The Undertones mark 45 years of Teenage Kicks with gigs in Belfast and Londonderry

The Undertones, perhaps Ulster’s most famous punk act, will mark 45 years since the release of their smash hit single ‘Teenage Kicks’ with gigs in Belfast and the Maiden City with support from friends the Buzzcocks, Neville Staple from The Specials, The Outcasts and DJ and punk godfather Terri Hooley.

The gig at Derry’s Millennium Forum set for November 24, 2023 will feature the band plus all listed support acts minus the Buzzcocks, while the following night, November 25, to be held at Belfast’s Telegraph Building, will feature the full line-up of The Undertones’ punk friends.

Tickets for these dates are available now from ticketmaster.ie.

Almost everyone knows the story.

The Undertones emerged from Derry in 1976, the result of five friends (John O’Neill, Damian O’Neill, Feargal Sharkey, Billy Doherty and Michael Bradley) 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.

With no live bands worth watching, they learned 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 wonderful show on BBC Radio One.

Practicing in their bedrooms eventually led to the band recording John O’Neill’s ‘Teenage Kicks’ in 1978 on Terri Hooley's Good Vibrations label in Belfast.

The legendary DJ John Peel received a copy and liked it so much he played it twice in a row on his radio show.

The Undertones signed with Sire Records and ‘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 crafted further pop gems such as `Here Comes The Summer`, ‘Jimmy Jimmy`, `You’ve Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It)’ and ‘Wednesday Week’, while Damian O’Neill and Michael Bradley contributed ‘My Perfect Cousin’.

They also recorded four highly acclaimed LPs.

Indeed, they almost enjoyed the life of professional musicians.

In 1983, Feargal Sharkey left the band to pursue a solo career and the remaining members decided to call it a day.

The Undertones were to remain silent for the next 16 years.

In 1999 The Undertones reconvened, without Feargal Sharkey, to once again perform their two-minute, three-and-a-half chord songs to a new generation of fans in Derry.

Fellow Derry man Paul McLoone replaced Sharkey on vocals, and his vocal prowess and electric onstage presence soon convinced any doubters that he was more than capable of doing the job.

After much consideration the band released an LP of new songs called `Get What You Need', which was critically acclaimed by Q magazine, Uncut, Rolling Stone and Hot Press.

Songs like ‘Thrill Me’, ‘I Need Your Love The Way It Used To Be’ and ‘Everything But You' showed that the art of writing short, sharp songs had not been lost over the previous two decades.

To see The Undertones in concert with friends at the Millennium Forum on November 24, 2023 and at the Telegraph Building in Belfast on November 25 visit ticketmaster.ie.