‘Then you suddenly smiled, you took me by surprise.’

There were miles of smiles on the sprung dancefloor of the Ritz on Whitworth Street West, Manchester, when Haircut One Hundred came to town on Wednesday night, these early ‘80s pop-funk and soul masters peeling back the years for a cracking set built around wondrous early ’82 bestselling debut LP Pelican West, with a few added surprises and two new songs thrown in.

A note of commendation before I get stuck in for dynamic five-piece pop support act Barbara, built around Henry and John Tydeman, the latter’s Harry Styles meets Mika demeanour and the Brighton brothers’ tank tops perhaps a nod to what was to come. The name suggests they’ve lived next door to me at some point since the mid-90s, but that’s not the actual case. Musically, they were spot on, with plenty of pop craft, professionalism (I suspect one of those rock schools was involved) and, well, let’s face it, confidence, reminding me somewhat of The Feeling, and heard recently on Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, no less. Check them out. I reckon they’ll go far.

And then, exactly 42 years beyond their own first memorable single, ‘Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)’, Nick Heyward (lead vocals, guitar), Graham Jones (guitar) and Les Nemes (bass) were on top form throughout, a recent health episode for drummer Blair Cunningham ruling him out, but with deputising drummer, Andy Treacey, and percussionist, Sian Monaghan, both fantastic, as were brass trio, Gareth Lumbers (sax), Sam Ewens (trumpet) and Dave Horden (trombone). ‘Bring on the trumpet brigade,’ indeed.

Yes, we missed Blair, but three of his former bandmates did him and the band proud. Nick and Graham did a lot of the talking and seemed to love every minute. As for Les, he told us early on, ‘I know I look miserable, but I’m just concentrating,’ suggesting he was having a grand old time on the inside. And there was no doubting that either.

There was also the band’s take on Nick’s ‘Blue Hat for a Blue Day’, a sign of maybe what could have been if the Haircuts’ union lasted a little longer (for the record, I love the main man’s North of a Miracle, and also have a soft spot for Paint and Paint, the Nick-less Haircuts’ follow-up record, so I’m well and truly happy sat upon that fence). As for those new songs, Graham told me, ‘The Unloving Plum’ was the pop and ‘Soul Bird’ the funky one.’ And I enjoyed them both, the former having hit written all over it for this punter, in a Lightning Seeds-like way.

Talking of pop, Nick had the presence of mind to see the quality in Harry Styles’ ‘As It Was’, the hit song the band covered for Ken Bruce’s BBC Radio 2 Piano Room show at Maida Vale in February, here an integral, inspired part of the encore.

Other moments of note? Well, just nine nights after the tour kicked off at Limelight in Belfast (followed by shows in Dublin, Newcastle and Edinburgh) they didn’t put a foot wrong all night, far as I was concerned, and ‘Nobody’s Fool’, not my favourite Haircuts’ single, sounded far better live than I remembered it. But I guess most of the smiles in my case came as a result of the aired album tracks I hoped would be in there… and didn’t disappoint. Step up scene-setting opener ‘Baked Beans’ and the glorious ‘Milk Film’, the latter bringing to mind, as Nick concurred, countryside summer drives in a Triumph Herald… and what’s not to love there.

‘Glad that I live am I, glad that the sky is blue.
Glad for the country lanes, glad for the fall of dew.’

Then there was ‘Snow Girl’, ‘Lemon Fire Brigade’, ‘Love’s Got Me in Triangles’, ‘Kingsize (You’re My Little Steam Whistle)’, and two tracks apparently previously never played live, ‘Marine Boy’ and the track quoted at the top of this review, ‘Surprise Me Again’, which summed it all up so well. What glorious fare. I and many more were in their element.

As for those wondrous big hits, I was surprised how fresh ‘Love Plus One’ – arguably the song I’ve heard too much on the radio down the years – sounded. The same goes for ‘Fantastic Day’, which proved such a blast of unadulterated, celebratory joy, with rousing singalongs and huge smiles to the fore, aft and wherever you looked and listened. And while I’m not a big one for repeated live tracks, the night’s second outing for ‘Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)’ – a 12″ take that went, as Nick promised, ‘like the clappers’ – worked wonderfully.

Just one notable omission, far as I could tell, and I was reminded of that as my fellow attendee and I struggled back across the road through rainy, blustery Babet-powered storm swirls to nearby Oxford Road station – ‘Calling Captain Autumn’. However, I gather, ‘the opening has Blair’s signature drum intro, which is hard to emulate! So it’s his…’ And I can’t argue with that either.

These boys certainly crafted classic pop songs and added a soulful quality that was so of its time, but one that certainly stands that longevity test too. All power to their collective guitar-chugging elbows. There are lots more dates to come, and I can’t recommend a better soulful pop-tinged night out right now. This was instant nostalgia, but so much more than that.

All live shots courtesy/copyright of Rob Kerford at Sonic PR.

To gaze back at this website’s December 2022 feature./interview with Haircut One Hundred’s Graham Jones, head here. And for a WriteWyattUK feature/interview starring Nick Heyward, from July 2017, head here.

For all the latest from Haircut 100, head here. And for more about Barbara, try this link.