ALL of 22 years after they split, The High have reformed and will be playing in York this weekend as a warm-up for a home-city return, headlining the second stage at the Gigantic indie all day festival in Manchester on May 23.

The band arrived in 1989 with Manchester in thrall to the Madchester scene, when singer John Matthews, former Stone Roses guitarist Andy Couzens, bassist Simon Davies and ex-Inspiral Carpets drummer Chris Goodwin decided a melodic guitar sound should be their direction.

Signed by London Records, The High had three successive NME singles of the week with Up And Down, Take Your Time and Box Set Go in 1990 before breaking into the Top 30 in 1991 with the Martin Hannett-produced, revamped version of Box Set Go.

Debut album Somewhere Soon peaked at number 59, and as Madchester faded, so The High’s later releases failed to chart and they split in 1993. Early last year, Matthews was asked in an interview when The High would be reforming; he replied “I really don’t know”, but 15 months later, somewhere very soon, back they come to play Somewhere Soon in its entirety at The Duchess on Sunday.

Tickets are on sale on 01904 641413 or at theduchess.co.uk