BLACKBURN band The Illicits have been asked to support Happy Mondays at a one-off concert in Manchester tomorrow night.

The four piece outfit - George Richards (vocals), Brad Hayes (lead guitar), Joe Mitchell (bass) and Matt Cottam (drums) - will support Happy Mondays as part of the Adidas Spezial FC exhibition at Canvas on Oxford Road.

The exhibition, similar to the one held in Blackburn’s Cotton Exchange in 2019, will feature adidas trainers that are strongly associated with football culture to coincide with the start of the World Cup.

George from The Illicits said: “It’s a great opportunity for us, to be able to support one of the bands we have all looked up to.”

Happy Mondays featuring Shaun Ryder and Bez were at the forefront of the Madchester scene and remain a hugely influential band.

The show is the latest in a series of high profile gigs for The Illicits. They memorably supported Liam Gallagher at King George’s Hall earlier this year at a one-off charity gig in aid of Nightsafe, as well as supporting him on tour. They have also supported Primal Scream, DMA’s, The Zutons and Miles Kane.

The band released their latest single, Modern Life, a couple of weeks ago and have two homecoming shows in Blackburn in December. A limited number of tickets remain for the gig at the Electric Church on Friday, December 2 but the following night sold out almost immediately.

“It’s all coming together,” said George. “Saturday night’s gig will be a great way to warm up for those two Blackburn dates. It should be a really cool gig and hopefully there will be a real party atmosphere.

“We couldn’t ask for a better end to the year; we’re really looking forward to it.”

He revealed that the band had been hard at work in the studio and would be looking at further releases next year.

“We’re also in the process of getting some dates organised for early spring,” he added.

Tickets for the Electric Church date are available from www.skiddle.com.