Photo Copyright © Stephen Farrell
Summer is well and truly here now. After a dreadful start, the sun is out as fans stream to outdoor shows all over the country. In Lytham, Lytham Festival is celebrating its tenth anniversary and, with the likes of Kylie still to come, it was up to Welsh rock superstars the Stereophonics to kick start the weekend to a sold-out crowd.
At home playing on stages this size, the Welsh rockers treated their loyal fans to a career-spanning set and, when you consider the fact that it is a career that has spanned over two decades, that is a lot of hits to pack into their two hour set. That they did though as Kelly Jones and the rest of the band powered through hit after hit. From opener “Bartender And The Thief”, the band plundered their catalogue as they dusted off tracks like “Word Gets Around” alongside big hitters like “Have A Nice Day” and “Handbags and Gladrags”. The band even found time to dig up tracks they’d not played in a fair while which, given the amount of songs they could have played, meant this really was a set that had something for Stereophonics new and old, hardcore fans and those who just knew the radio hits.
Even at this stage pin-up frontman Kelly Jones still looks like he loves his time on stage as he joked with the crowd and had them singing along as the Welsh rockers left their mark on the celebrations for Lytham Festival.
Supporting was the brilliant Tom Grennan. The former lived up to their growing reputation with an impressive set while, in Tom Grennan, they couldn’t have picked a better act to warm up the crowd for the main event. The confident, cheeky singer is faultless and, under the warm evening sun, gets this sold-out crowd up on their feet and dancing with ease.
Also supporting the Welsh giants were Sophie and The Giants who were a late replacement for rising star jade Bird. Practitioners of forward-looking, left-leaning emotional pop: a fresh, raw fusion of the band’s collective influences — which range from Siouxsie and Debbie Harry to Radiohead and Jamie T. The band formed at music college in the spring of 2017
