The Undertones: 50th Anniversary Show + The Men They Couldn't Hang

The Undertones are playing Foundry on Friday 23 October, part of their 50th anniversary tour. They're performing with their original line-up, and they've got The Men They Couldn't Hang on support.

If you're not familiar with the history, the band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1975. It started with five friends learning rock and roll from mail-order records, the few copies of NME that made it to the city, and John Peel's BBC Radio One show. By 1977 they were playing three-chord pop-punk influenced by Nuggets-style compilations and the Ramones. In 1978 they released the four-song EP Teenage Kicks on Terri Hooley's Good Vibrations label in Belfast; Peel played the title track twice in a row and later called it his all-time favourite. Four studio albums followed: The Undertones (1979), Hypnotised (1980), Positive Touch (1981) and The Sin of Pride (1983), before they split in 1983. The O'Neill brothers later formed That Petrol Emotion.

The band reconvened in their hometown in 1999, with Paul McLoone replacing Feargal Sharkey, and released Get What You Need in 2003. This anniversary show brings back the original line-up, so it's the early Derry years coming back together. Support comes from British folk punk group The Men They Couldn't Hang, who released their first single in 1984 and reformed in 1996.

Foundry is at the Sheffield Students Union on Western Bank, S10 2TG. The night starts at 19:00, and general admission is £36.40 including fees, with a £3.90 booking fee.