It’s a sticky Friday bank holiday evening as I make my way across town to Grand Central, every time I visit this place I’m taken a back by its Victorian beauty.

I find my seat up in the circle and I enjoy the first of 3 bands, all local acts, on tonight’s bill. The Sonder are on early at 7pm but they still manage to get the crowd dancing and whistling, with their tight sound of funky bass lines, sharp guitar solos, and great vocals, this band certainly are ones to look out for in the future and they seem to have brought a few fans with them for tonight’s show.

 Before we know it we have our second band on the stage for the evening, the much loved, The Real People turn the volume up a bit with their unique brand of psychedelic “scouse-rock.” Great vocals from Chris and Tony Griffiths and Everyday’s The Same stand out for me, as it sounds very fitting considering what we’ve all experienced over the last year, indeed Tony tells us that they’ve had such a great time after not being on stage for 18 months. 

 Finally, we have our headline act, Space. The large projection screen above the stage says “Space sideshow, the strangest show on earth!” and Space might actually be Liverpool’s strangest band, in the nicest possible way of course. It’s a great start as the band sound on from playing Money, Tommy says he’s really nervous and his hands are shaking, it’s understandable as it has been 20 months since they were last on stage.

Kill Switch really works as a live song and Begin Again has people on their feet dancing with hands in the air. The band plays Avenging Angels and we get an even louder cheer and people are even dancing here in the circle! The Ballad of Tom Jones then really sets the place on fire. 

 Tommy dedicates Mr. Psycho to his mum, telling us how she used to dance around her kitchen listening to this song, he also tells us how his mum used to cut his hair, and one time she gave him a Mohican. 

Nearly every girl in the house (and a good few fellas too) go nuts and are on their feet, rushing the stage as the lads play Female of the Species, Tommy jumps into the crowd, still singing, he is lovingly embraced by his people,

amazing scenes here, the temperature then moves up a few more degrees as the band move into Neighbourhood. 

 We witnessed a triumphant return from the scouse 4-pice piece tonight and Fran, Phil, Allan and Tommy were all in fine fettle.

This was the first night of the bands ‘Music for Pleasure, Music for Pain tour, and if you haven’t seen them live yet, be sure to go and check them out, Space always put on a great show and everybody enjoyed themselves tonight.

A big shout-out must also go to Matt from Glasswerk for getting this night on in challenging times, it felt safe and fun and I’m looking forward to more shows here at Grand Central.  

 David Lancaster, 28 May 2021.