Ocean Colour Scene performing at Doncaster Racecourse on Saturday 5th August 2017.


Images and Review by Kevin Cooper

The 5.35pm horse race had finished at the lovely Doncaster Racecourse, and with the sun high in the sky, it was left to one of Birmingham’s best ever bands, Ocean Colour Scene to round off the day’s entertainment, and they did not disappoint.

On stage behind a green mesh fence, Simon Fowler, Steve Cradock, drummer Oscar Harrison and band mates Ray Meade and Dan Sealey, must have thought that they had gate crashed a wedding reception. Looking out to a sea of smart suits, designer dresses and feather fascinators, they blasted straight into The Riverboat Song, with its famous riff which heralded the start of a 19 song set.

It is over 21 years since OCS’s album, Moseley Shoals entered the charts and The Riverboat Song was loved so much that Chris Evans made it the theme tune to his TFI Friday show, proving that it was an absolute gem of a record, played by a brilliant group of musicians. And last night as the crowd showed their appreciation for a song that hasn’t aged a jot, they shouted back the words to front man, Fowler.

There were other nods to their iconic album with You Got It Bad and the flat out masterpiece that is The Circle, but there were songs from their other releases with Profit In Peace and So Low being given an airing from 1999’s One From The Modern and Up On The Downside from 2001’s Mechanical Wonder.

They launched into Better Day and Get Blown Away, proving that they were never one album wonders, whilst One For The Road earned one of the biggest cheers of the night as Pimm’s and Prosecco were triumphantly held aloft.

OCS stuck firmly to their roots and whilst for some they may have been just the after race entertainment, there was no doubt that many of this appreciative crowd had bought their race cards just so that they could be a part of this OCS performance. Because that is what OCS has; a loyal and faithful following who know all the words to their songs and who belt them back at them with full force.

With Fowler’s vocals remaining as unique as they did when the band first arrived on the scene, and when Cradock closed the set to ecstatic whoops with another blistering solo on Hundred Mile High City, there is no doubt that they still have a dedicated fan base.

For the encore they delved back into Moseley Shoals for Robin Hood and The Day We Caught The Train, which for the dedicated fans, took them straight back to Knebworth in 1996 when OCS were on the same bill as Oasis and starting out on their journey. That band no longer exists but thankfully OCS are still around and entertaining their diehard fans, and on last night’s showing, certainly making new ones along the way.