ABC - Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

The album The Lexion of Love was a classic album and has remained timeless since it was released in 1982. The album relied a lot in part to the production by Trevor Horn and the lush string arrangements by Anne Dudley.

The only original member of ABC these days is lead singer Martin Fry, earlier this year he released albeit 34 years later, the follow up to the classic album, Lexicon of Love 2. The current tour is ABC with the South Bank Sinfonia orchestra conducted by Anne Dudley who bring to life perfectly the sound of the two albums,

The show is split into two halves, the first contains tracks of the Lexicon of Love 2 mixed in with older tracks. Wearing a blue suit and mock leopard skin shoes Fry looks as dapper as ever. His voice too has worn well over the years.

Dudley conducts the 50 strong orchestra as they play snippets of songs we will hear in full later on in the evening, tempting everyone with what was to come later. The track The Look of Love appears frequently during the night as it is the song that is one of the most orchestral on the album, before Fry performs the opening track, When Smokey Sings.

Viva Love, the first single and standout track from the Lexicon of Love 2 follows, unfortunately percussionist Lily Gonzalez is far too high in the mix, her sound drowning out the subtle parts of the song, however, the sound engineer rectified the problem half way through the song which is probably the nearest relation to anything you will hear from the original Lexicon of Love album.

Ten Below Zero and Kiss Me Goodbye, two of the better tracks from Lexicon of Love sound perfect in the acoustics of the Bridgewater Hall. It's not long before we go back in time again for the closing number of the first set when The Night You Murdered Love concludes a moving first half.

Returning now wearing a brown suit (with black shoes) Fry and the musicians on stage perform Lexicon of Love in its entirety. "It feels like 1982" he informs the sold out audience after singing the opening track Show Me.

The album has worn well though several tracks do sound like they were recorded 34 years ago. The fans are on their feet for an impassioned version of Poison Arrow. By playing the original album, after hearing the newer songs in the first half, it showed how much energy and in some cases how much stronger the older tracks are.

Tears Are Not Enough, The Look of Love and All of My Heart also had the audience out of their seats, timeless songs that will still sound good in years to come.

A bouquet of flowers is presented to Dudley after the musicians encore with a second outing for The Look of Love.

A moving and brilliant performance from all concerned, it was so good I just wanted it to never end. A huge triumph.