A warm evening in the heart of Lincolnshire, I’d been to Lincoln Castle before as it stands, but never seen a gig there before and my god, what a backdrop! It’s stunning.
The sun was shining, drinks were flowing and to warm up the crowds voices at least was DJ Dan, who you may or may not know of Propaganda fame, he played some brilliant indie bangers and crowd pleasers and well, given it was the 2026 World Cup and the day after England had beaten Croatia 4-2 in the first group stage, it only felt right to close his set with the likes of “Three Lions” and “Vindaloo” – which the crowd lapped up and got involved with.
Alex James on stage at Lincoln Castle, as part of his Britpop Classical – Photo Credit: Hayley Grice
On came on Alex James and members of the Manchester Concert Orchestra, plus his band, after a soothing orchestral intro, they went straight into the twangs of Ocean Colour Scene’s “Riverboat Song” – I know OCS frontman Simon Fowler has made appearances previously, but sadly, it wasn’t to be on this occasion.
Republica lead singer Saffron on stage at Lincoln Castle, as part of Alex James Britpop Classical –
Photo Credit: Hayley Grice
Not to worry though, as the first special guest soon burst onto the stage, ready to perform Republica’s “Ready to Go” – which of course was Saffron, who was a joy to watch, full of energy, could tell she was loving every minute of it and of course some of the crowds reaction when they weren’t expecting it.
I won’t ruin the entire setlist for you, as truth be told, it’s something that purely has to be witnessed.
But there was some corkers in there, plenty of Blur (of course), some Radiohead, a bit of EMF and of course some Oasis.
Onto the next surprise guest, which burst onto the stage with bundles of energy, which I LOVED…
Reef frontman Gary Stringer on stage at Lincoln Castle, as part of Alex James Britpop Classical –
Photo Credit: Hayley Grice
He of course did the vocals for “Place Your Hands”, encouraging the crowd to get involved and hyping up the orchestra and band alongside it too.
Special mention must go to the band and vocalists that Alex James has brought together, they are fantastic, whilst it might not be the OG’s, they’re pretty damn good and probably one of (if not) the closest you’ll get and their stage presence is phenomonal.
The next surprise of the night and this quite frankly made my day, month, maybe even my year, Parklife…
The Alex James Britpop Classical band alongside Phil Daniels on stage at Lincoln Castle –
Photo Credit: Hayley Grice
That’s right, that is THE Phil Daniels, THE voice of the Parklife narration, I genuinely feel like I’ve achieved something witnessing that live and the crowd, naturally, went off, singing along and the whole team on stage really lapped it up and it was just a complete and utter joy to witness.
That was the last of the special guests, but this really gave time to shine a light on the Manchester Concert Orchestra, who had been incredible from the start, but they’re harmonious melodies and talent really lifted the music to another level here.
After teasing with some Oasis, the band, orchestra and Alex James himself left the stage, the crowd clearly not wanting it to end, before long, Alex reappeared, and said: “Do you want a bit more?” with a smirk and then taking on the conductor role briefly for a orchestral overture in the Encore.
The actual encore itself was stunning and the perfect way to round off the performance, all the special guests, all of the band and of course Alex James joined for a rendition of Blur’s “The Universal” and it was incredibly special, with the crowd really getting involved, singing along, some incredible lighting effects, visuals on the big screen and everyone just feeling very together, it was a perfect end.
If you’re yet to see it and you love the 90’s era, all things Britpop or just a bloody good time, then you’re missing out, get it sorted, you won’t regret it.
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