When I heard that the eighties band Fairground Attraction were visiting Oxford's New Theatre I knew I had to be there.

I loved their debut album First Of A Million Kisses back in 1988, and wanted to hear its best songs again - A Smile In A Whisper, Comedy Waltz, Find My Love and, of course, the hit single Perfect.

There was an added incentive for going along to the concert on a Thursday night - the band has reformed and recorded a new album, Beautiful Happening.

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How would the new songs compare to the songs of the past, and would there be too much focus on the new stuff and too few old favourites?

I shouldn't have worried. The band made sure they interspersed the new songs with enough classic tunes to keep the fans on their side.

For some reason Fairground Attraction fell out after the recording of their first album and Eddie Reader left the band to enjoy a successful solo career, producing 10 solo albums including an outstanding set of songs dedicated to the poet Robert Burns.

The group's second record Ay Fond Kiss was something of an afterthought, featuring B sides and out-takes and unfortunately that was that.

Or at least it was until the band decided to get back together and record some new songs almost 35 years later.

Principal songwriter Mark Nevin has no doubt played a large part in the selection of tunes for Beautiful Happening, and Sing Anyway, one of the outstanding new numbers, he actually penned a few years back.

Eddi Reader clearly loves to interpret his songs and even if she can't sing like she did when she was 25, she still has a beautiful voice.

It rarely lets down, and she is a harsh self-critic. After one song she chides herself for downing "too many Brandy Alexanders" but it certainly didn't sound like that to me.

To play the new songs the original band is boosted by Roger Beaujolais (vibraphone) and Graham Henderson (accordion).

Eddi Reader mostly remains centre stage, conferring from time to time with Mark Nevin on the setlist running order, or chatting briefly to the other band members.

They are clearly having great fun together on the tour, and the audience picks up on the positive vibe, joining in choruses when invited to do so.

What's Wrong With the World, the first single from the new album, is a catchy tune and is saved until near the end of the set, which lasts about an hour and 40 minutes, and features 22 songs.

Their biggest hit Perfect sounds as fresh as ever, and is followed by two more numbers, Beautiful Happening and Allelujah.

Usually I don't mind it when a band mixes up old and new songs but on this occasion I would have relished hearing First Of A Million Kisses in full first, before the band embarked on the new tunes from Beautiful Happening.

But on the whole I was delighted to catch up with this band almost 35 years on to hear some long-lost favourites, and some excellent new songs.

Eddi Reader has a fabulous voice and sounded delighted to be fronting her old band once again.

Andy Ffrench

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.