By: Darren Howells

With ever-diminishing returns, it seems odd that Ocean Colour Scene have been in such a celebratory mood for their twenty-first anniversary, but this Moseley Shoals tour at least made some sense.

Those still-bleary-eyed revellers who were won over by the band’s 1996 sophomore collection have continued to turn out in their droves; whilst the critics’ knives pressed deeper into the guts of their next few albums.

In context Moseley Shoals offered three of Britpop’s more interesting steals; but there was little else of note. To make matters worse, those three numbers came at the front of the album’s track listing, ensuring the band opened in euphoric fashion to the still-triumphant sounds of The Riverboat Song, The Day We Caught The Train and The Circle, but little maintained the momentum thereafter.

On this night, the band returned for an encore to play some of their better failures. In truth, OCS became far more adventurous within their 1970′s dad rock confines once they had nothing left to lose.

These are no longer the same teenage revellers who embodied the sound of Moseley Shoals, making it a million-plus selling hit the first time around (predictably a second wind wasn’t forthcoming) but a good show and great to see the band lapping up the underdog status with a smile on their face. These are Britpop’s grandfathers now.

They have just two more UK dates left on their tour (and one is sold out) so for those of you in Aberdeen: knock yourselves out.

http://www.oceancolourscene.com/tours