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There’s always been a sense that, despite their success, Ocean Colour Scene have been one of the most under rated bands to emerge during those heady, somewhat hedonistic days of the Britpop era.
Certainly, whilst the constant inclusion of one of their tracks in Chris Evan’s T.F.I. programme on Channel 4 and a great relationship with the Gallagher brothers and Paul Weller helped push their profile, there’s was a huge amount of depth to the band. Not for them the jangling pop or laddish terrace anthems, but something a little more studied and rounded that dripped with soul and class.
Three decades on from their initial breakthrough after a stuttering start, the band are back on tour and their trip to a packed Hammersmith Apollo showed them at their best, despite ongoing vocal problems for frontman Simon Fowler causing the set to be shortened.
Given the lusty crowd singing from the off, he needn’t have worried too much as every word of every song seemed to be sung back to him by three thousand voices, the sound as euphoric as it was deafening. With a giant, and subtly used, video screen being the only adornment onstage, this was a night about the songs, apt opener ‘One for the Road’ a delightfully nostalgic bit of Rolling Stonesy delicately swaying.
A majestic ‘Families’ and the rocking ‘July’ give way to a truly anthemic ‘Better Day’, the screen’s images of old footage bringing a heady rush. Throughout, Steve Craddock added both power and a delightfully delicate touch to his playing, his subtle fretwork driving the songs and not any desire for egotistical flash.
In fact, the nearest he gets to guitar hero is during exuberant set closer ‘Hundred Mile High City’, the thrill of the driving riff alongside of Oscar Harrison’s skittering drums and the pumping bass of Raymonde Mead demanding heads and bodies move.
Whilst the fans were at fever pitch from the off, the sight of Paul Weller joining the band onstage for ‘The Circle’ and ‘Travellers Tune’ was enough to turn the whole place into a broiling mass of bodies ecstatically cheering.
Along with ‘The Modfather’, the legendary P.P. Arnold joined along, staying with the band for three songs, her voice a thing of sublime wonder that perfectly contrasted with Fowler’s rough-edged croon. This was a great slice of Northern Soul, the grit and honeyed tones of both the vocals and instrumentation adding a joyous authenticity to the whole thing as they rolled back the years to another era.
Touches of gentle reggae warmed ‘Debris Road’ and there’s a late period Beatles vibe to ‘Half a Dream Away’ before apologies about cutting the set short and the promise of a couple of bangers to finish from Craddock herald ‘The Riverboat Song’ and the aforementioned ‘Hundred Mile High City’ in all their pneumatic glory.
Coming back for a solo run through of ‘It’s My Shadow’, the outpouring cheers of support for the vocally ailing Fowler saw the singer obviously touched with the emotion, unable to speak for a few long seconds.
With the whole band joining him for the pastorally psychedelic ‘Get Blown Away’ and closing the night with the hugely anthemic ‘The Day We Caught The Train’, it was a triumphant return to the most famous stage in the capitol and one that Ocean Colour Scene well and truly deserved. All Saturday nights should be this uplifting.
Review by Paul Monkhouse
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
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ENMY The Ledge (FiXT)
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KATH & THE KICKS Neptune (indie)
THE BEE TELLERS River Poem (Black Sand Records)
LAUREN FREEBIRD Like A Bomb (indie)
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09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023
14:00-16:00 KATARINA PEJAK – Pearls On A String (Ruf Records)
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