11th April 2026

Happy Mondays returned to Manchester where they formed back in 1980 on their electric tour celebrating 35 years of the album ‘Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches’. Let’s just say the crowd was glad they were back home! 

They Hand picked a legendary support act The Farm who have been around since 1983 just three years after The Happy Mondays formed. This British alternative rock band has so many hits still to this day including ‘All together now’ and ‘Groovy Train’. They released their first album in 30 years last year and this meant they couldn’t wait to get back on the road delivering old and new hits.

The Farm first met the Happy Mondays back in 1986 and they have continued to stay friends and collaborate quite a bit making them the perfect support for this iconic tour. The crowd loved the set list but specifically ‘All together now’ where absolutely no one was quiet – everyone knew every word – people who had never met each other with arms around the other swaying perfectly to the beat. 

The crowd was perfectly mixed with people from a variety of generations that couldn’t wait for the Happy Mondays to step onto that stage. It was a sea of bucket hats as well as Pints. The atmosphere was absolutely electrifying.

First we had Mark Day, Gary Whelan, Dan Broad and the amazing Firouzeh Berry step on stage to warm up the crowd before Shaun and Bez joined them.

I simply have to comment on Firouzeh’s vocals because they are absolutely magnificent as well as her energy and expressions, she is on fire.

The First song we got to witness was ‘Kinky Afro’ which got the crowd jumping – but as soon as Bez and Shaun Ryder stepped onto that stage the crowd knew we would be transported to an energetic, nostalgic ‘madchester’ party (and we were not wrong).  Bez was dancing around that stage all evening with his funky maracas interacting with the crowd every moment he got.

The songs sounded exactly the same as when they recorded them which is crazy – the band is still going strong and will be for the foreseeable.

My personal favourite track of the night has to be ‘Dennis and Lois’ . It’s one of my favourite songs and getting to hear it live in that atmosphere was an absolute dream.

I think the crowd’s overall favourite had to be the iconic song ‘Step On’ where we heard everyone shout ‘YOUR TWISTING MY MELON MAN’ , the iconic opening line from this song that absolutely everyone knows. Even though this song was released back in 1990 and accumulated over 1 million streams it is still a hit to this day and will be forever in my opinion. 

Their next stop on the tour is Glasgow in which they play three consecutive nights at the iconic Barrowland Ballroom which are sure to be just as electric ⚡ ️.

Review and all photography by Christina Thompson for The Songbird HQ