Funeral For A Friend are back – for two nights only, in aid of a particular cause they deeply care about. Taking place at The Globe, Cardiff and Shepherd’s Bush on the 28 and 29 October respectively, it’ll be two exciting nights for fans of the Welsh group, but a sombre occasion for the band themselves.
While they initially had no intention of returning to the stage, both nights will be benefit shows for Stuart ‘Big Stu’ Brothers, a fan and friend who’s been diagnosed with a terminal illness. All proceeds will be donated to Brothers’ wife and his three young children. According to the band, Brothers has been given just a few weeks to live.
A fan since the early days of the band, FFAF will mainly be performing material from the beginning of their careers, as well as auctioning numerous memorabilia. The lineup will also include Darran Smith and Ryan Richards, both of whom left the band before 2012.
“FFAF Family,
When we left the stage on May 21st 2016 at London’s Kentish Town Forum, we all agreed that it was the perfect way to end Funeral For A Friend. We’d toured the UK one last time, playing some of the biggest shows we’d performed in years, in front of our friends and families. It was the perfect ending. Since then, we’ve been asked many times – ‘do you think you’ll ever come back?’ and the answer has always been a resounding ‘no’, because there was never any reason to.
Until now.
Recently, a man who can quite legitimately lay claim to being the world’s biggest FFAF fan (both literally and figuratively!), our friend Stuart ‘Big Stu’ Brothers, has been stricken with a terrible illness which has ultimately led to a terminal prognosis. Last month, Stu was given a few short weeks to live by his Doctors.
As Stu’s friends, we wanted to do something to help; particularly for his family and 3 young sons, who are going through unspeakable trauma right now. We discussed the possibility of auctioning off some FFAF memorabilia (which we’ll still do), but it became apparent that the way in which we could best help Stu was to perform some fundraising shows, with the proceeds going directly to his family.
So, on October 28th and 29th, at the Cardiff Globe and London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire respectively, Funeral for a Friend will be performing two more shows to benefit the Brothers family.
Being that Stu was an old-school fan right from the very start, we will mainly be performing material from the early part of our career circa 2002-2007. Joining Matt, Kris, Gav and Rich for the shows will be guitarist Darran Smith (who left the band in 2010) and drummer/vocalist Ryan Richards, who left in 2012.
Tickets will be available from Wednesday for O2 Priority Customers, and on general sale from Friday. All information can be found at www.funeralforafriend.co.uk
Additionally, a fundraising page has been set up for Stu’s family here. If you can, please give generously to a great man and a great cause.
Thank you, and we’ll see you in October.
Matt, Kris, Gav, Rich, Darran and Ryan.
FFAF.”
General release tickets are released on Friday 9 August and are available here. Donations, large or small, can be made here.
OCTOBER
28 CARDIFF The Globe
29 LONDON 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire