Stereophonics’ Kelly Jones is a man of few words. Some of the only ones he spoke to the crowd came before his band’s most recent single Right Place, Right Time.
“I took a very long walk on a very hot day, had a very long drink and thought how did I get here?” he said. “Then I wrote this song.”
A long time at the top
The Welsh group’s route to this summer, whose schedule brought them on Sunday to the stage of Summer Sessions at Slessor Gardens in Dundee, has been a long one.
In fact, lots of long-time fans might have been amazed when the 48-year-old Jones pointed out it’s been 25 years since the band’s debut album Word Gets Around was released.
In the decades since, the singer and the song have remained remarkably unchanged.
It’s just that the number of songs has increased, with the Stereophonics’ repertoire now stretching to a two-hour, 23-song set, most of which are familiar radio hits.
Most, but not all, and on a chilly Sunday night down by the Tay, maybe a handful of them could have been cut to create a more streamlined experience.
Anthem after anthem
A section of less widely-known material in the middle – like the redemptive Fly Like an Eagle, the U2-like anthem White Lies and the building, low-key All I Have is You from this year’s 12th album Oochya! – is perfect for the completist’s concert hall set, but here the crowd’s attention drifted during the dip.
Besides, the band have anthem after lighters-aloft anthem, and songs like Maybe Tomorrow, Traffic, Indian Summer and their cover of Handbags and Gladrags provided plenty of swaying, emotive festival moments.
Then they have a bunch of lively rockers, and the crowd took their chance to bounce along when Hanging On Your Hinges, A Thousand Trees and The Bartender and the Thief appeared.
An encore comprising the swaggering Sunny and its country-rock solo, the ever-beloved Just Looking and the streamlined set closer Dakota demonstrated exactly how they got here – by writing big, popular songs for years on end.
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