collection of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll tales that powered the media circus around them and the band, and which both excited the kids and outraged the establishment like all the great musical back stories should do. But from a group of six members it’s all the fans have ever had to go on so far, in terms of the band’s roots, mindset and all round history.
Until now, that is, as drummer Gary Whelan, guitarist Mark Day and bassist Paul Ryder finally set some records straight. These three players, who went on to inspire a generation and who sound-tracked an era with their own unique styles, for the first time give their own side of the story in author Simon Spence’s upfront and honest new Mondays biography, due to be released on the 30th of October and titled ‘Excess All Areas’.
Simon Spence is the first author ever to get a nod from the whole band themselves to record their memoirs for an official book, as opposed to the many rogue biography’s that have been released down the years. Though Shaun’s recent biography was a good read and eye opener, it was more about him than the band. Bez’s book was also very entertaining, although it did read in places like wacky races on E. But it’s via the more detailed and balanced comments of the other group members themselves, who experienced the same journey as Shaun and Bez, but from a slightly different perspective, that we’re offered a more rounded summary of the Happy Mondays history.
Working through a round of long distance phone calls, Spence talked to drummer Whelan who at the moment lives in Toronto, bass player Paul Ryder who lives out in LA and guitarist Day who today helps teach kids play guitar in schools in and around Manchester – and collected their recollections, thoughts and feelings about the band’s image, achievements and eventual fallout into this book.
The book also offers new info into the making of the music and helps explain how the band worked on those albums, as well as how they got into those John Cale, Martin Hannett and Paul Oakenfold studio sessions. It also includes more personal views, like what were their greatest and lowest moments, what did they really think of each other and what was it like working with Shaun and Bez. The story is presented in three sections, three stages, which seem to define the group’s journey, growth and music; ‘Pure Boys’, ‘Madchester’ and ‘Stardust’.
‘Pure Boys’ – details how the band initially formed around Mark Days Attic, how they wrote their first tunes, playing their first gigs and built the band.
It’s as early as page 5 that Paul Ryder sets his stall out, stating his bewilderment at the tales his brother would come out with as the group found acclaim.
PAUL RYDER – ” I WAS THINKING ABOUT HOW MANY LIES AND EXAGGERATIONS OUR KID HAS SAID OVER THE YEARS. MAYBE IT’S SOMETHING TO DO WITH BEING A LYRICIST AND A CHARACTER, OR IS HE ACTING. WHAT HE DESCRIBES IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT CHILDHOOD TO MINE AND FROM WHAT I SAW OF SHAUN’S WAS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT HE DESCRIBES. HE STARTED SAYING THINGS IN THE PRESS, AND IT BECAME ‘WOW, YOU MUST HAVE BEEN REALLY TROUBLED AS A KID’, BUT IT WASN’T LIKE THAT” Though they all keep it 100 by also pointing out Shaun’s talent for song writing and stage presence. While Bez is acknowledged for the confidence and unique vibe which he brought to the Mondays live show, this time Paul comments on brother Shaun taking the front-man role and making it his own.
PAUL – “FROM DAY ONE I KNEW SHAUN WAS SPECIAL, SHAUN DOESN’T SOUND OR WRITE LIKE ANYONE ELSE. I DIDN’T WANT THE BAND TO SOUND LIKE ANYONE ELSE AND SO WHEN HE CAME ALONG AND DID THE VOCALS AND LYRICS I THOUGHT, THAT’S GREAT BECAUSE HE DOESN’T SOUND LIKE ANY OTHER SINGER”
A diary entry made by the guitarist around that time points to the friction that was to later come: MARK – “THE BAND’S FIRST BAND PRACTISE FOR THE YEAR. THE SINGER IS TOO GOOD TO PRACTISE. PAUL D, AWKWARD BASTARD, REFUSED TO CHANGE VOICING ON KEYBOARD. HORSE LOST HIS TEMPER – ANOTHER PUNCH UP. I HAD TO INTERVENE. GARY SAID HE WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. I WILL HAVE TO GO INTO EXTRA TRAINING AS IT’S GOING TO BE A ROUGH YEAR FOR THE HAPPY MONDAYS.”
…and Gary Whelan remembers the time they all squeezed into Mark Day’s car to listen to John Peel introduce ‘Kuff Dam’ from their recently recorded live session. GARY – “WE WERE ALL QUIETLY STONED, THE SONG FINISHED, WE ALL LOOKED AT ONE ANOTHER. WE WERE QUITE SURPRISED, AND SAID ‘FUCKING HELL, WHY CAN’T OUR RECORDINGS SOUND THAT GOOD.”
