Cast

Liverpool guitar band Cast came to the Britpop party somewhat late, arriving with their debut album, All Change, just as Blur and Oasis had finished slugging it out for top spot in the album charts with Parklife and Definitely Maybe. Cast had even been support act for the Gallagher boys on their 1994 tour. But, with guitarist and lead vocalist John Power's knack for writing a catchy pop tune stands the test of time, having first arrived in the shape of Finetime, a single which entered the charts in July 1995 and became the first of 11 top thirty hits that the band would notch up over the next four years.

Now, in 2024, John Power, guitarist Liam 'Skin' Tyson', and drummer Keith O'Neill have released their first album since 2017's Kicking Up The Dust, and are currently touring Love Is The Call, along with bass player Martyn Campbell, on a UK tour that ends up back at the O2 Academy in Liverpool in December.

At Epic Studios on Thursday night, the band wasted no time in ploughing in to their set with two absolute bangers, Sandstorm and Finetime, each taken from their 1995 debut, All Change - songs so good that most bands would be holding them back for the encore. John Power's vocals still sound great, that slightly nasal twang still reminding me of John Lennon, and still looking incredibly youthful - surely there must be a painting tucked away somewhere in the attic?. He is sports a t-shirt featuring the logo of the band Stone, which is led by his son Fin and who are coincidentally headlining the Adrian Flux Waterfront on the same night. Liam Tyson's guitar work remains wonderfully fluid and lyrical, and is frequently spiked with some carefully controlled feedback from the speakers. He has adopted the ZZ-Top style of hirsutism, and is sporting a splendid set of moustache and beard. O'Neill is just thrashing away at his kit just as he always has.

The hits come thick and fast – Flying, Guiding Star, Walkaway and Free Me all earn their spot in the main set, but the new songs are also excellent. The Rain That Falls and Faraway are just two that stood out, along with the album’s title track and Love Is The Call, which is pure Merseyside magic. John Power surely deserves to be up their with Lennon and McCartney as one of Liverpool's finest pop songwriters of all time.

The slightly over-orchestrated wait for an encore is rewarded with yet another new song, Starry Eyes, before being followed with History and the almighty Alright, both lifted from that spectacular debut album All Change.