In the 11 years since they began rehearsing in the bass player’s grandfather’s scaffold yard, Blossoms have completed a metamorphosis from bowl-cutted indie psychedelic types to dewy-eyed keyboard-driven bouncing pop. The Stockport quintet’s four No 1 albums position them somewhere between early Arctic Monkeys and a poppier New Order. They’ve built up a loyal and loud fanbase, who hold two-pint glasses of lager aloft tonight and have clearly come for a cheery, beery sing-song.
The audience bellow every line of opener Your Girlfriend and even yell along with the instrumental bits of I Can’t Stand It. Vocalist Tom Ogden doesn’t bother with the first verse of The Keeper, knowing the crowd will sing it for him. The atmosphere is something like an indie-pop Last Night of the Proms, although sonically, with the musicians almost inaudible at times, it’s more like hearing a pub full of people singing to a jukebox.