But as Wilson once said ‘it’s urban, it’s exciting’ and he picked up on their unique sound as well as image. The first section covers them joining Factory. As well as the band’s crazy first trip to the US, which turned into a crazy crack finding mission rather than a legendary New York gig. A signal that the fun and chaos had already started.
‘Madchester’ – a section which covers the band’s rise from first album to second, recording some of their greatest ever work, for the album Bummed.
The moment the Mondays and Martin Hannett started work on the album described by Gary Whelan GARY – “ME AND PAUL HAD TO GO PICK A HIRE CAR UP THEN GO AND PICK MARTIN UP IN CHORLTON, WE WERE TOLD MARTIN WAS A BIT NERVOUS AND ALL HE REQUESTED WAS THAT WE DIDN’T GET A RED CAR OR A FORD”…NATURALLY WHEN WHELAN AND PAUL WENT TO THE CAR HIRE COMPANY THEY ASKED FOR A RED FORD. WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT HANNETTS HOUSE, HE OPENED THE DOOR, LOOKED AT THE CAR AND BURST OUT LAUGHING, SAYING “OH, WERE GOING TO GET ON FINE”.
Paul Ryder recollected the reader’s wives snapshot which adorned Bummed, produced along with the colourful and creative album artwork by Central Stations Matt and Pat Carroll. PAUL – ” I BURST OUT LAUGHING WHEN I SAW THAT, IT WAS TYPICAL OF MATT AND PAT TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT , IT GAVE THE RECORD A TINGE OF ILLICIT THRILL.”
To the gigs which were starting to multiply by the 100’s, when in ’89 they became the first band to play the 2000 capacity free trade hall, a gig which Bez just couldn’t get stoned enough to calm his pre-gig nerves, but once on stage it all just kicked in… BEZ – ” I KNEW AS SOON AS THE MUSIC STARTED UP THAT I’D TAKEN TOO MANY DRUGS, BY THE THIRD TUNE I’D COMPLETELY LOST MY BODY – SOMETHING BIGGER THAN ME HAD TAKEN OVER CONTROL OF MY ARMS AND LEGS.”
‘Stardust’ – the book also gets into the good times, when the band musically were cooking on full gas. No more so when they went to LA to record their most complete album ‘Pills Thrills and Bellyaches’. The LA weather and easy lifestyle, as well as hooking up with Oakenfold and Osborne, would bring the best out of the band and also giving them a break from the in house tension which had continued to build up over the years… MARK DAY – “IT FELT GOOD, THOUGH WE WERE CARRYING A LOT OF BAGGAGE BY THEN.’
Gary Whelan claimed it was the Mondays ‘first proper adult recording session’ and Paul Ryder explained it as… “A DIFFERENT WAY OF WORKING, THE OTHER TWO ALBUMS HURT MY EARS A BIT, THE TONE WASN’T RIGHT ON THE BASS. THIS ONE WAS A REAL CLEAR PRODUCTION, EASIER ON THE EARS. OAKENFOLD WAS GREAT AT GETTING THOSE LOOPS I WANTED BUT AS FOR EVERYTHING ELSE IT WAS ALWAYS STEVE (OSBORNE), HE REALLY HELPED WITH THE ARRANGEMENTS, SOMETHING WE WERE NOT VERY GOOD AT”.
Steve Osborne himself was also buzzing off the sessions, tipping his hat to Mark Day’s unique guitar work… STEVE – “HE CAME UP WITH AMAZING RIFFS, BUT IT WAS MORE THAN JUST THE MELODIC GUITAR LINES THAT BUOYED THE SONGS – AND IN SOME INSTANCES DEFINED THEM WITH THE TEXTURES AND MOODS HE SEEMED ABLE TO CREATE.”
This left Whelan no choice but to get down the dole centre and ‘sign on’. GARY -” I DIDN’T WANT TO BUT I HAD A HOUSE AND I COULDN’T AFFORD THE MORTGAGE. I HEARD SOMEONE 3 PEOPLE BEHIND ME SAYING ‘FUCKING HELL…ITS A BIT OF A COMEDOWN FOR HIM.” Excess all Areas comfortably takes the mantle of ‘official’ Happy Mondays biography, and that’s despite the absence of Shaun and Bez’s contributions; in fact it’s that very reason why the book’s a must read for all Happy Monday fans. We’re well versed in Shaun and Bez’s thoughts on the Mondays, this time it’s the band who do some talking. Though there’s also comments from former Mondays managers Nathan McGough, Phil Saxe and the Ryder’s father and fierce supporter Derrick. The only absence, though, is keyboardist Paul Davis, aka PD, who, after the Mondays first reunion tour of 2012, never returned. Maybe he thought the dole was still the better option than working with Shaun, who today’s friendly day-time TV persona has seen him start to win over some of the same critics who slammed him during the Mondays heyday. But it’s within the pages of ‘Excess All Areas’ that you actually get the chance to read how a tight-knit gang of lads like the Happy Mondays originally were, can slowly implode when the money and fame arrives. So hold on to your hats because this is surely the Mondays biography we’ve all been waiting for, and it’s about time too.

