Shaun Ryder: Happy Mondays tour will bring people together
The band are embarking on a 26-date greatest hits tour
Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder wants to bring people of different backgrounds together during a tour celebrating the Madchester group’s back catalogue.
The Mondays embark on a 26-date greatest hits tour across the UK in November to mark three decades since the release of their debut album, Squirrel And G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out).
Ryder told the Press Association: “The world is gone f***** mad at the moment, ain’t it? The more we can get people together and enjoy music and enjoy life then we’re doing something right.”
“Our audiences are really funny, you’ve got half university professionals, lawyers, and doctors and dentists and the other half are Sun-reading dart-throwers.
“And they’re all ages from 13 or younger up and until the 70s,” he added.
Their performance at the Manchester Academy – less than three miles from the scene of May’s terror attack which killed 22 people at the end of an Ariana Grande show – would be particularly poignant, Ryder said.
“It was an attack on little girls in short skirts weren’t it? By people who find it very difficult to even talk to women,” he added.
“Manchester, we’re a resilient bunch. From the Blitz to the IRA bombings there’s been all sorts of shit gone on … We just get on with it,” he said.
On plans for a new Happy Mondays album, Ryder said he wanted something to be put together before 2020.
He added: “We’re playing better than ever, we’re not on that treadmill anymore with album, tour album, tour, album, press … We’re enjoying it more than ever and appreciating it more than ever.”
:: The Happy Mondays tour the UK throughout November and December with tickets on sale now.
