OMD frontman Andy McCluskey told the York Barbican audience: “This is the first time we’ve played York. It’s taken us 39 years.”

The reception they got from fans was ecstatic, many of whom were taking a nostalgic trip to a time when mortgages, careers and parental concerns were less intrusive.

The Liverpudlian band were one of several 80s collectives that pioneered electronic music, following in the footsteps of Kraftwerk, whose influence was strikingly apparent at this gig.

Dressed in black trousers and shirts (and looking alarmingly like followers of Oswald Mosley), the quartet played songs from McCluskey and Paul Humphreys' latest album, The Punishment Of Luxury, and mined their back catalogue to the delight of the audience.

McCluskey seemed to borrow his angular dance moves from Ian Curtis of Joy Division and encouraged everyone to dance.

A nice touch was when he introduced Julia Kneale, a former bandmate who now lives in York. She wrote one of the band’s early tracks Julia’s Song, and was cheered by the audience.

Stuart Kershaw on drums was brilliantly precise and powerful, the light show was terrific and the audience loved it. Enola Gay, an anti-war song about Hiroshima, brought the house down. But the songs, driven by synthesisers, remain oddly soulless.

When Martin Cooper picked up his saxophone for a solo, you could feel another dimension open up, only to close again 40 seconds later. Dozens of iPhones held by audience members captured the experience. Technology is here to stay, but it’s not a guarantee of great music.