image not mine

Doing it’s thing – there’s two Northern greats tonight; first up The Lightning Seeds set out with their pop manefesto. Now 68, Broudie looks and sounds as fierce as always and given that Jollyficiation is over 30 years old, and he’d done a bunch of production work before the Seeds, it shows just how prolific he must have been ‘back in the day’. Lucky you and Pure are magic, and i’m slightly gutted they don’t play life’s too short from 1999 – which I used to love

Arriving at 845, Heaton and band stagger on – £45 a ticket, sold out, consumate lyriciast and band leader- Heaton’s role as always being the front man who’d rather stand in the back – write the lyrics, provide the backing vocals. A bad back hampers things slightly, but his vocals are spot on (Red eyes), he dances when needed (Happy hour) and the hits are provided – “Song for whoever” and “I need a little time” bang and “Caravan of love”, as always, kicks hard- though it’s slightly out of time – something amise with the bad back, the struggle to hit the high notes (but delivered) and phlem. Rianne Downey stands out the more the gig goes on, and the livier it gets (allowing her to dance/move more and have suitable focus) and Heaton – looking like someone trying to find the local bus exchange depot- still manages to be a local-lad-in-an-anorak-and-a-multi-million-record-artist at the same time. You don’t get many like this at all.