BLACK Grape will open their 14-date autumn tour at The Welly Club, Hull, on November 1.

"Looking forward to getting back out on the road with Kermit for the Black Grape party, playing some new songs and of course some old favourites," says Shaun Ryder, the Happy Mondays frontman who co-leads Black Grape too.

Last year they released their first new material in 20 years in the form of third album Pop Voodoo on the Universal Music label. Ryder and Kermit teamed up with producer Youth, whose clientele includes U2, Primal Scream, The Verve, Guns N’ Roses, Pink Floyd and Depeche Mode, to make their follow-up to 1997's Stupid Stupid Stupid.

After playing festival dates and arena shows with Richard Ashcroft in 2017, Black Grape will combine songs from Pop Voodoo with favourites from Stupid Stupid Stupid and their 1995 debut, It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah, at their November gigs.

As novelist Irvine Welsh writes in the Salford band’s biography: "I’m delighted to report that Black Grape are back on the road, and with new album Pop Voodoo that really does rock the **** out of the discotheque. Shaun’s word play has never been deployed to such devastating effect, and he scores a bullseye whether he hits the obvious targets (Trump), and the more obscure ones…well, find out for yourself.

"The world is in a bit of a state right now, and bull***t reigns more than ever, and perversely disguised as candour. We need Manc street sass, intelligence and wit more than ever right now. Pop Voodoo has that in spades."

Black Grape will play further Yorkshire concerts at Warehouse, Wakefield on November 2 and The Plug, Sheffield, on November 8. Box office: Hull, hullboxoffice.com/events/black-grape-the-welly-hull; Wakefield, thegigcartel.com/Artists-profiles/Black-Grape.htm; Sheffield, eventbrite.co.uk/e/black-grape-sheffield-tickets-45510291507.