When did music become a nostalgia fest? Probably sometime in the last 40 years birthed by Live Aid I guess. Now we are presented with opportunities to celebrate the anniversaries of classic albums on a regular basis. Usually 10 years, 20 years, 25 years, 30 years, 50 years and more. Then there is the cash in of former huge bands coming back together to squeeze every last drop out of their fan base, often with that most ridiculous development of dynamic ticket pricing. Yes I’m speaking to you Oasis. The press, radio, TV and social media are full of these anniversaries and reunions and it seems there is no slow down in the frequency. But while a part of me finds the whole nostalgia worship thing a little crass I am a part of it and I am one of those people that will purchase anniversary album releases and box sets from my favourite artists, notably David Bowie. (More of him later!)and the occasional reunion tour ticket. Not Oasis, but definitely Gene, who are my favourite 90s band. I never expected them to get back together but I was excited when thy did and I simply had to get a ticket! I finally managed to get one for the Sheffield show, the second gig of their reunion shows. So yes, in spite of my negativity and misgivings I am well and truly on board the nostalgia train!
The evening was opened by a wonderfully skilled and chilled set from two members of Danny and the Champions of the World, billed as Champs Acoustic Duo. Their short set warmed up the crowd perfectly. The highlight for me was “(Never Stop Building) That Old Space Rocket”. When Matt, Kev, Steve and Martin took the stage it was almost as if they had never been away. The keyboard player was none other than the Style Council’s keys maestro Mick Talbot. They opened with a thumping singalong “London, Can You Wait” from their first album, followed swiftly by 1994 single “Be My Light, Be My Guide”. Two songs in and the crowd was lapping it up. The energy stepped up even more for a monumental take on “We Could Be Kings” a 1997 UK top 20 hit. Experiencing Gene in a live environment again made me remember just how many great songs they had. The pre encores set was a stonking nineteen songs with many, many highlights. That part of the set closed with a towering triptych of “Haunted By You”, “Olympian” and “For The Dead”. By this time it seemed that the whole crowd were emotionally drained, it had been a special night, but did we have the passion for more, of course we did!
The band returned for two three song encores the first was a monumentally powerful trio of songs that kick arse on a good day, here they kicked the planet’s arse! Those three tunes were “You’ll Never Walk Again”, “Sick, Sober And Sorry” and a tumultuous “Fighting Fit”. Encore two was very slightly more subdued kicking off with “I Can’t Help Myself”, followed by “Somewhere In The World”. But what a perfect choice the final song was, “Who Said This Was The End?” I sincerely hope this is not the end for such a great band, there are five more dates to come in 2026. Will there be new music? Who knows, but let’s keep our fingers crossed. Honestly it doesn’t feel like the Gene story has arrived at the last page yet.
Before this gig I had seen Gene ten times and I truly believed that it would stay at ten, but then the band reformed, so now I have seen them eleven times, so far. I have only seen three acts more times than I have seen Gene; David Bowie (13), Frank Turner (14) and Avalanche Party (15). See I told you Bowie would get another mention, but the question is will Gene move up my personal gig table, there is clearly a strong chance now! This stands as one of the finest gigs I have ever attended and one that I never thought would happen. Just a final note on the nostalgia thing, I went home with two signed vinyl albums and two t shirts!
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