The Bluetones – John Peel Session – August 4, 1996 – BBC Radio 1 –

The Bluetones tonight. Maybe a little overlooked and underrated to some, they were a very enjoyable band to listen to. They had a good long run and put out some great music between 1993 and 2011 when they called it quits and did a farewell concert in Osaka in October of 2011.

They scored a number of hits during what became known as “the Britpop era”, with 13 top-40 singles and 3 top 10 albums, all in the UK. After the Brit-Pop craze started to wane, so did their popularity, although they continued on, releasing a lot of good material.

In January 2008, the band began a mini-tour of Scotland, playing five cities (Stirling, Dunfermline, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh) in as many nights. In May 2008 a ten-date tour covered Cambridge, Whitehaven, Sheffield, Newcastle upon Tyne, Birmingham, London, Bristol, Manchester and Darwen, including one of the last few concerts at the Astoria. They also played a gig with Dodgy on 17 May 2009, at a secret London venue, to benefit the homelessness charity Crisis, as part of the charity’s ‘Hidden Gigs’ campaign against hidden homelessness.

In December 2008, the band embarked on a five-date tour, taking in Lincoln, Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham. The tour saw them playing their debut album, Expecting to Fly, in full. Some further dates were subsequently announced for February and March 2009.

On 31 May 2010, the band released a new album entitled A New Athens. Despite moderate praise the album failed to chart in the UK Albums Chart.

On 28 March 2011, the band announced they would split after a farewell tour in the autumn. On 13 April 2015, the band announced that they would reform for a new UK tour.

In Summer 2017 they co-headlined the Star Shaped Festival tour run by the popular Britpop club of the same name alongside the newly reformed Sleeper. This took place in Birmingham, London, Manchester & Glasgow in July and August 2017.

From last reports, they’ve been together ever since.

Tonight’s Roundtable session comes early-on in 1996. A session done for the legendary John Peel and recorded at the BBC on August 4th 1996.

Good band – good music – good times. Crank it up and have a listen to what you might have missed the first time around.

The post The Bluetones – John Peel – 1996 – Past Daily Night Session appeared first on Past Daily: A Sound Archive of News, History And Music.