Wet Wet Wet

Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow JJJJ

These are potentially nervewracking times for Wet Wet Wet. Having lost the face of their band, with the departure of frontman Marti Pellow, they have found the voice in Kevin Simm, a modest northerner who previously took his place in reality TV pop band Liberty X before proving himself as the winner of the 2016 edition of The Voice.

There were encouraging heckles for Simm from the off, making only his fourth appearance with the band, and his second on their home turf. His soul pop tones are not so different from Pellow’s and, though he undoubtedly lacked Pellow’s charismatic presence, neither is he cheesy, cheeky chappie, so he simply served the songs – and the catalogue of hits was offered on a plate, with uplifting brass section on top. Sweet Little Mystery stoked a Saturday night party, while the dole soul of Wishing I Wasluckywassoundingfresh at 32 years young.

Simm showed off his testifying chops on Temptation and bust some vocal runs at the end of Julia Says. Undoubtedly, there is more he could do with the material to put his own stamp on it but for now the aim appeared to be assuring fans of continuity.

A new sharp soul song, Love Wars, was almost apologetically proffered before the entire band let loose on With a Little Help From My Friends, done the barnstorming Joe Cocker way, with the funky Lip Service and Theme from Shaft-referencing I Can Give You Everything paving the way for lighter-waving catharsis of their monster hit Love Is All Around.