30 October 2014 - Excess All Areas - Happy Mondays - A Biography by Simon Spence U.K. Release Date

2015
14 or 15 March 2015 - Vive Latino, CDMX, Foro Sol, Mexico City, Mexico, D.F. * Supporting: Brandon Flowers *
Notes: The Killers singer headlined the show. Happy Mondays were second to headliner and were supported by Caifanes, Bufi. 15 March?

S.W.R. - April 2015 - SWR - Shaun William Ryder - Close The Dam U.K. Release Date
12inch Vinyl Damned 004 Something In Construction Enterprises Presents.
Close The Dam / Electric Scales
Notes: Limited Edition vinyl only release, initial copies were hand signed by Shaun. The promo release sheet noted the S.W.R release as 'a groovetastic dance floor shuffle'.
Interview with Shaun Ryder by Richard Lewis from pennyblackmusic.co.uk published: 25 September 2015: The first fruits of Shaun’s solo work, a white label issued in April showcased an impressive pair of new tracks, the limpid funk of ‘Close the Dam’ and classic Ryder rabble rouser ‘Electric Scales’. The forthcoming solo LP will be the follow up to low-key debut ‘Amateur Night in the Big Top,’ issued under the moniker SWR in September 2003. "This is totally different. That was sort of a mad experiment anyway," Shaun explains. "I’ve hooked up again with (producer and Quincy Jones’ grandson) Sunny Levine and we’ve tried to under-produce it so it stands out more than what else is about."

2015 - Bez launches All Star Reality Party
Notes: Bez goes into politics hoping for a place in parliament with his newly formed party. Bez featured on BBC North West Tonight promoting his campaign too.

Shaun
Kermit
Bez
Black Grape - April 2015 - Granada Studios Warehouse, Manchester
(Incomplete) In The Name Of The Father / Tramazi Parti / Get Higher / Reverend Black Grape / Yeah Yeah Brother / Tell Me Something / A Big Day in The North / Shake Well Before Opening / Kelly's Heroes / Rubber Band / Little Bob
Notes: Debut reunion performance.
from manchestereveningnews.co.uk, 13:49, 12 APR 2015 UPDATED 18:25, 5 AUG 2015, Review By Sarah Walters: Black Grape @Granada Studios Warehouse. Every decade should have a good party band - and in the mid-1990s, that was Black Grape. In truth, the group's founders Shaun Ryder and Bez - who put the band together with Kermit and Carl from Manchester band Ruthless Rap Assassins - had been bringing the party for 10 years already with the Happy Mondays.
But there was something about the Grape - that George Clinton like funk and the songs' righteous protestations, coupled with Shaun's unique way with words and Kermit's skill with samples and rhymes - that made them the go-to group for filling dance floors.
Their rebirth is a bit of a surprise though; a chaotic five years together ended in two albums (1995's It's Great When You're Straight...Yeah, and follow up Stupid Stupid Stupid) and a bitter breakdown. Shaun and Kermit didn't talk again for years; and yet, watching them bounce off each other at Old Granada Studios, rock music's modern day Sonny and Cher, you'd barely believe there had been a cross word.
That time is a great healer isn't just obvious from the clear camaraderie between these two now as they preach the refrain of set opener In The Name Of The Father - it's also there physically. Shaun has never looked so well nor sounded this excited on stage in a long time, a broad grin is permanently plastered on Kermit's face, even Bez (despite his much talked about dodgy knees) can't hold back the urge to freaky dance. Guitars tear into Tramazi Parti, saxophone bursts out stage front, the whole room bounces and hollers: "Welcome to your nightmare!" It's the stuff reunion dreams are made of.
Get Higher's woozy rhythms give way to the band's big anthem, Reverend Black Grape - one Shaun dedicates to "the knuckleheads, the university lecturers, the teachers and the Shaun Ryder fans".
Shake Well Before Opening rounds off the set, creating an interlude for Bez to champion his bid for parliament with his All Star Reality Party and garner support to "fight the revolution ... and the ******* Tories", and it's the job of Little Bob to end this incredible come back party. It feels like the kind of night that could only happen in Manchester. It's nostalgic, certainly (how could a reunion be otherwise?), but it still manages to be fresh and exciting. And, more importantly, this curious choice of venue makes the whole thing feel like a bit of an illegal invasion - although, should the ghost of Tony Wilson still be walking these old Granada corridors, he'd certainly be pretty proud of his protégés.

