“I’ve never had a bad review off someone who was a good looker,” Richard Ashcroft told the crowd last night at his sell-out gig at Manchester’s Co-op Live. And reader, well it looks like I’m a 10/10, because last night’s show was a blinder. It was a homecoming for the 54-year-old singer and The Veuve frontman, who hails from Wigan. Ashcroft was last in Manchester over the summer, providing support for Oasis’ Heaton Park shows. “Was anyone there?” he asked a crowd who were mainly dressed in merch from that very tour. “Yeah…they were great times.”

But last night it was Ashcroft himself everyone was there to see. And he gave the fans exactly what they wanted – the hits. The carefully curated, career-spanning set built like a gigantic tidal wave of euphoric indie. One by one, the bangers came, starting with Hold On and Space and Time, giving way to Music Is Power, Loving You and History. The latter Ashcroft joked he never plays because he “tends to mess it up.” If there were any mistakes last night, however, I certainly couldn’t find them. Neither could my partner John, who tore my arm off to come with me, and spent the evening having some sort of religious experience. 

The sound at the Co-op Live is always flawless, and last night was no exception. Ashcroft himself was in fine voice. And his band – complete with a five-piece string section – was fantastic. “These are real people on stage,” Ashcroft commented on the team effort. 

Packed with 23,500 people, there was no doubt it was a big show. And the weight of the moment didn’t pass him by. Ashcroft noted: “I’d love that teacher that said I couldn’t make music to be here tonight… I’d love that teacher who said I was the cancer of the class to be here tonight… Just because I didn’t want to play chopsticks on the glockenspiel.” I think it’s safe to say he proved them wrong. A local lad done good, indeed. The crowd roared, then lapped up Lucky Man. 

My top song of the night was the acoustic performance of The Drugs Don’t Work which came in the encore. Raw and powerful, I don’t think I’ve heard the lyrics in the same way before. It was really moving and a nice moment of calm amid an incredibly loud gig. 

Then, predictably, an ending of Bittersweet Symphony closed the show – and brought the house down. I mean, what a riff. There probably isn’t a millennial in the country, certainly in Manchester, that doesn’t know exactly what’s coming when those first few bars are played. 

Ashcroft took us to church with the song, then took his final bow. As the show reached its conclusion, Ashcroft swigged a beer, smashed a mic stand into the ground and left the stage. A reminder, perhaps, that he’s a rock star. And indeed, he surely is one of the best frontmen of our time. They don’t make them like him anymore.