IT was a trip back in time to the heady days of the mid-nineties Britpop era for the crowd which gathered at the Sugar House on Sunday evening.
The Bluetones were ending their Expecting to Fly tour with a visit to Lancaster to showcase their first album.
Perhaps reminding us how long has passed since the band was one of the names on everyone's lips, brothers Mark and Scott Morriss appear
ed on stage sporting impressive beards while lead singer Mark wore a sensible beige zip-up cardigan.
The band ran seamlessly through the entire Expecting to Fly album - which included hits Slight Return, Cut Some Rug and Bluetonic - transporting the crowd straight back to 1996 with ease.
At times the evening had the impression of a band going through the motions but at least Morriss sang with a smile on his face and enjoyed some banter with the crowd, particularly some of the more enthusiastic fans, between songs.
Running through a complete album in track order meant I'd not heard some of the songs since the CD started gathering dust on a shelf a fair while back, but it was nice to hear the mix of popular and lesser known tracks, as an alternative to the 'greatest hits' tour the band could have chosen to run with.
The encore consisted of an eclectic mix of songs, from covers of Buffalo Springfield's late 60s classic Expecting to Fly and Sam Sparro's Black and Gold to a selection of Bluetones B-sides, as well as the more well-known Are You Blue Or Are You Blind and Marblehead Johnson, before ending with a storming rendition of If to send the crowd home on a high note to end their weekend.
