Photo Credit: Jonathan Turton

After 16 years since their last record, Liverpool’s THE ZUTONS are set to release their eagerly anticipated fourth record, ‘The Big Decider‘. The band has been making occasional appearances since 2018, but in 2024, they embarked on two UK tours, a sold out intimate run of dates at the beginning of the year, with an April tour taking place in much larger venues to continue reaching capacity up and down the country.

Fellow Liverpool band CASINO kicked off the show. The band’s soul influence is especially effective at incorporating motown characteristics while also adding an indie rock edge to give it a vintage vibe with a contemporary touch. They opened with their single ‘Love Go On’ with an already-full house greeting them fondly. Their lively and bright melodies truly brighten the atmosphere all whilst the Sheffield crowd expressed their approval as the set progressed until their most popular single ‘Back in the Day’ served as the grand finale, rounding off an excellent opening performance.

A thunderous cheer from the audience welcomed THE ZUTONS onto the stage, and they wasted no time in getting things going. ‘Zuton Fever’ served as the opening track and the throwback continued right off the bat to warm up the crowd. A host of tracks from debut album track listing featured early on in the set, with  ‘Confusion‘ and ‘Don’t Ever Think‘ keeping the momentum going, until was time to release the title track from their upcoming album. The soothing new anthem is simply a sample of what’s to come from ‘The Big Decider’ and features an enchanting vocal combination of Dave McCabe and Abi Harding.

Abi Harding continues to steal the show with her elegant voice and allowing the saxophone to take centre stage on their previous single, ‘Pauline‘, which has evolved into the band’s more mature ‘Valerie‘ for 2024. The Sheffield crowd continued to laud with two more tracks from the upcoming album featuring ‘Best of Me‘ and ‘Disappear‘, showed no signs of slowing down from THE ZUTONS. It was now the moment that many had been waiting for, the timeless “Valerie,” which had everyone singing along and still remains, the closest thing to the original album version during a live performance.

As the night was drawing to a close, the band’s comeback hit, ‘Creeping on the Dancefloor‘ wrapped it up. The chorus of the song is equally upbeat as their famous top 10 hit, capping off their victorious return to the steel city, but hopefully a swift return is on the cards.