29 April 201x Monday - Studio Coast, Shinkiba, Tokyo, Japan * Doors Open: 17:00 - Start: 18:00 * Ticket Price: Y7,000 (Standing with 1 Drink)
Notes: Unconfirmed year, info from leaflet. Bank holiday Monday.
01 May 201x Wednesday - Hatch, Namba, Osaka, Japan * Doors Open: 18:00 - Start: 19:00 * Ticket Price: Y7,000 (Standing with 1 Drink)
Notes: Unconfirmed year, info from leaflet.

12 June 2015 - TFI Friday (Thank Four It's Friday), Channel 4 TV Studio, London
Notes: Part of the live comeback shows, after a 15 year break. Guests included Shaun Ryder, Blur, Kenneth Branagh, Jeremy Clarkson, Roger Daltrey, Liam Gallagher, Lewis Hamilton, Rudimental, Amanda Seyfried, Years & Years, Tom Daley, Ricky Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Rita Ora, Kirsty Alsopp, Nick Grimshaw, Ewan McGregor, Suzi Perry, Jason Plato.

Black Grape - 13 June 2015 - Warehouse, Manchester * Support Act(s): DJ Bez, Northside, The Complete Stone Roses (Tribute)

13-14 June 2015 - BL9 Weekender 2015, Event City, Manchester
James Arthur / Echo & the Bunnymen / Razorlight / Coolio / Happy Mondays / Peter Hook & The Light / King No-One / Diversity / Grand Arcadia

Shaun Ryder
Kermit
Guitar - Paul

Black Grape - July 2015 - Riverside, Newcastle
(Incomplete) In The Name of the Father / Tamzi Parti / Yeah Yeah Brother / Kelly’s Heroes / Reverend Black Grape / Big Day In The North / Yeah, Yeah Brother / Shake Well Before Opening
encore: Little Bob
Notes: As Shaun stumbles to the stage the p.a. bellows “My voice has gone. It’s these e-cigs..I can’t wait to get on the real things again.”"
From 11 July 2015 - chroniclelive.co.uk, Jamie Diffley Review: Black Grape review: Newcastle Riverside celebrates debut album 20 years on Shaun Ryder brings Black Grape to Tyneside to celebrate 20 years of debut album It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah.
“My voice has gone. It’s these e-cigs” says Shaun Ryder as he takes to the stage at Newcastle’s Riverside. “I can’t wait to get on the real things again.” He’s puffing on the said e-cig - not a wise move for a singer who has already declared it’s ruining his vocal chords, but then Shaun’s singing is not really what he’s about. The whole of Shaun Ryder is much greater than the sum of his parts. His very presence on stage is enough to reassure the crowd they are in for a good time, and when In The Name of Father strikes up any fears or doubts about a bad voice are quickly forgotten about.
Shaun Ryder is in his early 50s now but he looks well. I’ve seen him in the Happy Mondays too many times to mention over the years, but this is the first time I’ve seen him Black Grape - the band he formed when the Happy Mondays literally fell apart after their fourth album in the 90s. After the disaster that was that album Yes Please, his comeback in 1995 with Black Grape and their debut album It’s Great When You’re Straight... Yeah was simply stunning. Twenty years on it still sounds great. Perhaps one of the most overlooked albums of that period, lost among the fuss of Britpop, drowned out by the likes of Blur and Oasis and Black Grape are back on the road celebrating its anniversary. Most of the album gets an airing, along with a smattering of songs from the 1997 follow up Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, which never reached the heights of its predecessor.
Tramazi Part. Yeah Yeah Brother, Kelly’s Heroes - each song welcomed like a long lost friend with Shaun and Black Grape co-founder Kermit bouncing off each other in fantastic form. Reverend Black Grape lifts the roof off with grown men in faded Primal Scream T-shirts that no longer fit shouting back the lyrics. There’s an encore of Little Bob but disappointingly no Shake Your Money which for me is the best song off the album. That said none of the 40-something mainly male crowd went home short-changed. Instead we left drenched in the sweat of nostalgia, transported back to a time when we didn’t have mortgages, kids or careers to care about. And a time when e-cigs didn’t even exist and Shaun would have had no option but to be on the real things.

