Live Review: Shed Seven - O2 Academy, Sheffield 8.12.2013

With the amount of football shirts and track tops on display, you could have been forgiven for thinking you had just stumbled into the bar after a 5 aside competition. On closer inspection you soon realise everyone is wearing number 7. Some great players have pulled on the number 7 shirt for either club or country. But the shirts are not for soccer stars, they are for Brit-pop legends, Shed Seven.

Taking the stage with pint in hand, frontman, Rick Witter is on top form. He’s glad to be here, so are his band and even more so their adoring fans. It’s all very familiar and so it should be. Kicking off with Let It Ride we romp through the numbers. The crowd singing along to every word. By the time we get to Speakeasy we are fully transported back to when British bands ruled the world.

As a treat for the more ardent fan, Rick and the boys deliver an early Christmas present with No One Wants To Know You When You’re Down And Out from lesser known One Hand Clapping album. Then we are back on track with the sway-a-long Devil In Your Shoes and Where Have You Been Tonight.

Between tracks Rick is happy to engage in banter with the fans. Funny, sharp and charming none more so than the exchange with Roger from Cleethorpes. So much so, for one night only the band’s debut release, Mark, is renamed Cleethorpes. To quote Missing Out, as with many an in joke, you “…should have been there.”

Every song is a pleasure, for the crowd and for the band, who faithfully capture all that is good about their music. At times surly, even raunchy, its feel good music that stands the test of time. With as many young faces as old in the audience, Shed Seven are a testament to an era.

Just as on the band’s first album, Ocean Pie blends seamlessly into On An Island With You. But not before Mr Witter leaves the stage to allow his band to do their stuff. The instrumental outro is flawless. Paul, Tom, Alan and Joe weave a soundscape that brings the waves crashing over the crowd. Beautiful.

Before leaving us with Going For Gold, Rick makes it quite clear that we will be getting an encore. “We are just going to pop off stage stand in the shadows for a few minutes and then come back. You Know – usual bullshit.” As Gold comes to an end, ever the crowd pleaser, Witter tosses his maracas into the crowd. A grand gesture well received by all.

Emerging back from the shadows it’s to the limb thumping beats of Bully Boy. Front of stage becomes a mass of heaving bodies. Sincere and humble, the Shed’s thank the crowd for their support and leave us Chasing Rainbows. As it ends all eyes, including his band mates, fall on Alan. Will he? Won’t he? Of course he will! As trademarks go, Alan’s summersault over his drum kit, even managing to land on his feet, is a fine way to end a mighty fine evening.