In pictures: Ocean Colour Scene return to Cambridge Corn Exchange

Britpop icons Ocean Colour Scene performed at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Friday, 11 April, with fellow 90s ‘keepers-of-the-flame’ Kula Shaker opening the show.

My friend with whom I went told me that he had seen Ocean Colour Scene at this same venue 23 years ago.

I don’t know how many times the band have been back since but there’s still clearly a huge demand to see them, as the gig was sold out and had been for a while.

The group also played Audley End last year and are due to do so again this summer - for anyone in the Cambridge area hoping to see them again soon.

Having never really been a fan of Kula Shaker back in the day, they truly impressed me tonight.

Opening with the bombastic 303, a song with which I wasn’t familiar, the Crispian Mills-led quartet - now once again featuring its classic line-up - delivered a blistering set.

I found a new appreciation for 90s favourites such as Tattva and Govinda (I’d always admired their version of Deep Purple’s Hush) and their new single, Charge of the Light Brigade, was also first-rate.

“Thank you to Ocean Colour Scene for inviting us to the party!” said Crispian.

Ocean Colour Scene - the four-piece mod revivalists led by singer Simon Fowler and guitarist Steve Cradock and backed by two further musicians (two of the band members’ sons) - came out to a wildly enthusiastic reception.

Beginning with the rousing The Circle, a song from their best-known and most successful album, Moseley Shoals, the boys continued this early momentum with the groovy I Just Need Myself and the stuttery You’ve Got It Bad.

There were plenty of slower songs too, the first of them being the melodic and really rather lovely One for the Road.

Although I found one or two of the tunes a bit average and lacking real excitement, there were undoubtedly some outstanding musical moments.

Profit in Peace, for one, was an anthemic sing-along, while the explosive Hundred Mile High City nearly raised the roof.

Mrs Jones, a beautiful song, was powerfully sung by Simon, who a couple of songs later explained that he wrote the ethereal She's Been Writing for Sandy Denny, “one of my favourite singers”.

My favourite Ocean Colour Scene tune, The Riverboat Song, sounded as euphoric as ever, and further highlights included the gorgeous Drive Away and the jaunty Travellers Tune, which had a highly entertaining video backdrop of young people dancing at a party in the 1970s.

The impassioned psychedelic rock heard on Get Blown Away was the ideal way to close out the main set, before Simon came back out, acoustic guitar in hand, to brilliantly sing the tender Robin Hood, which included a snippet of Oasis’ Live Forever at the end.

The final song of the evening was, unsurprisingly, The Day We Caught the Train, Ocean Colour Scene’s signature song.

While it’s undeniably a crowd-pleaser, I’ve never much cared for it myself. That said, I appreciate its long-since-proven ability to stir up an audience keen to relive their youth, thus making it a fitting way to say goodbye.

Two bands from the 90s who’ve definitely still ‘got it’, what more could one ask of a Friday night gig?