Boiler Shop 28.11.24
Invited| Review by Samantha Pearson
Boiler Shop hosted The Lightning Seeds on Thursday for a celebration of 35 years since ‘Tomorrow’s Here Today’. Thirty five years of Ian Broudie and his band who now consists of Riley, his son, on rhythmic guitar as well as being the bands manager, alongside bassist Martyn Campbell and Jim Sharrock and Adele Emmas on percussion and keys.
The band took us through a story of old hits and new, including some tracks from the latest release ‘See You In The Stars’ from 2022 including ‘What If?’ and ‘Ready or Not’. As well as some enticing covers such as ‘Be My Baby’ a track they released back in 2006 for Children In Need but have enjoyed playing ever since. Other covers included ‘Whole Wide World’ by ‘Wreckless Eric’ and ‘You Showed Me’ by ‘The Byrds’ including a little snipped of Imagine, All You Need Is Love and Get Down Tonight.
A predominately male audience fill a sold out Boiler Shop welcoming the likes of ‘Life’s Too Short’ ‘Sense’ and ‘Change’ taken from the bands earlier albums in the early nineties. Although not much of a talker, Broudie still manages to hold a somewhat chilled crowd in the palm of his hands. Subtle sways and finger points prove the crowd are enjoying the nostalgia from the early days and Broudie thanks the crowd for the continuous support shown, closely rewarding the crowd with the likes of ‘Lucky You’, ‘Pure’ and ‘Life of Riley’ which was originally wrote for his son.
It was wonderful to see so many fans come to pay homage to the Liverpudlian formed band, and again, it felt like we had been transported back to the 90s reliving the original alternative rock era. It was wonderful to hear Broudies vocals still being sublime to this day and the band absolutely lit up the stage and proved that they are just as good now as they were all those 35 years ago.
My second time seeing these, as well as at Hardwick Live earlier in the year, and always a pleasure and a real crowd pleaser. I’ll happily watch these guys each time they are in the area, a true nineties pleasure.