LIGHTNING Seeds main man Ian Broudie has frequently claimed his pop career has been one long fruitless quest to rewrite Pink Floyd’s See Emily Play.
It’s a task this concert’s local support band, The Wicked Whispers, can well relate to. The Liverpool five-piece wear their influences on their paisley shirted sleeves as they recreate the psychedelic sound of Syd Barrett.
It’s a very English version of the summer of love, with the lyrics talking of unicorns and pirate ships, and at times the recreation of 1967 is so slavish it veers dangerously towards Kula Shaker territory. But, with songs as fine as Amanda Lavender, you suspect the hype surrounding this unique band could grow from a whisper to a scream in the coming months.
Of all the recent Brit Pop era reformations, the decision by Broudie to re-ignite his 1990s hit-makers, The Lightning Seeds, was certainly one of the more unheralded, but then this has always been the way with this huge but unassuming talent.
After years spent producing Liverpool’s finest bands, it took until the late 1980s for the bespectacled frontman to take his turn in the spotlight and even then Broudie seemed content to play the shy, sensitive songwriter, penning his tales of romance and wonder from behind a glossily produced studio sheen.
Well, no longer it would seem. This 2012 version of the Seeds features The Zutons’ Sean Payne as well as returning bassist Martyn Campbell and Broudie’s teenage son Riley on guitar and it’s clear this is a re-energised band determined to breathe new life into the poppiest of back catalogues.
Hit followed hit as Broudie’s choppy rhythm guitar gave a nod to his past as producer of Echo And The Bunnymen and Payne’s drums power Change and a triumphant Life Of Riley along at a furious and exhilarating pace.
The set list featured 11 top 40 hits and there were frequent moments when a forgotten melody returned to your head with a thrilling sense of recollection, no more so than on an emotional sing-a-long of Pure.
For the encore, the band were joined by the exuberant presence of Zutons saxophonist Abi Harding as they charged through a triumphant Marvellous before a brave Broudie surprisingly unleashed The Lightning Seeds’ own elephant in the room in the form of Three Lions.
In a miserable week for football, his plaintive changing of the lyrics to “many years of hurt” turned the triumphalist chanting into something more poignant. It was a special moment as Broudie came home in style.
