LEGENDARY Liverpool band Cast played an outstanding weekend gig in Southampton.

The indie four-piece, led by singer-songwriter John Power, fired up The Engine Rooms on West Quay Road with a brilliant set of new songs and a huge back catalogue of famous hits.

Walking on stage to big cheers the band kicked off with Time Bomb and Not Afraid of the World from their 2012 reunion album Troubled Times.

But it was the first batch of six songs from their debut top ten compilation All Change that really got things going.

Tell It Like It Is, Promised Land and Sandstorm followed each other to the delight of the Southampton crowd.

Along with John Power, the original line up of lead guitarist Liam Tyson, bassist Pete Wilkinson and drummer Keith O'Neill played some quality tunes. They are still a band of the people.

It is almost twenty years to the day since the release of their seminal first single Fine Time. That song propelled the band into the Brit-Pop whirlwind and was another live favourite.

A new album is underway and there was an early preview of one song, Baby Blue Eyes, which sounded good.

The incredibly moving Walkaway ended the official set with a big singalong and many camera phones in the air.

But there was no way the band was going anywhere before a tremendous encore of Free Me, Four Walls and, another smash from 1995, Alright.

Even a fire extinguisher being let off at the front couldn’t dampen things down.

Earlier, Southampton favourites The Rising ignited the evening session with a bold half-hour set.

Fresh from their show at Blissfields the band played hits from their self-titled album including Show Me the Money and Cloud 9.

Drummer Matt Stanton told the Daily Echo that playing alongside Cast was right up there with anything the band had done before.

“They sounded amazing during sound check and were even better live” he added.

Meanwhile, up and coming indie rockers The Sherlocks, who played The Joiners again last week, have revealed that they will also support Cast on several dates in the North.

Cast return to the South as part of Victorious Festival in Portsmouth on Sunday, August 30. A lot of fans at The Engine Rooms will already be counting the days to that one.

RICHARD DERBYSHIRE