ShareTom Bailey performing his Greatest Hits UK Tour with special guest Blancmange at Rock City Nottingham on Friday 26th September 2026.
Images and Review by Kevin Cooper
On Friday night there was a queue outside of Rock City that almost reached the Goose Fair site and what an absolute night of pure nostalgia that a sold out crowd were treated to as they were taken back into the 1980’s by Neil Arthur’s Blancmange and Tom Bailey’s Thompson Twins.
Blancmange were massive in 1980 but were mainly under the radar. But that didn’t stop Arthur from writing some really great music. Hit after massive hit followed in their eleven song set which included Feel Me, Waves and Living On The Ceiling all from their debut album, Happy Families. Also included was the bizarrely brilliant spoken word piece, What’s The Time? but it was a cover of Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get Enough that ignited the crowd with their raised arms as they belted the words out.
With the venue swathed in floods of royal blue light, Tom Bailey took to the stage accompanied by three very talented female band members. Obviously his set was littered with Thompson Twins’ songs, like his opener In The Name Of Love but he supplemented it with some solo work such as Science Fiction which was very well received.
There was the humongous You Take Me Up which exploded into life with the crowd belting out the words in a full blown flashback to their youth. On Shooting Star and We Are Detective the crowd went into full overdrive, singing and dancing for all they’re worth.
A cover of the Talking Heads classic Psycho Killer was a real highlight and went down a storm before a blinding Doctor! Doctor! finished his main set. For the encore there was a storming version of Love On Your Side before he closed with the utterly magnificent Hold Me Now that had the crowd swaying and singing at the top of their voices.
Both Blancmange and Tom Bailey had delivered first class performances with neither of their voices showing any signs of age. They were as on point as they were way back in the day, still managing to deliver a gig of pure pop perfection and taking the crown for what was undoubtedly the concert of the year.
