NICK HEYWARD, former leader of early eighties band Haircut 100 visited Stockton Arc this week as part of a rare UK tour, laying on a wonderful night of guitar driven pop music. Heyward’s live dates outside of the ever popular Rewind style events are rare and he clearly enjoyed the opportunity of delivering an expanded, two hour set.

In black polo shirt, blue jeans and paisley jacket, and sporting a beautiful, sunburst Gibson 330 guitar, Heyward opened with ‘Love Plus One’, and then delved straight into material from his debut solo album with ‘Take That Situation’, ‘On A Sunday’ and ‘Whistle Down The Wind’.

The ebullient Heyward still has a terrific voice, and it was a real treat to hear these songs live again. But it wasn’t a night dedicated solely to nostalgia. Last year Heyward released his first album for almost two decades, the deservedly well received ‘Woodland Echoes’, and several of its tracks featured including ‘Beautiful Morning’, ‘Baby Blue Sky’ and the romantic ‘Perfect Sunday Sun’.

His cover of the old Beatles’ track ‘Dr Robert’ was well received, and it was good to hear material from his mid-90s album ‘Tangled’ in the form of ‘London’ and ‘Rollerblade’ after which he apologised to the front row for the volume.

There’s only one way to wind up a Nick Heyward concert, and it was no surprise to find the set closing with a return to the Haircut 100 material as ‘Favourite Shirts’ and ‘Fantastic Day’ roused the audience to their feet and had us all singing along.

Dave Lawrence