WIRRAL'S Bill Ryder-Jones has confirmed a joint-headline tour with Super Furry Animals frontman, Gruff Rhys, including a date at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on November 28 this year.

Bill, from West Kirby, first found success as a founding member of the band The Coral, achieving a number of huge hits, including Goodbye, In The Morning and Pass It On, as well as a UK number one album. He left the band in 2008, signing to independent label Domino Records, with whom he has released five LPs, from his first – a classical score to Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter Night a Traveller, to this year’s critically acclaimed album Iechyd Da, described as "overwhelmingly lovely, with classy hooks and rousing choruses" by The Guardian and "a truly wonderful record" by Record Collector.

A spokesperson for convert promoters, Harvest Sun, said: "Having spent half a lifetime within each other’s orbits, and the odd show here or there, their timelines serendipitously aligned in 2024. Both Gruff and Bill released critically acclaimed albums just weeks apart; Bill’s Iechyd Da and Gruff’s Sadness Sets You Free arrived in January 2024 and found themselves frequently mentioned in the same breath.

"Therefore it wasn’t a giant leap of logic to take to the road together with full bands in tow to round off a special year. Headliners will switch each night, with both artists playing a full headline length set."