The Bluetones, Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton - review
It's been a little while - 22 years to be exact - since I last saw The Bluetones, but it was like time had stood still when the band rocked up at The Slade Rooms last night.
Well OK perhaps not quite...My floppy 90s hair has been replaced by slightly receding hair and I didn't have to get a lift off my dad to and from the concert this time . . or pretend to be over 18 at the bar for that matter.
But nevertheless when those familiar songs started up - Bluetonic and Cut Some Rug - it was a real blast from the past.
And not just for me, there was a decent crowd for a Wednesday night to see Mark Morriss and co kick off their latest tour. Some 'Bluetones anoraks' as frontman Morriss calls them, some old fans taking a trip down memory lane and a sprinkling of younger faces.
The singer - now bearded and sporting a shirt, tie and impressively skinny jeans for a man in his 40s - bounded onto the stage and was enjoying the interaction with the quips coming almost as fast as the songs.
"Is there nothing us cats can't do?" He asked before answering his own question with - "Fill The Slade Rooms by the look of it".
It was the the self deprecating humour that was on display throughout the night.
Before launching into Never Going Nowhere, Morriss joked "Many of you helped get this song into the charts...well not many of you, it got to number 40."
But the music is still as sharp as Morriss's wit and it was a clear reminder why The Bluetones stirred up such support back in their indie heyday when many kids, including me, were wearing the Expecting To Fly album out on their tape decks.
Like all long-running bands - the group were keen to show off some new material last night alongside the crowd-pleasers.
But it was the tried and tested songs that were received the best like Slight Return, Things Change and Sleazy Bed Track plus others - mainly from their first four albums.
Morriss is back in the Midlands on November 24 for An Evening with Mark Morriss - a full solo concert and Q&A at The Blue Orange Theatre in Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham.
Meanwhile support band Jordan Allen from Bolton look like a great up coming band and I am sure they will smash their mini tour of Canada.
