Ocean Colour Scene The Victoria Hall, Hanley

SOME 14 years after first playing Stoke-on-Trent, veteran Britpoppers Ocean Colour Scene returned promoting their ninth studio album, Saturday.

Sadly, the gig clashed with a Stoke City home game which made for a less-than-full house.

And the empty space showed in the first half of the concert, as fans struggled to generate any atmosphere and the band appeared to be going through the motions.

Impressive new songs such as Saturday and Magic Carpet Days were a throwback to OCS's early sound, but were largely ignored by many of the crowd who had clearly come to enjoy a bit of karaoke nostalgia from the band's mid-90s heyday.

And sure enough, it was classics from seminal albums such as Moseley Shoals and Marchin' Already which got the fans joining in.

Live favourite Profit In Peace, with its concert singalong end, raised the tempo before a stunning rendition of the more recent Go To Sea allowed Steve Cradock to showcase his talents.

However, it was the encore which saw the gig hit the heights.

Lead singer Simon Fowler returned for a superb solo performance of Robin Hood, before being joined on stage by Cradock and co for a rousing finale of The Riverboat Song and The Day We Caught the Train.

Jon Ball