NORTH EAST FOLK LEGENDS THE YOUNG’UNS SET TO CELEBRATE BAND’S 20th ANNIVERSARY
ON TEESSIDE WITH A VERY SPECIAL BIG BORO BASH ALL-DAYER
MIDDLESBROUGH TOWN HALL – 15th NOVEMBER 2025
LIMITED TICKETS ON-SALE NOW HERE
“The harmonies are glorious, the wit is waspish. The songs are powerful, the banter is relentless and the audience is happy. What’s not to like?” ★★★★★ THE GUARDIAN
“Glorious… celebrating the uncelebrated with warmth, vigour and passion” ★★★★ MOJO
“The Teesside trio have captured hearts – and awards – with a magic combination of lusty acapella singing, memorable tunes and heart-on-sleeve storytelling with an unashamedly political cry for social justice.” ★★★★ SONGLINES
The North East’s award-winning folk legends The Young’uns have today announced they will celebrate their 20th anniversary with a Big Boro Bash all-dayer, set to take place at Middlesbrough Town Hall on Saturday 15th November.
Doors open at 10:30am with a very special Young’uns one hour family concert scheduled to start at 11:00am, where the trio will be joined by local young’uns to perform songs The Young’uns have written with primary school children throughout their career.
At 1:00pm the band will broadcast a Young’uns Live TV podcast direct from the Town Hall (this sees the podcast the band put together during lockdown return for a one-off live special), followed at 3:00pm by a rare performance of their acclaimed theatrical show The Ballad Of Johnny Longstaff.
The evening sees The Young’uns joined by very special guests (to be announced shortly) for a full 20th anniversary celebration concert.
All times subject to change – limited tickets on-sale now here
Talking about this very special North East event, the band’s Sean Cooney said today, “We’ve been working hard on putting together a special party to celebrate our 20 years together (and also our joint 40th birthdays!) It had to be in Teesside, of course, and we’re delighted to be coming back to Middlesbrough Town Hall. We’re cramming in a lot in one day – a family show where we’ll sing songs we’ve written with school kids over the years, the one off return of our anarchic lockdown TV show YTV, a concert with special guests and, maybe most specially of all, the only chance this year to see our acclaimed theatre piece ‘The Ballad Of Johnny Longstaff,’ inspired by the life of a true Teesside working class hero.”
As the story goes, one night in Stockton-on-Tees three teenagers heard strange sounds coming from the backroom of a pub. They went in. They heard people singing songs they’d never heard before. Songs without instruments. Songs in their accents. Songs about places they knew. Folk songs. They joined in. Because they were the youngest ones there by several decades, they were soon labelled The Young’uns.
The name stuck and they’ve toured that unfortunate moniker around the world for twenty years now – from Sydney to Vancouver, from Radio Tees to BBC Radio 4 – winning three BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and gaining a reputation for singing life-affirming songs of social conscience in immaculate three-part harmony. But as well as the band’s 20th anniversary, Sean Cooney, Michael Hughes & David Eagle will also each be celebrating their own 40th birthdays on the road this year.
