It's nearly June and England are gearing up for a major football tournament. That can only mean one thing...The Lightning Seeds are about to fill our ears.
And as 250 sweaty Stockport souls belt out the words of the country's most famous terrace anthem, no one can be in any doubt...It's Coming Home!
Of course, the track will always be the thing that the band are best remembered for. Yet if tonight tells us anything, it is that in one sense is a crying shame.
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For The Lightning Seeds are one of the great, underrated gems of modern British guitar music. There is a reason Three Lions is the national treasure it is, and that is the frontman and mastermind Ian Broudie's ability to pen the most catchy and anthemic melodies.
And those packed inside Bask, the bar and venue opposite Stockport train station now celebrating it second birthday, know they are in for a treat.
The band are in town for a warm-up show ahead of a greatest hits tour later this year. But this doesn't feel like any kind of dress rehearsal. Ian and his band are too proud and too slick a set of operators for that.
Instead what we are treated to is a whistle-stop tour through their back catalogue which is as underappreciated as it is impressive. It is a musical buffet packed with tasty treats.
There is little in the form of chat from Ian, who is decked out in a black t-shirt and shades. But with his trademark Gretsch slung around his neck, the songs speak for themselves.
The band specialise in the joyous and tonight's uplifting tone is set with the opener, from their aptly titled smash hit 1994 album Jollification. 'Things could be marvellous, things could be fabulous...' sings Ian whose voice hasn't diminished one jot over the years.
It has an angelic, dreamy quality as it pierces the reverberating guitars, perfectly displayed on third song Sugar Coated Iceberg, which starts to get the crowd going.
Ian is a proud scouser. And their cover of The Byrds You Showed Me is interspersed with snippets of The Beatles All You Need is Love and John Lennon's Imagine.
However, there are also shades of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground on the slower Perfect. There are two tracks from their 2022 album See You In The Stars, their first studio record in 15 years, in the form of Losing You and Emily Smiles, which more than hold their own.
But in truth they simply serve as warm-ups for the undoubted highlights of the night. The infectious Lucky You is followed by the eternally glorious The Life of Riley.
Ian's son Riley, whose name inspired the song and its title, is now in the band and beams ear-to-ear as he plays the guitar solo next to his old man.
And timeless classic Pure prompts a mass singalong. Not as big a singalong as that for Three Lions, however. Fair play to the band for being the goodest of good sports and playing it. But just remember there is much more to them than that. Lucky us.
Setlist
Marvellous
Change
Sugar Coated Iceberg
Ready or Not
Perfect
Sense
Losing You
Emily Smiles
All I Want
You Showed Me
Feeling Lazy
Lucky You
Life of Riley
Pure
Three Lions
