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<\/p>\nHappy Mondays legends Shaun Ryder and Bez have opened up as they prepare to hit the road again for a major anniversary tour<\/p>\n
The pair spoke about a variety of topics at the Tena Men event last night(Image: TENA Men)<\/p>\n
Happy Mondays icons Shaun Ryder and Bez have spoken candidly about ageing, health scares and the lifestyle changes that are keeping them going. It comes as their 2026 UK and Ireland tour nears.<\/p>\n
The pair – best known for fronting the legendary Salford<\/a> band behind Step On, 24 Hour Party People, Loose Fit and Kinky Afro – took part in the Tena Men In Conversation event in Manchester this week, opening up about men\u2019s mental and physical health with their trademark honesty and humour.<\/p>\n Bez shared his thoughts on sobriety, ageing and why he believes changing his lifestyle has helped him turn back the clock<\/a>. The 61-year-old said people even say that he looks younger now compared to when he was in his forties.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI\u2019m doing a sugar and cake free January. I\u2019ve given up the Persian rugs and drink. The sugar and cake addiction that I\u2019ve got is out of order.\u201d<\/p>\n Bez revealed he stopped drinking on Boxing Day after months of heavy alcohol use. He said: \u201cI was sinking a bottle of tequila a night running right up to Boxing Day. I was tanning everything like you wouldn\u2019t believe. But you think, that\u2019s enough of that rubbish.\u201d<\/p>\n What has helped him stick with it, he said, is intermittent fasting. He said: \u201cI\u2019ve started fasting for 16 hours a day and I\u2019m four weeks in now and I can feel my energy returning. At the same time I\u2019m missing having a drink, but I\u2019m determined to get through to the end.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been on this juicing journey for over 12 years now and I\u2019ve done it every day. To try and go into my old age as healthy as I can be I put these steps in place. From 48 to now, people actually say to me I\u2019m going the other way. I\u2019m not getting older, I\u2019m getting younger. I looked worse when I was 48 than I do now.\u201d<\/p>\n The band are going back on tour in March(Image: TENA Men)<\/p>\n Despite that confidence, Bez admitted he recently decided to confront the reality of his health after years of avoiding it. He said: \u201cI took the first steps today to finding out the truth because I\u2019ve been lying to myself for years. I saw the doctor and had my blood tests so I\u2019m going to finally find out if I\u2019ve broken down or if there\u2019s something going on.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing that I noticed when things started going wrong was when I started noticing grey hair on my temple when I was about 26 and I thought, oh no it\u2019s started. And that was the most devastating moment, when you spot the first grey hair, that\u2019s when you know when it\u2019s going wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n While Bez is focused on actively reversing the clock, Shaun\u2019s recent experiences have forced him to confront his own health in a different way. The 63-year-old frontman, who has openly battled various health issues over the years, revealed he\u2019s struggled with urinary retention – a common problem for men as they age.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI\u2019m gonna tell you all a secret now, but don\u2019t tell anyone. I can\u2019t piss. I wish I could. I was wearing Tena Men so I could leak, but I can\u2019t piss.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr Hilary Jones, present at the event, explained that an enlarged prostate can prevent the bladder from emptying properly – something worth getting checked early to avoid kidney problems.<\/p>\n Shaun shared that the first big sign of ageing hit him in his fifties, recalling the moment he walked on stage and suddenly couldn\u2019t lift himself up as his hip gave out. And in more recent years, Shaun has also spoken about a serious bout of pneumonia that left him unable to attend Stone Roses legend Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield’s funeral<\/a>.<\/p>\n It comes as Happy Mondays have confirmed a 2026 UK and Ireland tour starting in March to celebrate the 35th anniversary of their iconic album Pills \u2019n\u2019 Thrills and Bellyaches. The band will hit the road for a string of shows – including a massive homecoming date in Manchester – joined by guitarist Mark Day, drummer Gary Whelan, keyboardist Dan Broad and backing vocalist Firouzeh Berry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Happy Mondays legends Shaun Ryder and Bez have opened up as they prepare to hit the road again…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[149561,6491,96,51341,102,2461,7262,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-399570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-bez","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-happy-mondays","tag-health","tag-manchester-music","tag-shaun-ryder","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1_image-1.jpg\")
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