Ocean Colour Scene with support from Delays
Liverpool Royal Court
26/09/2003
Live Review

For the nostalgic people among the crowd who were after a piece of the past with the same desire of Homer Simpson chasing the last doughnut, then the Royal Court Theatre is the perfect venue. It does not look like it has had a lick of paint or been fumigated since the inception of tonight’s headline act in the late 80s, with the floor being stickier than Tricky Dicky’s ending in Coronation Street.

There was something for everyone though tonight, as the forward looking amongst the crowd had the delights of the young Southampton based support band Delays. Front man Greg Gilbert was quiet and amiable as they pleased the waiting crowd with their bubbly guitar pop. Previous single the ‘Teenage Fan Club’ styled ‘Hey Girl’ was a particular highlight and won generous applause. The ethereal ‘Nearer Than Heaven’ made you forget the sticky floor and smelly venue for a brief moment. It was that good! The tidy set was completed by the forthcoming single ‘Long Time Coming’.

The nostalgia hunters had to wait even longer for their booty as Ocean Colour Scene took to the stage and paraded new material first with ‘Oh Collector’ kicking things off. This also featured the well received single ‘All I Need Is Myself’ extracted from the latest album ‘North Atlantic Drift’. The crowd greeted these tracks as though they were old classics and were clearly “up for it”. The crowd was a good mix of young and old, as well as a couple of “Scientists” situated behind me, who were experimenting as to the impact of propelled alcohol through the air on a chose target: my head (to ensure reliability of the findings they did the experiment eight times).