Buzzcocks

Original, iconic and hugely influential, English punk greats Buzzcocks will play four razor-sharp New Zealand concerts from 16-19 March, as part of their 40th Anniversary World Tour.

Fans in Auckland – get ready for a punktastic career-spanning set, from early classics like Boredom and Orgasm Addict, hits like Ever Fallen In Love, What Do I Get and Harmony In My Head, to newer gems from 2014’s The Way.

Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley, Steve Diggle, Chris Remington and Danny Farrant will be joined by some of New Zealand’s finest punk rock talent, with each show featuring specially selected local supports.

Buzzcocks 40th Anniversary New Zealand tour is proudly presented by Plus1, Radio Hauraki and undertheradar

Buzzcocks first formed in Bolton, England in February 1976. The band - Pete Shelley, Howard Devoto, Steve Diggle and John Maher - opened for the Sex Pistols in Manchester on July 20th, a follow up to the now (in)famous Lesser Free Trade Hall gig which Devoto and Shelley had organised the month before.

Gigs in Manchester and London followed, and by the end of 1976, Buzzcocks became one of the first groups to form their own independent record label - New Hormones - on which they released the now-legendary and seminal ‘Spiral Scratch’ EP.

The following year saw the departure of Devoto and the recruitment of bassist Steve Garvey. In August 1977, the band signed a recording contract with United Artists Records and released the landmark ‘Orgasm Addict’ single. This was swiftly followed by ‘What Do I Get?’ the band’s first entry into the UK top 40 singles chart and the first of a string of chart singles.

Over the next three years, Buzzcocks toured extensively and released a trilogy of outstanding albums: Another Music in a Different Kitchen, Love Bites and A Different Kind of Tension, as well as the hugely influential and popular Singles Going Steady compilation. In 1981, the band went their separate ways to undertake new projects.

1989 saw the reconvened Shelley/Diggle/Garvey/Maher line-up tour the world again by popular demand. Since then, the Shelley/Diggle partnership has been the core of sustained and successful activity without pause, punctuating the years of high profile gigging to date with six successful and well-received studio albums, culminating in 2015's The Way.