Bez quit booze over the festive period – but when the Brit Awards rolled into Manchester for the first time last night the Happy Mondays legend decided it was worth raising a glass
Shaun Ryder and Bez welcomed the Brit Awards 2026 to their beloved hometown in style last night – with Bez even breaking his two-month sobriety streak to mark the ceremony being hosted outside of London for the first time in its history.
The Happy Mondays legend, 61, revealed at the end of January that he had gone on a health kick, quitting sugary cakes and giving up “the Persian rugs and drink too” over the festive period.
But speaking to the Mirror on the red carpet outside the Co-op Live arena, Bez admitted he planned to toast the Brits arriving up north with an alcoholic beverage.
“Bez still hasn’t been home since he first went out to the Hacienda in 1982, but I will be in bed watching the news at 11 o’clock,” Shaun pledged when asked if the pair planned to have a wild night out. I still am sober. Two months it is,” Bez added. “But I’ve got to admit I was really bored.”
READ MORE: ‘I partied at the best-ever Brit Awards but one thing left a sour taste in my mouth’
Asked what he planned to drink during the ceremony, the party-loving maraca-shaker. admitted: “I don’t know, I’ve not decided. Because I’ve not had one for so long – you know what it’s like with the first one. I’d like to start with tequila.”
Speaking at a Tena Men event in Manchester in January, Bez detailed his decision to ditch the booze – revealing that quitting sugar had been the catalyst for going sober.
“The sugary cake addiction had gotten out of hand,” he said. “So I started fasting 16 hours a day. Now I’m sort of giving everything else up, and it’s helped me focus on that. I’m four weeks in now, and I can feel the energy coming back – I’m buzzing again. All the sugars out of my system, I can feel a new energy coming through.”
During lockdown in 2020, Bez revealed he was drinking around 33 pints a week. He later found a balance in 2022, staying sober during the week and drinking at weekends – but admitted the recent festive period tipped him off course.
“I was sinking a bottle of tequila a night at work and all that, running right up to Boxing Day,” he recalled in January. “I was tanning everything like you wouldn’t believe, but then thought, ‘That’s enough of that rubbish.’
“But at the same time, I am missing having a drink,” Bez admitted honestly. “I kept looking at you all tonight, drinking, thinking, ‘That Guinness looked lovely.’ I’ve managed to hold off, and I’m determined to get through until the end of the month.” “Then it’s Far Out February,” Shaun joked during the candid panel talk.
And the duo certainly ended ‘Far Out February’ in style at the Brits last night. The Madchester pioneers lived up to their legendary reputations – and caused ITV some panic during the live show.
Shaun delighted the room when he recalled to Jack Whitehall how he was once almost busted for drug possession during a Brit Awards back in the 90s. But viewers at home missed out on his trip down memory lane as the entire anecdote was bleeped out.
The 63-year-old singer also called host Jack “a grass”, causing the arena to burst out laughing, after the comedian joked he and Bez had been confirmed as the new presenting team for Strictly Come Dancing.
Shaun and Bez took to the stage last night to present Wolf Alice with the Group of the Year award. Speaking on the red carpet before the ceremony, Shaun admitted that while he did want to see “some dead young up-and-coming band” bag the award, he had plans for if Pulp had been honoured.
“If Pulp win it, I’m going to invade the stage like Jarvis did all those years ago,” Shaun pledged. Luckily for cautious ITV bosses, a scandal was averted thanks to Wolf Alice’s win.
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