To be honest this gig should not really have had me reviewing it as I grew up listening to The Jam, The Stranglers and The Clash and anything remotely synth driven was to be avoided at all costs.

Last night’s triple bill at the BIC consisted of Ekkoes who were a new band to me and two bands that are well known not just to me but also to millions of others around the world.

Blancmange and the Human League were to play two great sets that had the crowd on their feet reliving their youth and loving every minute of it.

First things first though. The evening started early with Ekkoes, a four piece from London who certainly fit in with the synth pop driven theme of the evening and did a great job of warming the crowd up.

Considering it was a seven o'clock start and they played their slot in front of a curtain perched right at the front of the stage they delivered a set of originals and covers that showed a lot of promise and deserved the warm reception from the slowly filling Windsor Hall.

After a short break it was the turn of Blancmange to play to a much larger crowd.

Normally a group who could headline their own tour, albeit in smaller venues, I had forgotten that they had a hit with a cover of ABBA’s The Day Before You Came which was the opening number and when delivered along with their own Don’t Tell Me and Living On The Ceiling they supplied an excellent set that was well worth getting to the venue early to hear.

The main event of the evening started in the dark with an almost empty stage, a red backdrop slowly lit the hall as a single figure appeared and launched into Being Boiled.

For the first few minutes all we saw was a silhouette of the man before the lights brightened to reveal the striking figure of Phil Oakey. Sound Of The Crowd quickly followed as did Sky and Heart Like A Wheel.

Susan Sulley and Joanne Catherall joined Phil on stage, the screens parted to reveal the band on a suspended platform, and from then on it was pretty much a greatest hits show.

The backdrop acknowledged the era of the songs by projecting colourful images of Rubik's cubes and Packman games during Soundtrack To A Generation.

From there it was back to silhouette for an excellent solo version of Seconds before he was re-joined by Susan and Jo for The Lebanon, a quick bit of chat from Susan explaining how she had lost her voice before launched into a pretty solid version of One Man.

Human and Louise along with Love Action that had the crowd on their feet, singing and dancing along with more excellent graphics Ending the main set with crowd pleasers Fascination, Mirror Man and the world wide blockbuster Don't You Want Me.

A short encore of Things That Dreams Are Made Of and set closer Electric Dreams had the whole seated venue on their feet to send the band on their way knowing they had delivered a great evening of entertainment.

The overall show was excellent, the backdrop screens lit the stage with sombre reds one minute and a vibrant array of colours the next.

The sound was pretty good although slightly loud for some of the slower tempo tracks. Phil may have lost that early trademark hair style but still cuts a striking figure dressed from head to toe in black and in matrix like mirror shades for half of the show.

More importantly the voice is still as strong and distinctive as it has always been. I retract my earlier dislike and distrust of synth driven music. This was an excellent show, so much so that after thirty-five years it may even have converted me to the cause.