Strawberries, Streamers and Snowflakes – The Lightning Seeds Hometown show at Liverpool Academy
- L J Hubbard
- Dec 22, 2025
- 4 min read
O2 Academy Liverpool, 19th December 2025
WORDS HELEN CRAVEN / IMAGES L J HUBBARD
Liverpool was in for a big Christmas treat on Friday night when the Lightning Seeds played the first of two sell out gigs at the O2 Academy - and the audience was clearly on the good list as we were gifted a very special night indeed - including a couple of ‘secret Santa’ gifts thrown in for good measure…
Opening the night ahead of the Lightning Seeds were local band Casino who pulled in a very healthy sized crowd with plenty of fans in the midst and I imagine many more fans made. This high energy, funky, very soulful group warmed the stage up nicely for Broudie and his crew, and had the audience bopping away with tunes you just couldn’t help but move your feet to. I suspect we’ll see a lot more of these five. A great start to a great night.
The O2 was packed to the rafters with the majority of the audience clearly ready to relive 1994 in all its glory - with of course a few newcomers to boot. I was stood next to Thomas, 13, who was very excited to see the Lightning Seeds for the second time…and, let me tell you, Thomas was not disappointed.
The stage was adorned with presents, stockings hanging from the keyboard and plenty of fake snow - the festive feels extended to many Xmas jumpers in the audience and some festive merch in the lobby - including a simple yet brilliant ‘Oh Lucky Yule’ top.
They opened with ‘Life’s Too Short’ (from Tilt) which got our attention nicely before Ian Broudie really did put his foot down and drive as he moved into the first of the big hits with ‘Change’.
The thing about Broudie is that you can almost forget how fantastic the Lightning seeds are until you are reminded how fantastic the Lightning Seeds are. The man can’t half write a good song - with plenty a positive theme to boot, not to mention not one, but two footy anthems which have nicely fallen out of his pen onto paper - both of which we’ll get to later.
Ian Broudie is a clever musician, he’s created a brand and a look that is unmistakably him which means he doesn’t need to do much work to get people on the nostalgic trip with him.
And that all begins with him - in his trademark button up shirt, black hair, and sunglasses, you instantly know where you stand.
If you were somehow still wondering – thanks to the giant strawberry image behind the band, complete with sunglasses and beard…. It won’t take long for you to know the score. There were also plenty strawberries to come, of course.
The psychedelic pop side to the Lightning Seeds featured throughout, with Ian adding these effects with some sort of synthesiser at his feet - as well as the flashing lights and strobes.
Three songs in and the band brought on their first guest of the evening with Ian’s pal Will Sargent (Echo and Bunnymen) which was a delight.
The night was generously heavy with the hits and anthems but the lesser known tunes still hit well and the newer stuff played (‘Losing You’ and ‘Emily Smiles’ for instance) had me adding a late request to Santa for their 2022 album ‘See you in the Stars’.
It was entirely apt, and wholly appropriate to have a fake snow machine blasting the audience as we entered into their 1997 hit ‘Sugar Coated Iceberg’ - both Christmassy and making the audience at the front look like, well, sugar coated icebergs to the onlookers at the back.
The energy stayed high, the audience kept up, and when we got to the final three tracks the crowd knew what was coming.
Moving from a well received ‘Lucky You’ into the unmistakable intro of ‘Three Lions’, uniting the audience with a song that everyone knows the words to, everyone can relate to, and which brings the fans together and ending the main set was ‘Pure’
But, of course, we knew what was missing and the wait wasn’t long before the five band members returned to the stage to ‘Marvellous’ and, before their final, huge anthem, finished the set we were in for a another surprise guest to keep the festive feels at an all time high. Onto the stage came Frankie legend Holly Johnson with sparkly jacket on, and tiny dog under arm, to give us ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ wrapped up in a perfectly unmistakable Johnson/Broudie style.
The night ended with the ‘Life of Riley’ with of course the real Riley Broudie (guitar) standing proud with his dad as he has been since 2009.
An excellent night, filled with festive treats, familiar beats and so many happy, thoughtful lyrics then I went into the night full to the brim of all the feels.
SET LIST
Life’s Too Shor
Change
Ready or Not
Sense (with Will Sergeant of Echo and the Bunnymen)
All I Want
What If
Losing You
Emily Smiles
Sugarcoated Iceberg
Perfect
Waiting for Today to Happen
You Showed Me
Whole Wide World
Lucky You
Three Lions
Pure
——
Marvellous (with Will Sergeant of Echo and the Bunnymen)
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (with Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood)
Life of Riley
FOLLOW THE LIGHTNING SEEDS
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