Black Grape - 13 July 2015 - Parr Hall, Warrington * Support Act(s): Alias Kid
(Incomplete) In The Name of the Father / Tamzi Parti / Yeah Yeah Brother / Kelly’s Heroes / Reverend Black Grape / Big Day In The North / Yeah, Yeah Brother / Shake Well Before Opening
encore: Little Bob
Notes: Last night of the 23 date UK tour. Simon Lewis took photos for the meida, photos were used on Getintothis.co.uk.
From getintothis.co.uk 20 July 2015 Jamie Bowman review: Black Grape, Alias Kid: Parr Hall, Warrington. As co-frontmen Shaun Ryder and Kermit get reacquainted, Getintothis’ Jamie Bowman gets caught up in a 90s revival. Blame Chris Evans if you want but we seem to be in the midst of a full-on 90s revival. As the swearing scourge of TFI Friday, Shaun Ryder was an unexpected but very welcome participant at the Britpop party, so perhaps it’s only right that both programme and guest make comebacks in the same month.
That Ryder is still with us at all is reason enough to celebrate but the fact that he now seems to be operating both his former bands as going concerns only increases the sense of jubilation as the grinning 53-year-old ambles onto the stage alongside fellow frontman Kermit. It’s two decades since Ryder burst back into the charts and as the five piece band launch into exultant opener In The Name of the Father, it’s a refreshing reminder of just how original they sounded at a time when Ocean Colour Scene were being lauded as heroes. Then and now, rock, funk, hip hop and reggae are all melded into one brilliantly bouncy and hallucinogenic mess which somehow results in the kind of indie dance anthems Ryder’s first band patented in the late 80s. Tonight’s mixture even includes some heavy metal courtesy of a long haired guitarist introduced by Ryder as a “rock god Paul”.
As entertaining as the gig is and as brilliant as the songs are it’s the interplay between Ryder and Kermit which really elevates the show and even adds a surprisingly poignant atmosphere to proceedings. Both men have had their severe drug problems and to see them both looking fit and well (Kermit even shows off his newly cultivated six pack at one point) and enjoying each other’s company is heart-warming in the extreme. As if to emphasise how far the pair have come, they’re both happy to joke about the often sordid circumstances each song was written in: “Remember how cracky you were when you wrote this Shaun?” chuckles Kermit, while Ryder reminisces about the band’s LA “crack cupboard” where the two desperately tried to write songs for ill-fated second album Stupid, Stupid. Stupid. Even the lack of Bez doesn’t detract from the spectacle. The likes of Kelly’s Heroes, Yeah, Yeah Brother and Shake Well Before Opening all rush by in a 70 minute blur and while the gig is short, it’s perfectly formed. If Ryder can keep this up and the promise of new material comes true, we could be in for one hell of a treat.
16 July 2015 Louder Than War’s Katie Clare review: Black Grape - Parr Hall, Warrington - July 13th 2015. Black Grape bring their energetic live show to Parr Hall in Warrington. Louder Than War’s Katie Clare was there to review. Black Grape. The boundless energy of Kermit is in equal measure to the diverse strength of his vocal deliveries and whom, along with the unpretentious host of the hedonistic late 80’s early 90’s party: Shaun Ryder (nowadays both very much posters boys for successfully surviving) have decided that the twenty anniversary of It’s Great When You’re Straight… Yeah is the right time for Black Grape to regroup and take the album back on the road. There is no time wasted winning over tonight’s crowd: they are already a noisy mass of excitement and as the band arrive on stage they waste no time striking out boldly with their boisterous funky rock psychedelia as the crowd raise their beers and hands up high as the bass thick vibrations fly from the stage. There are no surprises in the set list, on this the last night of the bands 23 dates around the UK, not that any of the crowd is desiring one. They are getting just what they ordered: a little slice of a life once led and as the many gems from the band’s début number one album tumble out. Personal favourites get roars of approval – In the Name of the Father, Tamzi Parti, Kelly’s Heroes and Big Day in the North being very capable of still providing fresh exhilarating sensations. Black Grape Kermit and Shaun both engage comfortably: animatedly share jokes and quips between themselves and the audience on mass: It’s a delightful camaraderie that everyone feels involved in. Although Shaun’s voice has suffered on the tour; this does not diminishes the enjoyment one bit as his presence alone denotes a good time and the mature gruffness adds a new dimension to classic tracks. The unabashed charismatic energy of Kermit and the sensational musicians that deliver flawlessly throughout – it’s a set bursting with a host of amazing elements that together really deliver. As the audience spills out into the street ears buzzing with temporary gig tinnitus there is plenty of joyfulness to fill the final hours of the weekend and it really is down to the truly triumphant live tour de force that is Black Grape.

