Cast – review

History has tagged Cast as Britpop also-rans, but when the band first emerged they seemed to be serious contenders. The Liverpool group's 1995 debut, All Change, spawned a slew of hit singles and became Polydor's highest-selling debut album, while the then-ubiquitous Noel Gallagher proclaimed watching them live to be "a religious experience".

Close on a decade after they split, Cast have reformed and are working on a new album to be released via a fan-funded website. They retain a loyal enough fan base to sell out two nights at Shepherd's Bush Empire, but on the evidence of this plodding gig, Cast are unlikely to prove a major musical force second time around.

Singer and chief songwriter John Power – unaltered except for a slight greying of his corkscrew mop – clearly retains a touching belief in the transformative power of pop, yet Cast are lumpen where they should be lithe. Former hits such as Fine Time and the mawkishly sentimental Walk Away merely sound tired and stodgy, while the turgid Tell It Like It Is could only be more pedestrian if it had Belisha beacons either side of it.

The affable Power is patently genuinely moved by the crowd's fervent response, and Cast have their moments – Guiding Star and Alright remain giddily uplifting six-string anthems. But they are way too few, and by the end of the night their hoary-handed riffs and clunking lyrical vapidity merely grate. It is hard to see this comeback lasting very long.