Ocean Colour Scene/Pint Shot Riot

Southampton Guildhall

The Brit pop scene of the 1990’s produced many great albums and ‘Moseley Shoals’ has got to up there as one of the best. It was an album that catapulted Ocean Colour Scene from a small suburb of Birmingham to rubbing shoulders with the likes of Oasis, Blur and Paul Weller. The album was recently voted Q Magazine’s 33rd greatest album of all time which is high praise indeed. The band are currently on a tour of the UK playing the album in full every night to a host of packed venues.

Southampton Guildhall is a huge, old style music hall which always produces a quality sound along with a great atmosphere. The 1st band to take to the stage are ‘Pint Shot Riot’ also from the Midlands who got their name from a predictive text message when once inviting a mate to go for a drink. The four piece band confidently perform with their fast paced catchy guitar melodies producing a positive response from the crowd, they seem some what humble to be opening for the great Ocean Colour Scene and thank them and the audience for the support as they leave the stage after a promising 30 minute set.

Opening with your two of your most popular songs in not a gamble that most bands would take, as it is usually the case to leave the best until last, the opening famous guitar intro of the ‘Riverboat Song’, had everybody up dancing right from the start and was soon followed by a ‘The Day We Caught The Train’ which had a whole army of fans singing along in a beautiful unison with the band. The evening continued with the band reproducing all the numbers from the excellent ‘Moseley Shoals’ album with ease.

Lead singer Simon Fowler lapped up the splendid audience reaction, using it to spur on his performance, with the mellower numbers of the album such as ‘Fleeting Mind’ and ‘The Downstream’ sounding still fresh fifteen years after they were 1st written. The band left the stage after all 12 tracks to a thunderous applause promising to return after a 10 minute break. The band soon returned and performed a selection of tunes from the more recent past with songs such as ‘Magic Carpets Days’ ‘Travellers Tune’ and the title track from their 2010 album ‘Saturday’.

The very under rated Steve Cradock (who is Paul Weller’s chosen guitarist in his own band) picks up his guitar steps forward and rips in to ‘One Hundred Mile City’, the whole of the front dance floor of the venue just started moving around in chaos with beer an sweat flying all over the place such was the enthusiasm for this number made famous by the very British film by Guy Ritchie ‘Lock stock and Two Smoking Barrels’. The band once again left the stage and with the shouts of more and the stamping of feet from the uplifted audience, who brought them back for one last time. Simon Fowler and his acoustic guitar slowed the pace down a little with ‘Robin Hood’ which soon prompted another mass sing-a-long.

The evening ended perfectly with a surprise cover of The Beatles ‘Day Tripper’ with further evidence from Steve Cradock of his excellent guitar work, the band all come to the front of the stage at the end to take their bows and lap up the adulation which they were all due from such a magnificent performance executed with such style.

Set-List
Riverboat Song
The Day We Caught The Train
The Circle
Lining Your Pockets
Fleeting Mind
40 Past Midnight
One For The Road
It’s My Shadow
Policemen & Pirates
The Downstream
You’ve Got It Bad
Get Away

Magic Carpet Days
Saturday
Get Blown Away
Old Pair Of Jeans
Better Day
Travellers Tune
One Hundred Mile High City

Robin Hood
Day Tripper

Video