TICKETS go on sale at 10am on Thursday, May 21, for Wet Wet Wet's visit to the MetroRadio Arena Newcastle on March 11, 2016.

The iconic British band have just announced The Big Picture Tour, taking in UK arenas across 17 dates in spring next year.

Wet Wet Wet have sold more than 15 million records, while notching up 30-plus UK chart hits including three No 1s. Since 1987 the band have played to more than 5 million people across the globe.

The tour announcement coincides with the 20th anniversary of their No. 1 album Picture This, which included the hits Julia Says, Don’t Want to Forgive Me Now, Somewhere Somehow, She’s All On My Mind, Morning and Love is all Around.

“When we play together it always reminds me how great this band is and how proud I am of the armoury of songs we’ve built up. We love to see the fans enjoying what we do on stage and we’re all looking forward to being on the road again,” says lead singer Marti Pellow.

Bass guitarist Graeme Clark adds: “We’ve been working on new material as well as looking into the archive and we’re looking forward to playing plenty of songs from Picture This to commemorate its anniversary alongside many other favourites.”

Keyboard player Neil Mitchell says: “Playing live for the fans is so important to us and we’re delighted to have booked shows all over the country and then some on this tour.”

While drummer Tommy Cunningham says: “We always put on a spectacular show and it will be no different this time around as amongst a few other surprises, we’ll have massive screens on stage to fit right in with the Big Picture theme.”

* Tickets costing £42.50 and £48.00 will be available online at metroradioarena.co.uk or from the booking hotline number 0844-493-6666 or in person from the MetroRadio Arena Box Office (Mon to Fri: 10am to 4pm, Sat: 11am to 2.30pm). Group Bookers should call 0191-260-6006