Sleeper, Pink Kink: Arts Club, Liverpool

Sleeper take the Arts Club back to the mid-90’s, and Getintothis’ Will Neville was amongst those reliving their youth.

How to do the reunion thing?

There are a few options. You can decide to whitewash history and just focus on making new music a la Wire. You can get a bit curmudgeonly about having to play the old hits, like Dexys and Blondie. Or you can weave the old and the new together seamlessly, trying to relive former glories to somewhat diminishing returns. Witness Pixies and Ride.

Or there’s the pure nostalgia route, which is what Sleeper are doing right now. Perhaps they’ll stick around long enough to make a fourth album, but for now it’s just back to the mid-90’s, a time when Louise Wener and co had three top 10 albums and eight Top 40 singles, back when that meant they actually sold a fair few records.

Sleeper are still fronted by Wener, with guitarist Jon Stewart and drummer Andy Maclure also present from the original line-up. While not offering anything at all cutting edge (like the rest of the Britpop movement, really), Sleeper still offer a little more heft than contemporaries such as Echobelly and Lush.

Both Sides Now: call out for Stealing Sheep’s Suffrage Tribute

After the traditional introductory theme from Cheers, the band strode out onto the Arts Club stage to a rapturous welcome from an audience unsurprisingly dominated by forty-something males, who evidently loved the band from their youth.

A triple whammy of tunes from debut album Smart got things going, with the band clearly thoroughly enjoying themselves, as though they couldn’t quite believe they were back doing this, and being so feted for it.

Louise kept her between-song chat to a minimum, but introduced Delicious by telling the crowd that it had been recorded up the road in Parr Street Studios, produced by Ian Broudie.

They then jumped to sophomore long player The It Girl for several songs before the set peaked for this writer with a brace of high points, firstly their cover of Blondie’s Atomic from the Trainspotting soundtrack.

This was enlivened by a snatch of The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army riff in the middle by Stewart, while the song featured some impressive drumming from Maclure.

The one-two smash was completed with their first Top 40 hit, Inbetweener, that reached number sixteen in the charts. This time, the highlight was Jon Stewart guitar work.

For some reason, third LP Pleased To Meet You has been airbrushed from their history as they only played one track not to feature on either of the first two records.

The set ended with Feeling Peaky which was segued into Lou Reed’s Satellite Of Love, before the band returned after not all that much encouragement for a three-song encore.

Debut album’s Alice In Vain was introduced as being from “our grunge period”, with the evening ending with their first Top 10 hit, Sale Of The Century. Patently heartfelt thanks from the band were returned with much love from the throng at the front of the stage as a successful nostalgia-fest was completed.

The night had opened with local act Pink Kink, playing their first show as a four piece, having shed their sole male member.

They’re a fun, bouncy, eclectic live presence, with post-punk circa 1979 at their heart. The opening number brought to mind a cross between X-Ray Spex and The Slits, with the next song more a mix of Young Marble Giants and Marine Girls.

The closest contemporary point of comparison is probably Stealing Sheep, although much harsher and bubbly, but equally bonkers. In a good way.

They closed with their glorious Munchie Magic, a fabulous mix of Shonen Knife and The Rezillos – “tangy cheesy pizza boyfriend” indeed.

Images by Getintothis’ Lucy McLachlan

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