Happy Mondays have been around off and on since being founded way back in 1980 by Shaun and Paul Ryder, Gary Whelan, Paul Davis, and Mark Day, but based on a recent BBC interview with Shaun, it sounds like it’s going to be the last time we see them on the road for awhile, if not the last time forever.
That’s not to say that Ryder isn’t enthusiastic about the band’s upcoming jaunt with Inspiral Carpets and Stereo MCs on what they’re calling the “Been There, Done That Tour.” Indeed, he says outright that he’s “really looking forward” to hitting the road in March and April. But he then goes on to add that it would be their “last for a while,” after which he switches up his choice of phrase and says, “It’s now time to make this the last tour...so I can concentrate on [bands] Black Grape and Mantra of the Cosmos and a few things.”
The official tour poster for the "Been There, Done That" tour with Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, and Stereo MC's
Fortunately, Ryder quickly took a step back and clarified that the Mondays weren’t officially planning to retire at the end of this tour, but he did make it clear that the decision to stop was theirs to make, and that it’d happen at the time of their choosing or when they reach a point when they “can’t walk on stage any more.”
Should this indeed prove to be the last hurrah for the Mondays, it’s not as if they haven’t given fans far more than they probably ever expected. After all, it seemed for all practical purposes that the band was over and done with in 1993, only to come back with a new incarnation, minus Davis and Day, in 1999. Then they stopped again in 2001, returned again in 2004 with another new incarnation, stopped in 2010, then came back in 2012 with the original definitive lineup of the band, which lasted until 2015, when Davis left the band. Even with his departure, however, the Mondays carried on carrying on with their occasional tours and have done so ever since.
Alas, Paul Ryder passed away on July 15, 2022, ensuring that the definitive lineup of the Mondays would never tour again, but Shaun has done his best to keep the band's flame burning ever since, hence the upcoming tour dates, which can be found below.
[Just as a quick closing sidebar, Paul recorded a podcast series shortly before his death, one which fans of the band shouldn't miss: it's called The Paul Ryder Tapes: Sex, Drugs, the Mondays and Me, and you can check it out by clicking right here.]
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"Been There, Done That" Tour Dates:
March
3/14 – Glasgow, Barrowland
3/16 – Nottingham, Rock City
3/22 – Newcastle, O2 City Hall
3/23 – Cardiff, Utilita Arena
3/24 – Bristol, O2 Academy
3/28 – Northampton, Royal and Derngate
3/29 – Leeds, O2 Academy
3/30 – Birmingham, O2 Academy
3/31 – Bournemouth, O2 Academy
April
4/4 – Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse
4/6 – London, Troxy
4/7 – Southend, Cliffs Pavilion
4/11 – Cambridge, Corn Exchange
4/12 – Sheffield, O2 Academy
4/13 – Liverpool, Mountford Hall
4/14 – Brighton, Dome
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