HULL – Some music never really leaves you. That’s how it feels with Roland Gift and Fine Young Cannibals.
Next spring, Gift brings 40 Years of Songs by Fine Young Cannibals to Hull, marking four decades since the band’s debut and returning to the city where it all began. For anyone who grew up with these songs, it feels less like a tour date and more like a homecoming.
I was a fan, like a lot of people. Not in an encyclopaedic way, but in the ordinary way music fits into your life. You hear She Drives Me Crazy on the radio. You know every word to Good Thing without ever meaning to. Johnny Come Home comes on and you stop what you’re doing for three minutes.
You don’t need to explain why it works. It just does.
Gift has said he still loves playing these songs and that people still love hearing them. “It could change your life,” he says. “At the very least, it will be a great night out.” That feels about right. No big claims, no nostalgia sales pitch. Just an invitation.
What gives this tour its extra pull locally is the fact that Hull isn’t just another stop .It’s home. Gift grew up here, played in bands here, and long before the charts and the attention, this is where the voice we all recognise was shaped.
When success came, he didn’t cling to it in the way pop stars are expected to. He stepped back, returned to Hull, and lived a quieter life. At the time it felt unusual. Now it feels quietly admirable.
The tour runs throughout May 2026, with dates across the country, but for people in Hull and the East Riding this one will feel different. Not because it’s bigger or louder, but because it’s rooted.
The setlist promises the songs people want to hear. She Drives Me Crazy. Good Thing. Johnny Come Home. Even Suspicious Minds. Songs that have lived alongside people rather than behind glass.
There’s something reassuring about that. In a culture that’s always chasing what’s new, it’s good to be reminded that some things are worth keeping close.
This isn’t about reassessment or legacy. It’s about hearing songs you’ve loved, sung by the person who gave them their shape, back in the place where it all started.
For me, and I suspect for many others, that’s more than enough.
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