The Bluetones live review by Rob Johnson
I’ve written before about my admiration for the Gorilla Beer Hall in Mexborough, and with Independent Venue Week only just finished, it is heartening to see the venue packed once again with another great booking – Britpop legends The Bluetones – or rather half of The Bluetones with frontman Mark Morriss and guitarist Adam Devlin delivering an acoustic show.
The duo begin with a rousing rendition of ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ from their 2000 album Science & Nature before breaking into a note-perfect performance of classic Britpop single ‘Bluetonic’. In a week in which singer/songwriter Sam Fender has decried the lack of working class voices in the music industry, it’s refreshing to hear songs like ‘Bluetonic’ again to hark back to a time where you seemingly couldn’t walk into a pub without bumping into a group of lads or lasses playing guitars and singing jaunty summery anthems. Anyway. I’ll try not to get too nostalgic. The band themselves are still looking forward after all with ‘Madeline’ and ‘Billy Balfour’ from their 2024 EP Drive Thru offering proof positive that the band are still able to write catchy melodies and a big chorus.
The pair return to the ‘90s with A Parting Gesture, the first of many tracks from their lauded debut album Expecting to Fly, with Morriss noting that when he first played the song for his younger brother and fellow Bluetone Scott Morriss, his sibling didn’t believe that he had written it. The song is a tempestuous, lovelorn ballad in which Morriss desperately intones, ‘You cut me deeply and the scars still show’. It sounds great. The first part of the set closes out with a rendition of ‘Never Going Nowhere’ from their 2003 album Luxembourg, with Morriss wrly noting that the song ‘Roared into the top 40… peaking at number 40’. It’s a typically self-effacing comment from a frontman who knows how to get a crowd on his side.
Morriss and Devlin return to the stage and from this point on, it’s a hit parade with classic singles ‘Marblehead Johnson’ with its insistent riff and ‘The Fountainhead’ from their debut record greeted with enthusiasm by the Mexborough crowd. ‘Slight Return’ follows, and if you squint hard enough, it’s almost like being back in 1996 with everyone singing along with pints held aloft and smiles on faces. It’s a lovely moment and still a brilliant song.
‘Cut Some Rug’ and ‘If…’ close things out with the latter seeing everyone in the room joining in with the ‘Na na na’ refrain, and it is clear from these last three songs why The Bluetones are still able to pack out venues and attract new fans. Great music never goes out of style.
It’s another successful night in Mexborough, and based on this performance, 2025 looks rosy for both The Bluetones and the Gorilla Beer Hall.
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