The rush of excitement and love for the unexpected 2025 return of Liverpool’s venerated songsmiths, Shack, extends to the end of the year with six new intimate dates lined up for December.
Opening at the Bristol Fleece on Wed 10 December 2025, the revitalised masters of stirring Mersey melody look to bring familiar warmth to the colder months having sold out a limited run of major venue shows in spring.
Tickets for six, new Shack Winter 2025 Tour dates go on sale on Fri 3 October at 10am via links found at https://www.seetickets.com/tour/shack.
Selling out their home city’s 2,000-capacity Olympia Theatre in April, Shack re-emerged with original bassist, Pete Wilkinson, to celebrate the band’s songbook of observational and hazily romantic hymnals to street life and escape. Reuniting widely influential songwriting brothers, Michael and John Head, the band’s faithful congregation gathered to hear songs from cult-classic albums including the formative Waterpistol and late-20th century classic, H.M.S Fable.
Writing their own chapters of substance-prone mishaps, music industry misdeeds and unforgettable moments of divine songwriting genius into the book of British popular culture, Shack’s 2025 line-up of sense and stability is anchored by The Coral’s drummer, Ian Skelly and The Red Elastic Band’s Nathaniel Laurence. Writing the next chapter of their story in cities they missed earlier in the year, all upcoming Shack live dates are confirmed as follows:
Wed 10 December – Bristol, Fleece
Thu 11 December – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
Fri 12 December – Liverpool, Mountford Hall
Sun 14 December – Sheffield, Foundry
Mon 15 December – Birmingham, O2 Academy
Tue 16 December – Edinburgh, La Belle Angele
Speaking to Uncut Magazine ahead of taking to the stage earlier this year, Michael Head said of the overdue return to playing with his brother and the band: “Since we stopped playing, I’d meet friends or family and one of the first questions is, ‘How’s your John?’ About the fifth question in, if they can hold off that long, is ‘Are you gonna get back together?’ It’s natural, it’s beautiful.”
Paying on stage tributes at every previous show to integral member and drummer of the band, Iain Templeton, who passed away in late 2022, the current Shack line-up pays its dues equally to old friends as much as the sanctity of the work they created together. Whilst an updated set-list remains under wraps until the opening show, Shack can choose from the riches of their five cherished albums, including 1988’s Zilch, the timeless and recently reissued 2003 album, Here’s Tom With The Weather and 2006’s The Corner Of Miles And Gil.
With writing and performing careers spanning four decades, the Head brothers initially formed The Pale Fountains in 1980, going on to sign a deal with Virgin Records and releasing two albums, Pacific Street and …From Across The Kitchen Table. Following the band’s split in 1987, the brothers formed Shack, with a brief, yet hugely influential detour to form Michael Head & The Strands in 1996, releasing the critically-acclaimed The Magical World of The Strands album. Following Shack’s hiatus in 2007, Michael Head and The Red Elastic Band have released three albums, including 2022’s Mojo Album Of The Year, Dear Scott.
Whilst plagued by poor fortune and personal issues that hampered the assumed inevitable commercial breakthrough for the Head’s musical ventures, they have been able to count Noel Gallagher, George Michael and Coldplay’s Chris Martin as vocal fans of their music.
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