OUR Deloreons travelled 88mph and took us all back to 1987. These post-Rubik’s cube and deely bobbers bands are not your standard Eighties retro fare coming along much later.

First up, The Christians sauntered to the stage, surprising many of the crowd who disbelieved the 7.30pm start time. The sparse set saw Gary Christian looking untouched by the years, adding rich harmonies to Ideal World, Forgotten Town and a much edgier, guitar-fuelled Hooverville.

The evening ended with crowd-pleasers Go West, whose anthems Don’t Look Down and Faithful had the signature vocals of Pete Cox lost in the mix. It took until Tracks Of My Tears to hear his true power and control.

The house lights lifted for the audience to join in We Close Our Eyes and everybody rallied round King Of Wishful Thinking from Pretty Woman. A surprise inclusion was pub rock favourite Sex On Fire, rejuvenating the youth in the 50 year olds watching on.

But sandwiched between the two were Hue And Cry: two brothers, one piano and a voice that Mother Nature must have thought “That’s how I want it to sound”.

Pat Kane playing ringmaster with his effortless charm; they are a class act. Eyebrows were raised as his Sammy Davis Jr vocals filled every crevice of the Opera House from Ordinary Angel and Looking For Linda to Last Request by Paulo Nutini.

These three acts never quite sat at pop’s top table but they left us with songs that have aged well– songs that may have passed their “sell by” but are far too good to have an expiry date.