Stereophonics Gig Review; All In One Night

Charlie Cable | 7th March 2018

photo by Will Wilkinson

I’ve been looking forward to this Stereophonics gig in my home town of Bournemouth since my interview with bass player Richard Jones last year. Tickets were in the post and I was well on my way! Then the Beast from the East struck, and long story short, my tickets didn’t get to me. Devastated doesn’t come close! But after a few phone calls I received an email saying the band had put me on their guest list!! ….Legends!!

Considering it was a Monday night, the Arena was buzzing!

The band opened with ‘Chances Are’, one of the new tunes from their 10th album ‘Scream Above The Sounds’ the light show and digital images were incredible, we knew we were in for a good night!

Straight into the 2nd release from the album ‘Caught by the Wind’ – an amazingly positive tune about looking at the good things in life, whilst living in an uncertain world. This was followed by the crowd pleaser ‘Cest le Vie’ which really got the party started!

The stage set up was different to their gigs I’ve been to before, hosting a catwalk extending out into the crowd, which made the gig feel more intimate for us fans.

Highlight moment; The band all gathered at the end of the catwalk stage then Kelly announced it was Adams’ (the bass player) birthday and he could sing whilst Kelly would have a go on the drums “can’t be that hard, can It!!?” Adam said!!

photo by Will Wilkinson

Adam then sang the most incredible rendition of  ‘Happy Birthday’ by the Beatles and the arena went crazy!

Kelly did a great job on the drums whilst Jamie (the drummer) took a breather and filmed the whole thing, wetting himself laughing!

The gig continued with the band banging out old classics including ‘Tramps Vest’ from the band’s 1st album ‘Word Gets Around’ which is now 20 years old , ‘Mr.Writer’ plus ‘Handbags And Gladrags’.

Another highlight; when the end of the catwalk opened up and out came Jamie solo on his drum kit, and he absolutely smashed ‘ in my opinion ‘ the best solo I’ve ever seen! You could just about hear it over the wild crowd!

And it wouldn’t be a ‘Phonics gig if they didn’t end with their biggest Anthem ‘Dakota’!

The band; ever evolving put on a mind blowing show and once again gave me a night to remember! Hope I haven’t given away too much for you fans in Manchester, I do believe they are playing the Manchester Arena this Friday, wish I could be there too!

For more information about the Stereophonics head to www.stereophonics.com

Full photo gallery by Will Wilkinson:

Album 1