Stereophonics kick off Kind tour in style in Sheffield

Hitting the road in support of their 11th studio album, and seventh chart-topper, the band kept the new stuff to a minimum – just five tracks out of a packed 24-song setlist – as the thousands of fans were treated a string of hit singles.

Admittedly, frontman Kelly Jones’s sometimes subdued demeanour and the flat audience reaction to the new material meant at times it felt a bit like an early-evening wedding band – not helped by the set resembling a marquee with a white ruffled curtain stage backdrop and hundreds of fairy lights in the ceiling – but there was no doubt the crowd were loving it by the noise which greeted the band’s many hits.

Maybe Tomorrow, Have a Nice Day and the caustic Mr Writer in the first half of the set had everyone firmly on side as the band made good use of the runway stretching deep into the middle of the venue – Local Boy in the Photograph performed by the whole band at its far end thanks to a special drum kit set up for Jamie Morrison.

Guitarist Adam Zindani couldn’t hide his enjoyment on stage, grinning like a kid who in a sweet shop, but while Kelly Jones’s musicianship was never in doubt, at times he appeared to be going through the motions, ploughing through song after song with little emotion on his face.

When he did pause to address the crowd, he had them hanging on every word as he joked about bathtime as a child, funding Handbags and Gladrags writer Mike d’Abo’s conservatory and the inspiration behind some of the 160 songs he’d written, as well supporting the Rolling Stones.

That tale of gatecrashing Keith Richards’s dressing room ended with Kelly affectionately branding the band’s former drummer Stuart Cable “a liability” before he sat at the piano to launch into a beautiful solo rendition of Before Anyone Knew Our Name, a tribute to Cable, who died in 2010, aged just 40.

The set finished in style with The Bartender and the Thief before an encore featuring Just Looking and ending with the band’s only number one single, Dakota, which had the whole venue up on their feet dancing to end the show on a real high note.

The tour continues in Birmingham tonight. Other shows include Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena on Saturday, March 7, and Manchester Arena on Friday, March 13.