GRAHAM Gouldman may be but 2.5cc of the original 10cc, but with band stalwarts Rick Fenn and Paul Burgess and multi-instrumentalists in Mike Stevens and the versatile Mick Wilson, we have 100 per cent of a great band.

These gnarled veterans have been playing live for years and could probably do it in their sleep, but still turn in an effervescent show, which is basically every 10cc single you can think of, plus the sublime oldie Old Wild Men, the indulgent Feel The Benefit and the jaunty From Rochdale to Ocho Ricos.

Gouldman has been touring this greatest hits package for some years now and a near-full concert hall is testament to the enduring popularity of music from the band often dubbed ‘the next Beatles’ in their heyday, but to this fan better described as ‘the first 10cc’.

The evening followed the regular pattern with Gouldman and co performing, simply, just with guitars, some of the great songs he wrote at an achingly early age – For Your Love, No Milk Today, Bus Stop for example – as their own support act.

The main event after the interval is magical, with five blokes recreating the complex, multi-layered, painstakingly-constructed sound of 10cc in a live environment.

It’s remarkable that songs such as I’m Mandy, Fly Me can be performed so faithfully, but with each musician so comfortable in their role, and with Wilson so often at the forefront, the difficult is made to look easy.

Highlights included Life Is A Minestrone, The Dean And I and the timeless I’m Not In Love, although Wilson’s vocals seem a little harsher than Eric Stewart’s on this.

The encore of Across The Universe in tribute to John Lennon and a stomping Rubber Bullets (complete with sax solo) rounded off a polished evening.

After seeing this show twice now, however, I would perhaps like to see a few more album tracks included instead of the lesser singles. Maybe Une Nuit A Paris would prove a worthwhile challenge, or Don’t Hang Up, The Sacro-Iliac or I Wanna Rule The World.

But that’s a minority view as the sustained applause certainly showed 10cc are giving the audience what they want at the moment.