Happy Mondays announce first North American tour dates in 14 years

Happy Mondays will return to North America for the first time since 2009 next year, where they will perform their 1990 album ‘Pills ‘N’ Thrills and Bellyaches’ in full.

The shows, announced today (October 24), will see the band perform at Terminal 5 in New York City on March 25 and the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles on March 28. At the latter date, the band will be joined by DJ Paul Oakenfold as a special guest. Tickets will go on sale this Friday (October 28) at 10am local time – find New York tickets here, and LA tickets here.

These shows will mark the band’s first shows on the continent in nearly 14 years. In 2009, the band toured through the US and Canada on a co-headliner with the Psychedelic Furs. The shows will also mark Happy Mondays’ first shows outside of the UK since the passing of founding bassist Paul Ryder, who passed away in July.

Since his passing, Happy Mondays have played several UK festivals with a stand-in session bassist. They have also released an EP, ‘Tart Tart’, in tribute to their late bandmate.

Happy Mondays have performed ‘Pills ‘N’ Thrills and Bellyaches’ on several tours over the years, most recently as part of a tour in Australia and New Zealand circa 2019. Originally released in November of 1990, the band’s third album was also their most commercially successful.

It peaked at number four on the UK album charts, and went on to achieve Platinum certification. NME also ranked the album 82nd on its list of The 100 Greatest British Albums Ever, as well as 413th on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Earlier this month, Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder performed his first solo show in 11 years. The singer performed at Manchester’s Factory 251, with all proceeds from the show going to mental health charity Mind. Along with performing several songs by his side project Black Grape, Ryder also gave live debuts to songs from his 2021 solo album ‘Visits From Future Technology’.

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