A NEW feature film set in the beating heart of 1970s Liverpool received its world premiere at the Philharmonic Hall last night.

Happy Mondays singer Sean Ryder, OMD’s Andy McClusky and Rascals and Last Shadow Puppets frontman Miles Kane were among the showbiz guests at the screening of Kevin Sampson’s Awaydays, an event hosted as part of week-long music festival Liverpool Soundcity.

Sampson – who brought his mother, Gladys, along as his guest of honour – said he was feeling “exceptionally chuffed” to be presenting the film for the first time in his home town, and hoped it will eventually stand alongside classic films of British youth such as Trainspotting, A Clockwork Orange and Quadrophenia. His quest to get his cult book – about young boys caught up in football hooliganism and the start of Liverpool’s “casual” scene – onto the big screen has taken 11 years.

He said: “It is a universal story about growing up, growing pains and young males searching for identity.

“Here’s hoping people like it.”

Cast and crew spoke of their excitement at holding the premiere in Liverpool.