He thanked the crowd for their support and credited them with the decision before airing stellar new track ‘Harder Times’. The show also saw the first live performance of ‘I Still Believe’, a number the songwriter made available on SoundCloud recently. He dedicated it to the recently departed Richie Taylor.

The band, visibly more relaxed than last year, blitzed through a stellar selection of Blades classics such as ‘Last Man In Europe’, ‘Hot For You’ and ‘The Bride Wore White’ to a raucous response from the packed venue. The set also included Cleary solo gem ‘Crooked Town’ and Partisans nugget ‘Impossible’ plus rousing covers of 'Young, Gifted And Black' and 'Heatwave'.

The Blades Live From The Olympia, recorded last year, is now available at www.reekus.com