24 July 2015 - 26 Jul 2015 - Fuji Rock Festival, Naeba Ski Resort, Niigata, Japan * Muse / Deadmau5 / Nate Ruess / Belle and Sebastian / Aqualung / Chthonic / Macy Gray / Galactic / Galantis / Happy Mondays / Humbert Humbert / Kemuri / Rafven / RL Grime / Super Furry Animals / 10 Feet / Twenty One Pilots / Philip Sayce / Joey Bada
Notes: 25 July?

28 July 2015 - Happy Mondays Hong Kong, Rotunda 3 KITEC, 1 Trademark Drive, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong * Doors Open: 20:00 * Ticket Price: 650 (Hong Kong Dollars) *
Notes: Songs For Children presents Happy Mondays Hong Kong. Tickets were available from Tom Lee Music stores, City Line website and the radio call centre too.

29 July 2015 - Happy Mondays Hong Kong, Rotunda 3 KITEC, 1 Trademark Drive, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong * Doors Open: 20:00 * Ticket Price: 650 (Hong Kong Dollars) *
Notes: Unconfirmed date.
30 July 2015 - Happy Mondays Hong Kong, Rotunda 3 KITEC, 1 Trademark Drive, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong * Doors Open: 20:00 * Ticket Price: 650 (Hong Kong Dollars) *
Notes: Unconfirmed date.

31 July 2015 - Bedford Park, Bedford * Support Act(s): Ash, Stereo MC's

21 August 2015 - Beautiful Days Festival, Escot Park, Devon * Support Act(s): Peatbog Faeries, DJ Lethal

September 2015 - Happy Mondays record in the Amazon Jungle for Singing in the Rainforest.
Notes: The one off TV project 'Singing in the Rainforest' included recording a new song with the Embera Tribe in Panama, South America. The show was due to be broadcast on Watch channel but I cannot find anymore information regarding the show. The recording was available as a download and the money from the sales went towards to the tribe who contributed to the recording.
Interview with Shaun Ryder by Richard Lewis from pennyblackmusic.co.uk published: 25 September 2015: The Mondays' next venture meanwhile is a one-off TV project. "We’ve just done a new track. We’ve all just been out into the Amazon Jungle living with a tribe of indigenous natives who are all percussion players," Shaun explains. "We’ve been living and hunting with them and then we made music with them, and we filmed it for a TV show. When it comes out in September, it airs on Watch. You can download the track, and money from that goes to the tribe to keep them living the life that they’ve lived for thousands of years. That’s the first bit of new music that the original band have done since ’92 and that went really well," the singer says. "I got offered it by the production company and I didn’t want to do it on my own, and I thought it would be a good thing for the whole band to do, so we all went there and we all lived in the same hut together, which is pretty funny! And it worked out really well. It’s a good show."
16 July 2019 Bez Interview Article written by Mark Millar for XSNOIZE.com: And the other time was when we got to spend time with The Embera Tribe in Panama, in South America when we made the programme 'Singing in the Rainforest' - that was another great memorable standout memory for me.

Shaun Ryder - Vocals
Paul Ryder - Bass
Mark Day - Guitar
Gary Whelan - Drums
Dan Broad - Keyboards
Rowetta - Vocals
Bez - Bez

Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches 25th Anniversary Tour
05 November 2015 - Guildhall, Southampton
Notes: Alan McGee (former Creation Records) is managing the band.
Interview with Shaun Ryder by Richard Lewis from pennyblackmusic.co.uk published: 25 September 2015: An obvious enquiry then, will there be a new Mondays album, the follow-up to 2007s ‘Uncle Dysfunktional’ and the first to feature the original line-up since 1992? "‘There will be definitely," Shaun states emphatically. "The thing is with the Mondays, ‘cos everyone’s got a say in it, it’s hard to put together. The one thing is now with (former Creation Records MD) Alan McGee as manager, everyone in the band is happy with McGee. He wants another album, so there will definitely be another Mondays’ album. But there will be a Black Grape album before there’s a Mondays’ album. I’ve got a solo album ready to drop next year too."

