Manchester Arena

NOSTALGIA may have been in the air at Manchester Arena on Sunday, but Blondie and INXS are two bands still very much looking to the future.

This festive UK tour is crucial for INXS, who are back with new singer Jon Stevens, five years after the tragic death of Michael Hutchence.

Few bands overcome the loss of their vocalist, but Stevens, like Hutchence, has a powerful stage presence, a great voice, and is a good-looking guy who was an immediate hit with the ladies.

Old favourites like New Sensation, Disappear and Need You Tonight were warmly received, but the biggest cheer was reserved for Never Tear Us Apart, introduced by Andrew Farriss as being in memory of Hutchence, and played beneath images of the man himself on a video screen.

Blondie, meanwhile, are a band that can't really go wrong. They have as good an arsenal of pop-punk classics as any group on the planet, and in Debbie Harry, they have a singer who still looks amazing, even at 57.

They bravely opened their set with a new, slow tempo song, but then it was Dreaming, Hanging On The Telephone and Atomic, and the party had started!

Like INXS, they debuted a few new tracks, most of which sounded superb and fitted in nicely alongside crowd-pleasers like Sunday Girl, Heart of Glass and The Tide Is High.

There was no Denis or Presence Dear, sadly, but a storming cover of The Ramones' Pet Semetary, and a spine-tingling Fade Away And Radiate more than made up for this.

Pop music simply doesn't get much better.

Ian Kelly