Australia / NZ / Manchester news
About Psychopath Night, and the reuniting of a great, lost Manchester band.
Hello! My announcement last week that I’ll only be posting un-paywalled Substacks monthly turned out to be The Big Lie. It’ll be true for my nonfiction storytelling posts, but when I have other things I want to write, or information about upcoming events, or whatever, I’ll be posting that too. Like this one, which is aimed primarily at subscribers in Australia, New Zealand, Manchester, Southend and Ipswich.
First, Australia and New Zealand: my Psychopath Night tour is coming to you in about eight weeks time. I’ll be speaking in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Canberra and Wellington. To demonstrate how much I care about Australia, see this picture:
Unless I am misremembering, when I went to pay for my koala holding session, I noticed a photo on the wall behind the counter of Elvis Costello holding a koala, and he didn’t look quite as delighted.
Next, Manchester. I have very exciting news for indie fans of a certain age. In short: after 35 years, the band I managed in the 1980s, The Man From Delmonte, are …reuniting! For a show at the Band on the Wall on Wednesday, February 26 2025. I’ll be there to introduce them, like old times. Tickets will be on sale on September 27.
In long: In 1987 I wandered into a Man From Delmonte soundcheck at the Polytechnic of Central London and I’m not exaggerating when I say I fell head over heels in love with them. I told them so, and soon after they asked me to manage them.
I just read a YouTube comment that described their sound as ‘ramshackle exuberance’, which sums it up. I thought, and still think, the singer Mike West was touched by genius.
We toured endlessly, up and down Britain. At our height The Inspiral Carpets and 808 State supported us. I think we were felled mostly by bad timing. By 1989 the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays had emerged and Madchester became all about the swagger. We had a lot of things, but not swagger.
Anyway, come to the show in Manchester, and thanks to the hard work of Iain Lee for making this happen.
Finally, the UK and Ireland leg of Psychopath Night is now almost sold out (THANK YOU if you’re coming) but there are some tickets left in some places, not least my new nemeses Ipswich and Southend. Those shows are still doing perfectly fine, but I wanted to mention it. There will be mystery guests. You will learn how to spot psychopaths, and then feel bad about getting too drunk with your psychopath spotting powers.
Here’s the Man From Delmonte again! Bye.
I’ll be sure to Drive, Drive, Drive up to Manchester for that one!
Tix bought - yay :)