The Wonder Stuff have announced an extensive UK tour for October 2026, celebrating the alt-rock band’s 40th anniversary.
The 16-date tour will begin in Newcastle on 1st October, and will include further dates Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield, Brighton, Bournemouth, Margate, Glasgow, Cardiff, Leeds, Leicester, Scarborough, Norwich, Lincoln, Wolverhampton and Liverpool, before ending the year with a date at London’s Brixton Academy on 8th December.
The Wonder Stuff’s long-time line-up of Miles Hunt (vocals/guitar), Malc Treece (guitar/vocals), Erica Nockalls (violin/vocals), Mark Gemini Thwaite (guitar), Tim Sewell (bass) and Pete Howard (drums) will perform a career-spanning sets, including hits singles and fan favourites such as ‘Unbearable’, ‘A Wish Away’, ‘Caught In My Shadow’, ‘Size of A Cow’, and ‘Don’t Let Me Know Down, Gently’, amongst many others.
Joining The Wonder Stuff as the tour’s very special guests will be Inspiral Carpets.
A venue pre-sale will take place from 10.00am on Wednesday 25th March, before going on general sale at 10.00am on Friday 27th March, available from www.thewonderstuff.co.uk.
Looking ahead to the tour, Miles Hunt said, “When the original line-up of The Wonder Stuff first rehearsed together on March 19th 1986 – exactly forty years ago today – I wonder what our thoughts might have been if Malc Treece and I knew that we would be fortunate enough to still be playing gigs together now? Whatever those scruffy young fellas would have thought I can tell you now, all these years later, both of us are incredibly grateful to all of the audiences that have stuck with us these past four decades. And it shall be our absolute honour to get up on stage this year and play as many of the old faves as we can to those wonderful people. We are blessed.”
Formed in Birmingham/Black Country area in 1986, The Wonder Stuff signed to Polydor Records in 1987 and released four Top 20 albums between 1988 and 1994 – ‘The Eight Legged Groove Machine’ in 1988 (No.19), ‘HUP’ in 1989 (No.5), ‘Never Loved Elvis’ in 1991 (No.3) and ‘Construction For The Modern Idiot’ in 1993 (No.4).
In addition, the band enjoyed thirteen Top 40 singles, including collaborations with Kirsty MacColl on ‘Welcome To The Cheap Seats’ and the Number One single with comedians Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, ‘Dizzy’.
During this time The Wonder Stuff regularly appeared on the front covers of the British music press and made six separate appearances on the BBC’s flagship music TV program ‘Top Of The Pops’. In addition, the band sold-out four nights in a row at London’s Brixton Academy and headlined numerous festivals, including the Reading Festival in 1992.
After initially disbanded following their headline set at the Phoenix Festival in 1994, The Wonder Stuff reformed in 2000 to play five sold-out nights at London’s Forum Theatre, and have since released five studio albums, with their most recent being 2016’s ‘Better Than Being Lucky’.
The tour’s very special guests Inspiral Carpets were one of the most popular bands to emerge from the late-’80s/early-’90s Madchester scene. Following their 1989 Indie Chart-topping singles ‘Find Out Why’ and ‘Move’, the band released their breakthrough hit ‘This Is How It Feels’, which began a run of four UK Top 20 albums, ‘Life’ (No.2), ‘The Beast’, ‘Inside’ (No.5), ‘Revenge of The Goldfish’ (No.17) and ‘Devil Hopping’ (No.10).
Inspiral Carpets said, “We are looking forward to hitting the road later this year with our mates The Wonder Stuff. Expect a set full of our garage pop hit singles and maybe a couple of surprises… see you down front!”
The full list of The Wonder Stuff’s 40th anniversary UK tour dates is as follows:
01 Oct – Newcastle, O2 City Hall
02 Oct – Manchester, O2 Victoria Warehouse
03 Oct – Sheffield, Octagon
08 Oct – Brighton, Dome
09 Oct – Bournemouth, O2 Academy
10 Oct – Margate, Hall By The Sea at Dreamland
14 Oct – Glasgow, Barrowland
15 Oct – Cardiff, Great Hall
16 Oct – Leeds, O2 Academy
17 Oct – Leicester, O2 Academy
22 Oct – Scarborough, Spa Pavilion
24 Oct – Norwich, UEA
29 Oct – Lincoln, Engine Shed
30 Oct – Wolverhampton, Civic
31 Oct – Liverpool, Olympia
08 Dec – London, O2 Brixton Academy
