Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating   * * * *

The very nature of a seated gig, the chance for the music lover to sit and take in a set of musicians in a relaxed manner is one that doesn’t always suggest that an audience is going to do anything for most of the night but smile, perhaps take a picture or two as keep sakes of hopefully a good night out and generally let the stress of the day wash off them as if being hosed down by the makers of any soap bar. They might get up off their chairs towards the end of the evening when the big hits come rolling out, the provocative spellbinding finish in which audience and artist can be as one in mutual adoration of a well-played out gig, rarely does an audience stand throughout, the worries of age and tiredness forgotten for a couple of hours as they revel from first note to last teasing goodbye.

However the members of the much loved Scottish band Del Amitri have not been on stage together in such a long way before they announced this tour so it is no wonder that the audience inside the Liverpool Empire Theatre found that temptation was too much a pull and stand, sing, holler and almost to a single body, delight in the ability to flout conventional thinking.

From their point of view it must have been worth it, to witness one of the great acts of the 1980s and 90s together in Liverpool and with a set of songs from their impressive career that was just dynamite, an explosion of warmth and musical gratitude from the musicians for not having walked away from them. The music, the band, was all on a night in which past glories came crashing back into view and in which Justin Currie played up wonderfully to all who had come to relive those moments.

Nothing seemed to have changed from those heady days; the music was still just as good as it ever was, the interaction between audience and band was top form and the ability has not wavered one iota but there was a difference, a metamorphosis that the Greek master of storytelling Ovid himself would have been proud to have put to the populace. The distinction between then and now was that during the entire set, which included tracks such as the openers Always The Last To Know, Kiss This Thing Goodbye and Just Like A Man, through the natural beauty of Sleep Instead Of Teardrops and Be My Downfall and the crowd pleasers and anthem like Nothing Ever Happens, Roll To Me and In The Frame, was one of comfortable ease, of a set of musicians all pulling in the same direction and making sure that the lasting memory of the night would be one of outstanding splendour. A chance to remind all who went to the gig that they are as incredible to listen to now as they were back in the early 90s but with the benefit of a happy, relaxed and most of all secure future.

It can only be hoped that to all concerned, Del Amitri don’t leave it another ten years before they play together in Liverpool again.

Ian D. Hall