Steve Cradock performing with Paul Weller @ the Eventim Apollo, London (Photo: Alberto Pezzali for Live4ever Media)
Ocean Colour Scene were in Bristol on December 15th.
Gigs in the lead-up to Christmas must be tricky for bands to negotiate.
It’s the party season, so punters (not unreasonably) want to hear the hits and have a good time. Fortunate then that Solihull’s finest are in town.
For a few years at least, Ocean Colour Scene were arguably Britain’s best singles band, and all from their imperial period (’96-’99) are present and correct within tonight’s setlist. Shrewd operators that they are, it makes for a rapturous final 40 minutes of the set as virtually all the singalongs come thick and fast.
The remaining hits are liberally sprinkled across the opening hour. The Motown stomp of You’ve Got It Bad opens the main set, Steve Cradock’s vibrant funk complementing Oscar Harrison (surely one of rock’s under-rated drummers) who manages to contain himself until the outro.
Mid set, the three standout tracks from 1999’s One From The Modern keep things ticking over nicely: the low-key but lovelorn So Low braces the audience for a snarling July (with amended lyrics to reflect the time of year) while the marching Profit In Peace provides the first singalong of the night.
The trio of singles sit within an opening hour which, comprised as it is of slower album tracks, does test the patience of the crowd, many of whom are clearly fair weather fans.
Yet for ardent followers of Ocean Colour Scene there are treats galore: the dusky acoustics of Fleeting Mind swing and sway, while the subtle Debris Road stomps politely.
Even deeper cuts, such as The Clock Struck 15 Hours Ago and North Atlantic Drift, showcase their under-rated musical proficiency; the former sees Cradock playing his guitar intricately and almost imperceptibly, while Simon Fowler gets his vocal teeth into the latter, although it’s highlighted best on the tender I Wanna Stay Alive With You.
Wonderfully, if scarily, both Harrison and Cradock have enlisted their sons into the live band, Cradock Jnr backing his old man on guitar while the younger Harrison provides percussion, and both contribute to a varying (by design) wall of sound.
The hardcore surely sated, the second half of the set is announced by the funky, swaggering One For The Road and thereafter it’s smiles all around.
The sliding chorus of Travellers Tune raises the volume, followed by a righteous Better Day and The Circle, an instant classic which sounded nostalgic even in 1996, complete with circular riff (which can’t have been a coincidence), it gets the crowd going on backing vocals.
Meanwhile the screeching, fire alarm-riff of Hundred Mile High City has the band firing on all cylinders, fittingly for arguably their most accomplished musical moment.
The ear-piercing Get Blown Away evolves to incorporate another staggering vocal from Fowler and closes the main set after a joyous The Riverboat Song.
The atmosphere having demonstrably improved, the audience give due reverence to an acoustic Robin Hood (complete with a snippet of Live Forever) and an emotional rendition of The Waves. And then there’s closer The Day We Caught The Train, proof that if you have a catchy chorus, lyrics are optional, with a deafening singalong to close the evening.
Now in their fourth decade (Fowler mentions in passing that they opened the venue 20-something years ago) it’s no surprise that some things have, in the band’s world, changed, reflected by the inclusion of their family.
Yet Steve Cradock hasn’t lost an ounce of urgency, Oscar Harrison is still relentlessly cool (and a demon on the skins) and Simon Fowler is as affable and charming as ever, without losing a hint of his powerful voice.
Few bands garner affection in the way that Ocean Colour Scene do. Few deserve it more.