The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Hallelujah! Happy Mondays kick off UK tour with a classic set at the Caird Hall
Madchester legends swagger into Dundee for a night of nostalgia
There were plenty of thrills and seemingly quite a few pills when the Happy Mondays stormed Dundee’s Caird Hall last night.
Frontman Shaun Ryder shuffled on to the stage, the epitome of indie cool in his mirror shades, bomber jacket and jeans.
The crowd, consisting largely of folk in their ’40s and ’50s, went mental when Ryder asked: “How ya doing Dundee?”
First on the set was the jingly-jangly Loose Fit, swiftly followed by Kinky Afro and Dennis and Lois.
At times Ryder, swigging from a bottle of juice, didn’t quite seem to know where he was as he swore and repeatedly glanced down at the set list, pronouncing “what the fxxx is this one?” and admitting the band’s rendition of Freaky Dancing was “fxxxxx sxxx”.
Bez was, well, Bez, but apparently he only takes “organic drugs” these days, so his wild-eyed dancing was scaled down a tad. As he jumped around, flailed his arms and shook his maracas, the crowd went crazy.
There were quite a few gaggles of younger folk in the crowd too, probably the youngsters of late ’80s/early ’90s Mondays fans.
The Dundee gig was the first night of a 26-date UK tour to mark the 30th anniversary of the release of the band’s debut album, Squirrel and G-Man Twenty Four Hour Party People Plastic Face Carnt Smile (White Out).
The massive tunes were all on the set – Rave On, Step On, Bob’s Your Uncle, Holiday, 24 Hour Party People – but there were a few surprises, too.
The sound was a tad dodgy through some of the set and Ryder was crushingly out of tune at times.
Thankfully, Rowetta’s soaring vocals were bang on.
Having been a Mondays fan for almost three decades, and yet somehow having never managed to catch them live, I can honestly say the gig lived up to all expectations.
The conclusion? It was a top night. Hallelujah!