Inspiral Carpets at the Concorde

Inspiral Carpets - Brighton Concorde2

Baggy nostalgia hit Brighton on Wednesday night when the Inspiral Carpets came to town. I still can't quite remember if I ever saw them live in their prime (at a festival perhaps?) but the opportunity to see them across the road at the Concorde was too good to miss. The gig must have been close to sold out and I've never seen the bar so busy... the crowd were certainly up for it! Thankfully the band's enthusiasm matched the crowd's and they launched into their back catalogue with much gusto. Tom Hingley might be looking a little older and wider these days but he gave it his all, as did the rest of the Inspirals, leaping around the stage and repeatedly coming to the front to shake hands with the fans. The set primarly featured the big hits (as you'd expect) with This Is How It Feels, Dragging Me Down and Saturn 5 sounding as groovy as ever, backed by Clint Boon's terrific Hammond organ sound. Afterwards the band stayed on to spin a few records at the aftershow party, although we didn't hang around for long. Nice to see a band dedicated to having such a good time and so obviously enjoying their second coming!