A mere 15,215 days after I last saw Haircut 100 perform in March 1982 it was time to catch them again, this time at York's Barbican on the final night of their long overdue reunion tour.

I'd first heard of the band in 1981 when a friend who DJ'd at the Kirklevington Country Club in North Yorkshire - or the Kirk as it was known - raved about them after the band played there, cramming onto their tiny stage.

I was serving on a ship in Plymouth at the time and persuaded a couple of shipmates to give up the delights of Union Street and come along to see them at what turned out to be a very full and very sweaty Top Rank Suite.

The reunion tour coincides with a deluxe release of their debut album Pelican West earlier this year and the live dates have proved very popular with fans of their fun, breezy pop tunes.

Unsurprisingly, York last night proved no different.

Frontman Nick Heyward has been reunited with two original members bassist Les Nemes and guitarist Graham Jones, although unfortunately original drummer Blair Cunningham was sidelined on the tour due to illness.

The ever-reliable Faithless drummer Andy Treacy proved a terrific deputy for Cunningham. Throwing in a percussionist and three brass players too made for a full, rich sound.

While the band played most of the tracks from their Pelican West album - though sadly, no place for Calling Captain Autumn - there was room for Heyward's solo hit Blue Hat For A Blue Day, a couple of highly promising new songs - the brass heavy The Unloving Plum (a song title that could probably only come from the mind of Heyward) and Soul Bird - as well as a cover of Harry Styles' As It Was during the encore.

Admittedly, time has been kinder to some of the songs than others. While the singles - Favourite Shirt, Fantastic Day and Love Plus One remain terrific, youthful, breezy pop songs that still sound great when they make the airwaves, others like Lemon Firebrigade and Kingsize tend to pale a little in comparison.

It was nice to see hear album tracks like Milk Film, Snow Girl and Marine Boy performed again, and while recognising that this was a Haircut 100 gig, it would have been wonderful to hear a full band treatment of some other post Haircut solo material of Heyward's such as Whistle Down The Wind and When It Started To Begin.

Indeed, Heyward's debut solo album North Of A Miracle remains one of my favourite albums - a gorgeous, often melancholic collection of songs that begs to be played on a dark, stormy afternoon and pointed the way in which Heyward wanted to steer Haircut 100.

Support was provided by Barbara, a band formed by the brothers John and Henry Tydeman who gave off heavy art-school vibes but were very entertaining and were seen in the audience towards the end of the Haircut's set dancing away enjoying themselves. A friend mentioned he’d seen them support the Divine Comedy, and I can see they would have been an excellent fit for them.

Although the tour ended in York, the Haircut 100 story is not quite over. Dates are appearing for some festival shows next summer so we look set for a few more fantastic days in 2024.