07 November 2015 - Shiiine On Weekender, Arena (Butlins), Minehead * Ticket Price: Three nights with accommodation: £149 (Advance) * Stereo MC's / Peter Hook / 808 state / Lo-Fidelity Allstars / Northside / Space Monkeys / The Winachi Tribe
(06-09 November 2015 - Stereo MC's / Peter Hook / 808 state / Lo-Fidelity Allstars / Northside / Space Monkeys / The Winachi Tribe / The Twang / The Sunshine Underground / Inspiral Carpets / The Farm / Oasis UK / The Clone Roses / SPACE)
Kinky Afro / God’s Cop / Donovan / Grandbag’s Funeral / Loose Fit / Denis And Lois / Bob’s Yer Uncle / Step On / Holiday / Harmony
encore: Hallelujah / Wrote For Luck
Notes: Tickets went on sale in January 2015.

06 November 2015 - Academy, Birmingham
God's Cop / Donovan
Notes: Before Donovan Shaun introduces the band.
Bootleg: Audience Recording
Interview with Shaun Ryder by Richard Lewis from pennyblackmusic.co.uk published: 25 September 2015: With the entire album set to be essayed live, are there any particular stand outs for you onstage? "I like doing ‘Loose Fit’ and ‘Kinky Afro’," Shaun replies. "I like doing the whole lot, like with ‘Bummed’ as well. You know one day we’ll go out and do ‘Squirrel and G-Man’, and eventually after all this time with me slagging (1992 album) ‘Yes Please!’ off, I definitely think we’ll be working that in, some of those tracks sometime or other."..."We constantly toured, even before we got the original band members together. We were all over the place. I don’t do anywhere near as much as I used to do now," Shaun states. "I’m not just saying this ‘cos we’re flogging it, but we’re all enjoying it," the singer says of recent Mondays’ activity. "We’re just a bunch of fat old men who love playing rock n’ roll," he states self-deprecatingly. "The sex and drugs have gone and it’s about the music. All the bullshit when you’re young has gone out of the window. We’re all compos mentis. It’s great going out and playing. It doesn’t feel as though we’re on the treadmill. It’s done at a good pace."

12 November 2015 Thursday - Academy, Sheffield

13 November 2015 Friday - Academy, Liverpool
Kinky Afro / God’s Cop / Grandbag’s Funeral / Donovan / Loose Fit / Denis And Lois / Bob’s Yer Uncle / Step On / Holiday / Harmony /
encore: Wrote For Luck / Hallelujah
Richard Lewis review from pennyblackmusic.co.uk published: 25 / 11 / 2015 O2 Academy, Liverpool, 13/11/2015
"I’m not late. I’m not late. That was just the intro," Shaun Ryder jokes walking onstage to a full capacity Liverpool Academy following a climatic build-up. With pre-show anticipation slowly racking up, the set opens with an Italian House track featuring co-lead singer Rowetta on solo vocals as the Mondays assemble on stage one by one. With the atmosphere in the room suggesting the show is as much a celebration as a gig, the strings that herald the start of 'Kinky Afro' kick in and over a thousand voices chorus Shaun’s opening lyric "Son, I’m thirty/I only went with your mother ‘cos she’s dirty."
An album that truly seized the 1990 zeitgeist, combining Ibizan club beats, UK indie, New York disco and the band’s idiosyncratic energy into one glorious mélange, the Mondays' mainstream breakthrough 'Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches' has dated preternaturally well. With the disc being played in sequence, the wonderfully scabrous riff that powers 'God’s Cop' second prompts roughly sixty grand’s worth of footwear to start moving in unison.
With the original line up minus keys player Paul Davis in place, Rowetta (who seemingly hasn’t aged since the early 1990s) adorned in a dress made from the cover of the album’s sweet-wrapper themed cover, provides soul- inflected vocals, while Bez remains the band’s mascot, an amiable presence endlessly prowling the front of the stage, working the audience.
The core of the band’s engine room, the rhythm section that supplies their off-kilter juxtaposing Paul Ryder’s deep basslines and Gaz Whelan’s loose P-Funk beats, is hugely under appreciated compared to their more feted contemporaries. Guitarist Mark Day meanwhile is similarly under-rated, his barbed riffs powering the likes of ‘Grandbag’s Funeral’ and ‘Donovan’ with individualistic style.
The slow shuffle of ‘Loose Fit’ and the sundrenched pop of ‘Denis and Lois’ are brilliantly rendered while a short delay before a lascivious rendition of ‘Bob’s Yer Uncle’ meanwhile sees Shaun turn round to ask Gaz Whelan what the delay is - "What are yer doing? Turning the record over?" To no-one’s great surprise ‘Step On’ draws the biggest response of the evening, the fulcrum track of a million indie discos still sounding newly minted despite near endless radio play over quarter of a century.
‘Holiday,’ concerning the troublesome US customs officials the band encountered on their visits to the States, and album closer ‘Harmony’ conclude the main set. The treacle-ly slide guitar motif of the latter is the nearest the band ever came to espousing hippy sentiments. "I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony/Cut it up in little tiny bits/And give it all away for free," Shauan sings on it, the residue of 1988's Second Summer of Love in 1988 seeping through to ‘Pills 'n’ Thrills’. Bez meanwhile requests one of the maracas launched into the crowd earlier to be returned to he can give it to a kid fetched up on the stage from the front row. His wish is granted as said percussion implement is quickly thrown back towards him.
Returning for the encore, maxi-proportioned versions of 'Wrote for Luck' and the extended club mix version of 'Hallelujah' are essayed with the band departing as Bez assists Mark Day in wringing guitar noise from his axe. An ebullient showcase of a totemic LP all told, with the hint that there may well be more to come from the septet. "Double, Double Good" as a lyric on its predecessor went.

