After informing my buddies I was seeing Ocean Colour Scene, I got a few giggles and jeers from my fellow Gen X music fanatics in our WhatsApp group the day of the gig. I should start this review by telling you I’m American. Sorry about that. This is important because, on the other side of the Atlantic, we never heard much of this 90s UK pop group. The first OCS notes to ever enter my ears emanated last summer from the Acoustic tent at Glastonbury. I walked by and thought “hey, these guys are purty good.” So when I spotted them on a bill at the Bristol Beacon on April 9th, a newly revamped venue I love, I requested to cover it.
So yeah, my preconception was that Ocean Colour Scene were simply nostalgia-driven 90s Brit-pop also-rans with a couple of sing-alongs. Maybe that’s why my friends laughed?
The preconception was wrong. What I got at the Beacon was a set jam-packed with rock jams from incredibly accomplished musicians whose fan base may sing along to the “ooh las,” but spends most of the performance enraptured in a soundscape. Steve Cradocks virtuosic guitar playing elevates the tunes into a bombastic experience, with a fiery sound from the 60s that isn’t the same brand of 4-chord “trad rock” you hear from their 90s contemporaries, but full of timeless licks that are straight-up fun to listen to. Oscar Harrison holds down a strong fort in the back, pulling off exciting drumming without being flashy. Tightly knit, these guys.
The band opened with the popular hit “The Circle”, a soaring masterpiece everyone but me well knew, then Ocean Colour Scene circled through their entire catalogue. Fans were very happy, and those less familiar were impressed. It’s a show for everyone. Here’s the full set list. I’ve got some curious afterthoughts below…
The Circle
I Just Need Myself
You’ve Got it Bad
One for the Road
Families
Fleeting Minds
July
Up on the Downside
So Low
Profit in Peace
Hundred Mile High City
Mrs. Jones
Emily Chambers
She’s Been Writing
The Riverboat Song
Better Day / Live Forever
Drive Away
Get Blown Away
Travellers Tune
Get Away
Encore:
Robin Hood (Simon solo acoustic)
The Day We Caught the Train
So, several days after seeing the show, I’m still befuddled by the amount of ridicule I now know these guys have been handed. Like most victims of bullying, perhaps they never quite fit in. No shocking media stunts or experiments with dance music. Just working-class musicians playing tunes they like, some of which were catchy enough to be on the radio. I’m getting “Hootie hate” flashbacks from my shores during the same era, and perhaps there is a common thread. Jangle rock from a mixed-race group. Huh. But whatever, the snarky comments don’t seem to faze Ocean Colour Scene, they plough on and their 2025 tour is well attended and lots of fun. Oh, and btw, Oasis didn’t “bring back guitar music,” it’s always been here, and lesser-known acts like Ocean Colour Scene do it just as good. Get you some tickets.
(P.S. As for deserved ridicule, Kula Shaker opened. I hope Crispin Mills pays his backing musicians well and that they have other projects. They are good players. Crispin, however, is cringe incarnate. Unless you are dying to listen to a white boy whose gap year became a gap decade spending mums money playing a sitar around a campfire, skip the support act. OMG I had to get a large drink after. I hope my WhatsApp group forgives me for that.)