The Bluetones Tickets

Buy The Bluetones' Expecting To Fly here

The Bluetones were probably the crest of Britpop’s final wave, arriving just as many of their peers and influences were on the wane. The West London band provided a midpoint between the swaggering psychedelia of The Stone Roses, the brash guitar pop of Oasis and the melodic charm of Cast.  

Formed in Hounslow in 1994, Mark Morriss (vocals), Adam Devlin (guitar), Eds Chesters (drums) and Scott Morriss (bass) debuted with two singles on their own label, Superior Quality Recordings. The latter of these, Bluetonic, made its way onto their 1996 debut album Expecting To Fly.

The album, named after the Buffalo Springfield song of the same name, knocked Oasis’s What’s The Story (Morning Glory)? off its No.1 perch for a week en route to going Platinum in the UK. The single Slight Return made its way to No.2 in the UK singles chart, kept off the top spot by Babylon Zoo’s Spaceman.

If Expecting To Fly arrived just in time for Britpop’s final hurrah, its successor, 1998’s Return To The Last Chance Saloon, felt like its eulogy, its title and dusty sepia tones seeming to nod to the genre’s numbered days. While it didn’t land with the same instant impact as its predecessor, it still achieved Gold status in the UK and went to No.10 in the album charts, mirroring lead single Solomon Bites The Worm’s top ten success. More importantly, it cemented the band’s place in the hearts of a devoted cult fanbase.

Rather than fade away like so many of their ilk, The Bluetones managed to go even better with their third album Science & Nature, released by Mercury in 2000, which peaked at No.7 in the UK. Luxembourg followed in 2003, with the self-titled The Bluetones arriving to a positive reception in 2006.

Even as Mark Morriss pursued a solo career, releasing four albums, joining Matt Berry’s backing band and scoring David Walliams’ audiobooks, The Bluetones remained active, releasing their sixth album A New Athens in 2010. In 2011, they confirmed that the supporting tour would be their last. The split proved temporary, however, and the band reformed in 2015.

The band announced a special tour with fellow Britpoppers Sleeper for 2020 that would see The Bluetones play all of Expecting To Fly and Sleeper play their 1995 hit record SMART in full. In July 2020, they announced that the tour was being rescheduled to 2021.