Frontman/songwriter Kurt Marschke's wail is Jaggeresque and there's lonesome balladry aplenty ("27 Hours", "Such A Crime") plus enough "Happy"-like fretwork to suggest what might have been had ...

And the gig turned into a hugely enjoyable masterclass of self-deprecation, communal bonhomie and – yes – soppy balladry. Blunt’s canny. Opprobrium towards him was always fuelled by his posh ...

But The Verve reunion has thrown up a few intriguing possibilities, not least the suggestion that they may sidestep all the windy balladry and return to the sort of cosmic orientation that made ...