Express & Star

The Wonder Stuff and Ned's Atomic Dustbin, O2 Academy, Birmingham - in pictures

Stourbridge rockers The Wonder Stuff and Ned's Atomic Dustbin played a double-header for two shows in Birmingham at the weekend.

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Left, The Wonderstuff's Miles Hunt, and right, Ned's Atomic Dustbin's Jonn Penney. Pics: Andy Shaw

The West Midlands icons played the gigs at the city centre's O2 Academy on Saturday and last night.

This was the first time the bands had shared a stage in almost 30 years.

The Wonder Stuff at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
The Wonder Stuff at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
The Wonder Stuff at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
The Wonder Stuff at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
The Wonder Stuff's Miles Hunt at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
The Wonder Stuff at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
The Wonder Stuff at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
The Wonder Stuff at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
The Wonder Stuff's Miles Hunt at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
The Wonder Stuff at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw

The two bands grew up alongside one another, in the heyday of the Stourbridge music scene, and their first ever live show together was on The Wonder Stuff’s Disco King tour at the Hummingbird venue in Birmingham.

With a career spanning more than three decades, The Wonder Stuff have sold millions of albums worldwide with eight studio releases to date.

The band continue to record and tour internationally later achieving vast critical acclaim with hit singles and early releases from The Eight Legged Groove Machine, Hup, Never Loved Elvis to Construction for the Modern Idiot and their latest album, 30 Goes Around The Sun. Vocalist Miles Hunt has also recently penned a collection of books, The Wonder Stuff Diaries.

Formed more than 30 years ago in 1987, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin quickly gained momentum and a huge fan base after those initial shows with The Wonder Stuff and shot straight to number one in the Indie Singles Chart in July 1990 with hit, Kill Your Television.

Ned's Atomic Dustbin at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
Ned's Atomic Dustbin's Jonn Penney at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
Ned's Atomic Dustbin at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw
Ned's Atomic Dustbin's Jonn Penney at Birmingham's O2 Academy. Pic: Andy Shaw

The Ned’s saw their first Sony single Happy storm into the Top 20 of the UK charts and their seminal debut album, God Fodder, landed with a thud in the Top 5 as well as achieving enormous success in the USA.