O2 Forum Kentish Town, London, UK (05 Aug 2017)
Star Shaped Festival

Walking onto stage to the Cheers TV show theme song Where Everybody Knows Your Name, the crowd warming up their vocal chords for the hour ahead, the four piece open with debut album close Pyrotechnician, the opening lyrics “Throw me your matches ‘cos I like to burn stuff” spurring fans to throw matches towards the stage before the song takes flight, propelling the crowd to start their relentless pogoing.

“Hello Star Shaped London people, you look gorgeous!” Wener yells. “It’s been a long time and you haven’t changed a bit” she continues, a little tongue in cheek. “You look delicious” she smirks, introducing 1994 single Delicious. The hits continue thick and fast, The It Girl’s opener Lie Detector following on seamlessly from the hit album’s lead single What Do I Do Know?

Statuesque rolls into 1995 single Vegas (my personal favourite) and the crowd are visibly more engaged, be that due to the music or the copious amounts of beer consumed – which has already taken its toll on a few, one particularly legless fifty-something being carried out of a side door.

“Are you drunk enough for A tonic yet?” the 51-year-old frontwoman asks, teasing the group’s cover of Blondie hit Atomic before diving into disco tune Nice Guy Eddie, Wener making her signature shapes on stage as though she’d never been away, let alone taking a break of almost two decades.

One of the few bands to make it onto the cult soundtrack of the even more cult 1996 film Trainspotting, their cover of Blondie classic Atomic from the film airs next ahead of Smart single Inbetweener and the first of only two cuts from third studio album Pleased To Meet You, She’s A Good Girl. A three-song encore concluding with biggest hit Sale Of The Century sees Sleeper depart the stage.