Wednesday, March 12, 2025
The Young'Uns share three career highlights ahead of 20th anniversary tour
A capella Teesside folk trio The Young’Uns – whose music is marked by its strong social conscience and gorgeous harmonies – celebrate their 20th anniversary this year.
Sean Cooney, Michael Hughes and David Eagle started singing together as teens. Now, 20 years later, the trio will celebrate their 20th anniversary with a bumper UK tour this spring. We asked Sean from the group to tell us about three highlights from the last 20 years.
1. A Church in Orkney (St Ninian’s Kirk), May 2017. It was part of Orkney Folk Festival. We always prefer when we don’t need to use mics. The acoustics were the best we’ve ever had. Although there were less than 20 people in the audience you could feel the warmth in the room and see the impact the songs were having.
2. One night in Cardiff (BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, April 2015). We never thought we’d get near the Folk Awards when we started out… Being nominated for Best Group in 2015 meant the world to us and when Tim Dowling announced that we had won (and beaten Bellowhead!), we couldn’t believe it. We had an amazing night… We won Best Group again in 2016 and Best Album for Strangers in 2018.
3. ‘Be the Man’ (Glastonbury, 2017). Of all the songs I’ve written this is the one I’m most proud of. It tells the story of Matt Ogston who lost his partner of 13 years, Naz Mahmood, to suicide when his religious family discovered he was gay. Matt has spent the years since urging people to “be the person you were born to be” through the Naz and Matt Foundation. Naz and Matt always wanted to go to Glastonbury together. It felt right that the first performance should be there.
TOUR DATES
15 APR City Varieties, Leeds
16 APR Victoria Hall, Settle
17 APR Oran Mor, Glasgow
18 APR The Tung Auditorium, Liverpool
19 APR St Annes Lowther Pavilion Lytham
20 APR Subscription Rooms, Stroud
22 APR Quarterhouse, Folkestone
23 APR Union Chapel London
24 APR Turner Sims, Southampton
25 APR Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis
26 APR Pontardawe Arts Centre
23 MAY Buxton Arts Centre
24 MAY Snape Maltings
25 MAY The Stables, Milton Keynes
26 MAY Acapela, Cardiff
27 MAY Cheese & Grain, Frome
28 MAY Komedia, Brighton
29 MAY Huntingdon Hall, Worcester
30 MAY Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury
31 MAY Plowright Theatre, Scunthorpe
Tour details at theyounguns.co.uk
