Martin Stephenson and The Dainties have been amongst Britain’s best-loved bands for over thirty years.

On this visit to The Met the band celebrate their classic album Gladsome, Humour and Blue, originally released in April 1988.

From the passionate battling for independence in There Comes A Time (from a musician’s perspective) and Slaughterman (the plight of a young footballer), to the subtle dramas of Even The Night and The Wait, Gladsome, Humour and Blue was an album of quite incredible depth and subtlety.

Martin and the band were mostly in their mid 20s, but sounded like they’d lived and played for a hundred years. Future Daintees‘ classics like Nancy and Wholly Humble Heart featured, their comparatively lighter musical touches disguising the emotional traumas of a father’s troubled relationship with his rebellious teenage daughter and a gay man’s battle for love  – to the backdrop of the hateful Clause 28, respectively.

Roll on three decades and Martin, along with the latest Daintees line up of John Steel (guitars), Chris Mordey (bass) and Kate Stephenson (drums), have returned to the studio to re-record Gladsome, Humour and Blue on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary. The new album is a delight, showing how the songs have matured over the years along with the musicians. The love and care accorded to the originals is replicated here, with co-producer and engineer Stuart Macleod applying totally compatible soundscapes throughout. There may even be the treat of an extra track!

The band set out on a nationwide tour this winter in celebration of this remarkable milestone in popular music. You really wouldn’t want to miss it.