It was a balmy evening in St Leonards and word hadn't got out that this Manchester singer and his bandmates were, for one night only, charming the locals with their catchy, classy and clever spur of reflective indie.

But Later Youth weren't thrown. No doubt used to bigger crowds they still delivered a fantastic, clean and as polished a set as you’d expect from seasoned pros. The sound clear, Jo Dudderidge’s lilting vocal was flawless. His voice has an immediacy to it, an accessibility that means it is so easy to warm to. And the crowd did.

Live, every song was a dance track, the hook did as it promised, the harmonies exquisite. I had to stop and check for gatecrashers before realising that that voice of a cherub (or at least a pre-pubescent used to roaming the Welsh valleys), was actually emitting from the drummer. And he and Jo together? Just beautiful.



The hallmark of a good gig is when the band look like they're enjoying themselves, playing for the love of playing. And they were. Jo's a funny confident guy and the smiles between him and his band spread round the room. His diplomatic and gentle dealings with a welcome, unwelcome, irritating embarrassing brave random audience member further proof of his decade plus of experience.

Cheeky to the last, they boldly snuck in two new songs - the made for soundtrack, ‘FML’, and the just wondrous ‘Michael … ‘, I'm going to stop there. It's too good. More on M.O.S.I.O to follow. Only Jo can tell that story. But both had the crowd singing along in less than a minute.

And so to the south coast of England, you know I'm going to say it - you missed out. For your own sake, don't let it happen again. We can only hope Later Youth brightens our shores once more. I can wholeheartedly promise you'll be hooked.