Stereophonics

Brighton Centre, Monday, March 2

Stereophonics frontman Kelly Jones takes a moment to tell the packed house at the Brighton Centre about how he first began to write music.

The band’s 11-album journey started while he was the last of his siblings to go in the now “black” bathwater on a Sunday in his home village of Cwmaman.

His brothers would take away the tape deck that sat in the bathroom, so little Kelly would be without music –leaving him to play with his wind-up shark and invent melodies himself.

The touching and reflective anecdote sums up the tone for the Welsh four-piece’s powerful and emotive set, kicking off with the punchy C’est La Vie.

Jones appeared to be in a nostalgic mood, waxing lyrical about his childhood and the band’s highs and lows.

Performing in front of a draped curtain backdrop, with strings of fairy-lights cascading across the ceiling, it was all about warmth, sentimentality and maybe a touch of regret.

And in one particularly poignant moment, the 45-year-old sat in a spotlight with his piano and paid tribute to drummer, childhood pal and band founding member Stuart Cable, who died in 2010.

He then launched into a haunting rendition of Before Anyone Knew Our Name.

Jones’s raspy voice drawling “I miss you, man” was enough to move even the stoniest of hearts packing the arena.

It is Stereophonics’ enduring frontman who really elevates a band who continue to forge ahead 23 years on from their debut album Word Gets Around.

He remains one of Britain’s finest songsmiths, and as a frontman is an almost ageless figure as he commands the stage.

And buoyed with the regular band behind him, as well as the occasional addition of a saxophone and keyboard, you can get lost in the sound of Brit rock royalty washing over you.

Henry Holloway