Stadium rock. A curious beast this one. Undoubtedly a popular thing, but maybe not with those who still regard themselves as the cool kids. However, on Saturday night, as someone who was never cool and hasn’t been a kid for quite some time, I battled my way through the stadium hordes towards the stage for Stereophonics with pretty much nothing to lose!
I’d first seen Stereophonics at The Stage in Hanley somewhere around 1996 where ironically the footprint of the venue would have probably fit on tonight’s stage. Since then, the band have gone from strength to strength and now occupy a comfortable berth filed under stadium bands, which helps explain why tonight is a sell out.
There are two support acts tonight, but our late arrival means that we are only just getting into the stadium by the time the second, Blossoms, take to the stage. It doesn’t spoil the enjoyment though. Blossoms are a band that it feels are hard to dislike. They look and sound great and tonight they show that they can capture a stadium’s attention pretty easily. Singer Tom has more than a bit of Mick Jagger and Faces era Rod Stewart about him and as such has the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout.
Blossoms, as we already know, have a happy knack for a bit of a tune and stand outs tonight are Girlfriend, I Like Your Look, Gary (which goes down a storm) and closing track and fan favourite, Charlemagne. They’re quite a visual band too, and so there’s always something going on that will catch your attention; great hair, wonderful 70s inspired clothes…stage hands in what look like butcher’s aprons. It’s all there and it all adds up to an fantastic set from Blossoms.
Stereophonics take to the stage to huge cheers and while there’s not a lot of acknowledgement from the band, there’s a hell of an opener in ‘Vegas Two Times’ and the band look completely at home playing in an arena of this size.
In a world where some acts may add an enormous amount of visual production Stereophonics keep things relatively simple tonight. Sure, there are screens with the odd video, but very little to detract from what’s happening on stage. The band are as tight as it gets and it’s just the music that matters. Frontman Kelly Jones’ voice remains phenomenal and as ever, he simply commands the stage while looking effortlessly cool.
There are one or two rockstar poses and a bit of that type of gesturing, but you know what, I’m sure if I was playing to untold thousands of fans in a football stadium and get a bit posey with my guitar too! You’d be hard pushed not to, surely? And anyway, when you’ve got songs as good as these I think you can pretty much do what you like!
In a frankly enormous 23 song set there’s never a dud note and the intensity is kept up throughout. This being a ‘stadium anthems’ set, there’s something for everyone, but the best moments for me tonight are with the fantastic opener, the emotive ‘Fly Like an Eagle’, ‘C’est La Vie’ and perennial favourites ‘Local Boy in The Photograph’ and ‘Dakota’. It’s a shame there’s not room for tunes like ‘Last of The Big Time Drinkers’ and ‘A Thousand Trees’ but still, the set doesn’t suffer and no one’s complaining.
In all, it’s a brilliant night and a top gig. Stereophonic are a band at the very top of their game. An old school rock band that definitely know how to give a crowd a fantastic night and tonight they give Huddersfield what must be it’s best night in years.
WORDS AND PHOTO CREDIT – GRAHAM CROSBY
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