Ocean Colour Scene - The Halls Wolverhampton UK, December 2023
- Jude Onions
- Mar 18, 2024
- 2 min read
90s indie rocked into Wolverhampton on Friday when Indie legends Ocean Colour Scene came to The Halls for the next leg of their UK tour. The swelling crowd waited in anticipation for the band to take to the stage and were treated to a support set by alternative indie folk band Burr Island, who treated us to a a melodic journey of intimate harmonies.
As the support slot finished the stage became a busy hub of roadies, setting up everything for the headline band. As the stage time got nearer you could feel and hear the buzz from the waiting crowd of about 3,400 eager fans.
The lights dimmed to an excited roar as The Pogues ‘Fairytale of New York’ played out as a tribute to legend Shane MacGowan, who recently passed away.
Then the time came and OCS were greeted with an explosive cheer as they took to the stage. We all waited to see what they would play first from their extensive back catalog and as the guitars buzzed and the drums started it was ‘One for the Road’. The crowd went wild and band drew that energy into their performance, with Simon Fowler and Steve Cradock constantly looking up at the fans in the stalls to get on their feet.
The hits just kept coming with one after another with ‘The Circle’ and ‘Policeman & Pirates’ being fan favourites and sang back to the band with swagger. The venue was bursting at the seems, with people cramming into every single inch of the main hall to capture a glimpse of these 90s indie giants.
When Steve began playing the powerful riff to ‘The Riverboat Song’ the energy from the crowd went up another notch with people singing and bouncing in union. This song is one of my favourites growing up and I could feel the goosebumps on the back of my neck. If only I could tell 16 year old me that I would be witnessing and photographing this, I think my mind would have been blown.
After a brief break the band returned to the shouts of ‘we want more’ to perform a final three songs (that’s 21 in total). The last song being ‘The Day We Caught The Train’ and I can tell you this train is well worth catching for that nostalgic energy.
Review and Photos by Matt
Photo Matt Crockford
More photos can be found here: www.mattcrockford.com
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