The Wonder Stuff & Ned’s Atomic Dustbin to tour UK

Jonn Penney and Miles Hunt
Jonn Penney and Miles Hunt (Image credit: Jonn Penney)

The Wonder Stuff and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin have announced a double-headline tour of the UK.

The bands will play 12 dates across the UK in March and April next year under the Love From Stourbridge 2018 banner.

They’ll be joined on the road by Pop Will Eat Itself’s Graham Crabb, who’ll perform a guest DJ set each night.

Both bands rose to prominence in the late 80s and early 90s, with The Wonder Stuff enjoying success with albums including The Eight Legged Groove Machine and Hup, while Ned’s Atomic Dustbin set the UK indie music scene alight with God Fodder in 1990 and the singles Kill Your Television and Happy.

It’s been 27 years since both bands shared the same stage – and The Wonder Stuff’s Miles Hunt says a conversation with Ned’s frontman Jonn Penney sparked the idea to tour together.

Hunt says: “Jonn and I were walking up the street the other day and words like ‘blessed’ were used for the love that’s still there for both bands.

“Randomly, when I checked social media, a guy was asking for the two bands to do a double header. I’ve always known the audiences want it. The planets have aligned so why not?

“I think it’ll be great. I look out at our audience and they’re big lads, they’re around the 50 mark, have they got the stamina for the two bands in one night? I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

Both bands will play 75-minute sets each night featuring a “greatest hits collection.”

Penney says: “I’m less inclined to use the word ‘hits’ because we had none – and I don’t know about ‘best of’ so let’s call it ‘live favourites.’”

A limited number of tickets will be available at 1990 prices (£7) from 9am on Wednesday (September 27) via Ticketmaster. Tickets will go on general sale from Friday (September 29).

Find a list of venues below.

The Wonder Stuff & Ned’s Atomic Dustbin Love From Stourbridge 2018 UK tour dates

Mar 29: Liverpool O2 Academy
Mar 30: London Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Mar 31: London Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Apr 01: Leicester O2 Academy
Apr 04: Leeds O2 Academy
Apr 05: Newcastle O2 Academy
Apr 06: Glasgow O2 ABC
Apr 07: Manchester O2 Ritz
Apr 12: Bristol O2 Academy
Apr 13: Bournemouth O2 Academy
Apr 14: Birmingham O2 Academy
Apr 15: Birmingham O2 Academy

The 10 best Wonder Stuff tracks, by Miles Hunt

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.