- Music
- 07 Feb 17
The Northern Irish punk rock band will make its way to Dublin this December.
The Undertones will perform at Dublin’s Academy. After previously announcing several shows in Germany, England and Scotland, the band will also make an appearance in Dublin’s Academy on December 02, 2017. Tickets, priced from €25 are going on sale Friday, the 10th February 2017 at 10am.
Being founded in Derry, Northern Ireland by five friends, including John O’Neill, Feargal Sharkey, Billy Doherty and Michael Brady, the band started out with rehearsing cover versions of songs in their living rooms. Being influenced by punk rock, the band was inspired to write their own tunes, leading to their first own records.
Their first breakthrough came after the band continued to play small gigs in local venues, which inspired guitarist John O’Neill to write the, now widely known, single ‘Teenage Kicks.’ When the DJ John Peel received a copy, he liked it so much that he decided to play it twice in a row in his radio show. After The Undertones signed with Sire Records ‘Teenage Kicks’ was re-released, resulting in the bands first appearance in the UK Single Charts.
‘Teenage Kicks’ then was followed by several other punkpop successes such as ‘Here Comes The Summer’, ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ and ‘Wednesday Week.’ They also recorded four highly acclaimed LPs.
In 1983 Feargal Sharkey, by then vocalist of the band, made a decision that would have a huge impact on the whole band. He decided to leave the band to pursue a solo career. This caused The Undertones to disband in the same year.
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After 16 years of silence, in 1999 The Undertones reformed, replacing Sharkey with Paul McLoone in vocals and after much consideration the band released their new album Get What You Need in 2003. Finding a way to address a new generation of fans with songs like ‘I Need Your Love The Way It Used To Be’, ‘Everything But You’ and especially ‘Thrill Me’, The Undertones found their way into the radios again.
In 2007, the band recorded and released some new music again, collected on the album Dig Yourself Deep, which was later described as “a true return to the classic sound of The Undertones.”
To celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2016, the band released two LP remasters of their two first released LPs. It can be said that The Undertones is one of the most famous bands to have emerged from Northern Ireland.