Gig review: Cast

NOEL Gallagher once described watching Cast live as a "religious experience". Back then - almost 16 years ago - the Liverpudlians' simplistic brand of indie-pop could hardly have been likened to a life-changing encounter with the divine, but this run through of Cast's debut album, All Change, was something of a born-again experience, as both band and fans soaked themselves in a big, steamy bath of nostalgia.

"Not at T in the Park, no?" quipped Cast frontman, John Power, his fuzzy shock of hair sporting a woolly tinge of grey. A large chorus of boos rang out in reply, suggesting, perhaps, Scotland's premier music festival in Balado is now very much a young man's game. Indeed, the 30-plus audience were here, like Cast, to down a few beers, have a good old sing-along and party like it was 1995.

Sure enough, Finetime doesn't so much "make a change" as remain firmly the same. Walkaway - the soundtrack to many a footballing loss on the TV - had punters raising their pint glasses instead of looking at the bottom of them. And while Power half-apologised for playing something "new" (that is, a tune recorded in the 21st century), Alright, it would appear, remains firmly A-OK in the eyes of those who grew up on a staple diet of Oasis, Reef and Blur.

No dazzling Second Coming, then, for the Merseysiders. None the less, it was still nice to see them again.