The band's UK tour opener mixed poignant tributes to their lost bandmate with a high-octane, high-energy riot of camphave always been kindred spirits: these working-class girls done good seemed to speak to Mancunians who came of age as they did – forged in the fires of Thatcher and Blair’s social mobility crusade and raging hair straightener use.
We and they were in Sarah Harding’s hometown – she grew up in Stockport – and this homecoming weighed heavy, especially when Tweedy mentioned that Harding’s mum Marie was in the crowd watching. But, as any working-class lass knows, there’s only half a breath between grief and a good time, and they launched straight into a run of pounding, supercharged electropop bangers including “The Show”, “Love Machine” and “Biology”.