Gig review: Stereophonics, Glasgow Hydro

* *

For all that it showed this most conservative of British rock bands to be no closer than ever to striking upon a radical idea – even just an adventurous one would do after nearly two decades – it likewise confirmed their fans seem only to be swelling in number.

The Welsh group are something of a lone standard bearer for certain rockist values in these post-Oasis times, and that maybe goes part-way to explaining their unassailable popularity. Frontman Kelly Jones, bassist Richard Jones and guitarist Adam Zindani all emerged slinging their instruments like shotguns throughout sludgy opener Catacomb. Some new songs, Graffiti on the Train for one, were washed with synthesised orchestration and spoke to tropes of mid-career maturity creeping into their sound.