JUST a few weeks ago Marti Pellow was on Southampton's Mayflower stage playing a brilliant dark and sinister narrator in Willy Russells's Blood Brothers.

Lurking in the shadows he was, to quote my review, a menacing and mysterious figure "infusing the audience with (a) seeping murky gloom".

What a stark contrast to the Marti Pellow who stepped on the Bournemouth stage with a smile big enough to light up the entire Windsor Hall and a cheeky, mischievous twinkle that told us the Wet Wet Wet front man was back in business.

This was a true nostalgia-fest and the audience lapped up every feel-good moment as we were taken through a brilliant back catalogue of the band's greatest hits.

Even though it is 30 odd years since the 'Wets' first hit the music scene every song sounded as fresh and current as ever and time has not dampened the reaction of the audience to Marti, Tommy Cunningham, Graeme Clark and Neil Mitchell.

This was a reminder of just what a great band they are and, beefed up by a strong brass section that featured a superb sax, this was a stunning show - made all the more spectacular by fabulous stage lights and visuals.

A real gift of a night out for all the die-hard fans, this was a five star show that featured all the hits with early songs Sweet Little Mystery, Temptation, Angel Eyes and Wishing I Was Lucky thrilling the crowd.

The hits and crowd-pleasers came thick and fast, even though the band revealed they have been writing new material. The token new song was an unusually politically- inspired Love Wars, powerfully delivered with visuals of soldiers, wars and past and present political leaders.

Other highlights included an acoustic section with a beautifully melodic Goodnight Girl with Marti perched near the edge of the stage with thousands of camera phones capturing the moment and everyone singing along.

The encore saw the show end on a real high with a rousing performance of the Troggs song Love Is All Around which the Wets kept at Number One for 15 weeks in 1994. How could you top that?