14 November 2015 Saturday - Academy, Newcastle
Kinky Afro / Loose Fit / Step On / Grandbag's Funeral / Dennis and Lois / Holiday / God's Cop / Wrote For Luck / Hallelujah / Harmony / Bob's Yer Uncle

15 November 2015 Sunday - Academy, Glasgow * Support Act(s): Pete MacLeod

19 November 2015 - Academy, Manchester
Notes: This was the additional date due to popular demand.

20 November 2015 - Academy, Manchester
Kinky Afro / God's Cop / Donovan / Grandbag's Funeral / Loose Fit / Dennis and Lois / Bob's Yer Uncle / Step On / Holiday / Harmony / Hallelujah / Wrote For Luck
Notes: Sold Out Show.

21 November 2015 - Academy, Leeds

22 November 2015 - Academy, Leicester, Leicestershire * Support Act(s): The Winachi Tribe

26 November 2015 - Rock City, Nottingham
Kinky Afro / God's Cop / Donovan / Grandbag's Funeral / Loose Fit / Dennis and Lois / Bob's Yer Uncle / Step On / Holiday / Harmony / Hallelujah / Wrote For Luck

27 November 2015 - UEA (University Of East Anglia), Norwich
Kinky Afro / God's Cop / Donovan / Grandbag's Funeral / Loose Fit / Dennis and Lois / Bob's Yer Uncle / Step On / Holiday / Harmony / Hallelujah / Wrote For Luck

28 November 2015 - Academy, Bristol

29 November 2015 Sunday - The Great Hall, Cardiff University Students' Union, Cardiff, Wales * Doors Open: 19:30 * Ticket Price: £28.50
Kinky Afro / God's Cop / Donovan / Grandbag's Funeral / Loose Fit / Dennis and Lois / Bob's Yer Uncle / Step On / Holiday / Harmony / Hallelujah / Wrote For Luck

Pills 'N' Thrills And Bellyaches 25th Anniversary Tour
03 December 2015 - Academy, 211 Stockwell Road, Brixton, London, SW9 9SL * Doors Open: 19:00 * Ticket Price: £32.50
Kinky Afro / God's Cop / Donovan / Grandbag's Funeral / Loose Fit / Dennis and Lois / Bob's Yer Uncle / Step On / Holiday / Harmony / Hallelujah / Wrote For Luck

04 December 2015 - Engine Shed, Lincoln
Kinky Afro / God's Cop / Donovan / Grandbag's Funeral / Loose Fit / Dennis and Lois / Bob's Yer Uncle / Step On / Holiday / Harmony / Hallelujah / Wrote For Luck
Notes: Not sure if this show was canceled and they added another Brixton date?

05 December 2015 - Corn Exchange, Cambridge

06 December 2015 - Academy, Oxford
Kinky Afro / God's Cop / Donovan / Grandbag's Funeral / Loose Fit / Dennis and Lois / Bob's Yer Uncle / Step On / Holiday / Harmony / Hallelujah / Wrote For Luck

09 December 2015 - Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Wales

10 December 2015 - Vicar Street, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
Notes: Additional date not featured on the UK tour press posters.
11 December 2015 - Vicar Street, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
Notes: Additional date not featured on the UK tour press posters.

12 December 2015 - Mandela Hall, Belfast