Legendary punkpop tunesmiths The Undertones are to celebrate 50 years of punk in 2026, by heading out on tour from this spring onwards. There are already many concerts already organised throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe, with thankfully one of these going down in Brighton at the popular Chalk venue in Pool Valley, courtesy of The Gig Cartel promoters. The special guest slot for this Brighton concert has fallen to none other than Ruts DC.
This is a great chance to hear Ruts DC perform some of their quality material, that will hopefully include the likes of ‘Babylon’s Burning’, ‘In A Rut’, ‘Staring At The Rude Boys’, ‘West One (Shine On Me)’, ‘Something That I Said’, ‘Jah War’ and ‘S.U.S.’.
The Undertones sets are always littered with perfect pop-punk ditties and so you can expect to be hearing the likes of ‘Teenage Kicks’, ‘Jimmy Jimmy’, ‘My Perfect Cousin’, ‘Here Comes The Summer’, ‘The Love Parade’, ‘Male Model’, ‘Wednesday Week’, ‘Get Over You’, ‘You’ve Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It?)’, and ‘Julie Ocean’, to name just a few!
This Brighton gig at Chalk will be taking place on Saturday 21st November and tickets are on sale from HERE.
The Undertones emerged from Derry, Northern Ireland in 1974, the result of five friends learning how to play basic rock and roll. Even by the standards of that decade, Derry was not the rock and roll capital of anywhere and with no live bands worth watching, they learned their trade by listening to mail order records, reading one of the few copies of NME that made it to Derry but most of all from listening to John Peel’s show on BBC Radio One.
Practicing in their bedrooms eventually led to the band recording ‘Teenage Kicks’ in 1978 on Terri Hooley’s Good Vibrations label in Belfast. A copy was sent to the legendary DJ John Peel and he liked the track so much he played it twice in a row on his radio show! Eventually signing to Sire Records, ‘Teenage Kicks’ was re-released, resulting in the band’s first appearance on Top of the Pops.
Over the next five years, John O’Neill, his younger brother Damian, Feargal Sharkey, Billy Doherty and Michael Bradley crafted numerous punkpop gems and would go on to release 13 singles and 4 studio LP’s, before disbanding in May 1983. The Undertones re-formed in 1999 with singer Paul McLoone, subsequently recorded 2 new LP’s and have been touring regularly ever since. They played Glastonbury Festival in June 2005, and have completed many concerts throughout the world ever since!
The current lineup has been together for over 25 years now which is very impressive. It consists of John O’Neill – rhythm guitar and backing vocals (1975–1983, 1999–present), Michael Bradley – bass guitar, keyboards, lead and backing vocals (1975–1983, 1999–present), Billy Doherty – drums (1975–1983, 1999–present), Damian O’Neill – lead guitar, keyboards and backing vocals (1976–1983, 1999–present), and Paul McLoone – lead vocals (1999–present).
