Brummie Brit-pop sensations “Ocean Colour Scene” hit the Engine Shed on Tuesday.
The 5-piece band have been around since the early 90s and despite original bassist Damon Minchella leaving the group, they have only gotten stronger, with the new album “Saturday” featuring heavily on the set list.
The set began with “Mrs Maylie”, an upbeat track from the new album which got the gig off to an energetic start.
Next came a mixture of new tracks from Saturday and old favourites such as “Policemen & Pirates” and “The Circle” from the classic 1996 album “Moseley Shoals”.
The mixture of new and old was a hit with the fans, who sang and clapped along for most of the set. Shouts from the crowd for their favourite songs were acknowledged. Lead vocalist Simon Fowler at one point responded: “Robin Hood halfway through a gig, are you mad?”
The band also expressed their love for Lincoln during the gig, reminding the crowd that this was their second visit to the city, which Fowler thinks is “beautiful”.
Ending the gig with their popular hit “Hundred Mile High City” the crowd became very lively, resulting in bouncers having to prevent attempts at crowd surfing. This classic track sounded amazing live and bears no comparison to the recorded version. A true gem and shows just how talented the band are.
After a few minutes of shouting for an encore, Fowler returned to play a beautiful rendition of the acoustic track “Robin Hood”, which had the crowd singing and swaying along. The rest of the band then joined Fowler on stage to play perhaps the two most popular tracks from the past 20 years – “The Riverboat Song” and “The Day We Caught The Train”.
It was great to see the band changing roles throughout the set. Piano, bass, drums and vocal were all shared, which shows that Ocean Colour Scene are a band, not just a frontman with backing.
The gig was a great success, they sounded fantastic and the mixture of popular classic tracks and tracks from the new album worked really well, giving fans a chance to relive the Brit-pop era on the 90s.
I have to totally agree the gig was amazing and the band where on top form, a good night was had by all.