NOFX announce UK headline shows as part of their farewell tour

NOFX have announced a brace of UK shows for what will be their last ever tour.

The promoters of pop-punk festival Slam Dunk have revealed that they will be hosting "two extra standalone shows" that’ll serve as the LA quartet's final UK gigs.

Fat Mike's band will play Temple Newsam in Leeds on May 26 and Hatfield Park on May 28. In Leeds, they will perform their classic 1994 album Punk In Drublic and 2006's Wolves In Wolves’ Clothing in full, while those attending the show in Hatfield will see the group perform all of 1997's So Long And Thanks For All The Shoes and 1992's White Trash, Two Heebs And A Bean.

Back in September, Fat Mike revealed that his band would celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2023 by splitting up, saying "It's been an amazing run..."

The group's 40-cities-around-the-globe tour will begin on April 22 in Austin, Texas and come to a close in October 2024 in Los Angeles, California: "It's where we started, it's where we'll end," Fat Mike promised in September. 

Announcing the first set of shows, NOFX say they will perform forty songs a night, including full albums and rarities, and they will never repeat a setlist to ensure that each show is unique.

"This is not a final tour like Motley Crue or Black Sabbath," says Fat Mike, with a little dig at bands who've risen again after a supposed 'farewell' tour. "These are the very last shows FOFX will ever be playing. We are gonna play with all our hearts…With all our joy… And then we are done. We are done done."

Asked in December by Louder's Ian Winwood why he's decided to call time on NOFX's career, Fat Mike replied, "Because I don’t enjoy it like I used to. And if I don’t get loaded, I really don’t want to do it. I don’t need to be onstage hearing people applaud and dance. I don’t need that. Some people are addicted to that. I’ve started doing stand-up comedy and I like that way better, in front of 30 people... And 40 years is a fucking long time to be in a band."

"I’m actually very excited about it," he added. "I’m not sad yet, but I know what we’re going to do. We’re going to play all of our songs and really, really give it our all. Generally when we play shows I just get wasted, and we’re good [when doing that], but we don’t think about the show, we just go out and have a good time. But this time we’re thinking, ‘Oh, no, we have to fucking rock, cos this is our last time’ in various cities. We’ve done it twice so far, in Vancouver and Edmonton… and we just fucking killed it. A lot of people said that they’d never seen us that good, which is pretty fucking awesome, when you hear that."

Tickets for the UK dates will be on sale tomorrow, January 18.