Shaun Ryder’s Black Grape head out in Spring 2019 on a UK tour
Shaun Ryder sets out with Black Grape in Spring 2019 for a UK tour that drops off at The Mill in Birmingham on 29th March.
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When Happy Mondays inevitably imploded in a fog of rock and roll excess in 1993, no one imagined Shaun Ryder and Bez would rise from the coke addled ashes of Madchester with a slick and streamlined funk machine as razor sharp as Black Grape. Glorious technicolor soul with go faster stripes was perhaps, in hindsight, the obvious next level for the baggy Mondays sound.
Exploding into life with Ruthless Rap Assassins on board, Black Grape released two sublime slabs of knowing solid gold grooves over which Ryder’s characteristic tongue in cheek and rampantly genius lyricism sat perfectly. It’s Great When You’re Straight… Yeah and Stupid Stupid Stupid are irresistibly chocka with unforgettable tunes such as ‘In The Name of the Father’, ‘Kelly’s Heroes’ and ‘Dadi Waz a Badi’.
A new album was released last year, Pop Voodoo, their first for twenty years, to much acclaim. The band may only feature Ryder and Kermit now but they have lost none of their disco sparkle. The Happy Mondays made a triumphant return to Birmingham last December – expect the same from Black Grape. It’s gonna get frothy man.
Full tour dates below, and tickets are available here.
March
15 – Tramshed, Cardiff
16 – Rock City, Nottingham
21 – Welly Club, Hull
22 – The Plug, Sheffield
23 – Corn Exchange, Bedford
28 – Sub 89, Reading
29 – The Mill, Birmingham
30 – O2 Academy, Islington
April
4 – The Garage, Glasgow
5 – Liquid Room, Edinburgh
“Reviewer, previewer and writer of just about anything. Can usually be found with my eyeballs plugged into sleazy 70’s exploitation cinema or riding an antique bike around Harborne. I have no issue with being bought pints or accepting bribes of any sort.”