After nearly three decades of arena-sized choruses and carefully honed restraint, Stereophonics no longer arrive with anything to prove. On a cold December night in Liverpool, their place in British rock history felt less like a legacy act victory lap and more like muscle memory in motion. At the M&S Bank Arena, a room that demands confidence and clarity from the moment the lights go up, the band moved with the assurance of veterans who understand scale, pacing, and trust, with an audience seemingly desperate to place itself in their hands.

They set the tone immediately. Vegas Two Times opened at pace, Jamie Morrison’s drums driving the song forward as Kelly Jones’ guitar cut cleanly through the mix. I Wanna Get Lost With You followed seamlessly, before Have a Nice Day triggered the first of many arena-wide singalongs, its chorus landing not as nostalgia but as collective release. From the off, it was clear these songs remain active and lived-in, central to the band’s live identity rather than relics of a past era.

Newer material was threaded into the set with confidence. There’s Always Gonna Be Something slotted comfortably into the early run, its reflective tone complementing the surrounding classics, while Seems Like You Don’t Know Me later revealed a more restrained, textural side of the band’s recent writing. There was no sharp division between eras, just a consistent through-line of melody and control.

Momentum surged through Pick a Part That’s New, before the set briefly turned inward with Rewind. A welcome deep cut from Language. Sex. Violence. Other?, it arrived not as a nostalgia play but as a moment of reflection, its measured pace and melodic restraint offering a pause for breath amid the arena rush. In a room this size, Rewind felt quietly beautiful, its themes of distance, memory, and emotional pull landing with renewed clarity. It was a reminder of Stereophonics’ ability to write songs that resonate just as powerfully in stillness as they do at full volume, before Superman snapped the night back into sharper focus.

A pulsating More Life In a Tramp’s Vest followed, accompanied by archival footage from the band’s earliest touring days. Jones reflected on those formative years, rehearsing in youth clubs, playing pubs, and steadily working their way toward the arenas they now command with ease. That levity carried into I Wouldn’t Believe Your Radio, Jones opening alone on a ukulele gifted by Richard Jones, the arena falling into a focused hush before swelling into a spellbinding singalong. The mood deepened with a brooding Mr Writer, its tension lingering as one of the set’s most quietly powerful moments and stands tall as one of their finest songs to date.

A mischievous exchange with the crowd preceded a surging Mr & Mrs Smith, driven by Morrison’s powerhouse drumming and standing out as one of the night’s most dynamic performances. As the main set drew to a close, Fly Like an Eagle gave way to a ferocious The Bartender and the Thief, with Jones mischievously dropping the immortal “the ace of spades, the ace of spades” between verse and chorus. Maybe that’s because this song remains the ace of spades in tonight’s set, a perfectly placed surge of swagger that sent the arena into overdrive as guitars snarled and the floor bounced in unison.

The encore was paced rather than piled on. 100MPH and Traffic rebuilt momentum, C’est La Vie injected playful release before Dakota arrived to bring the night home. As its opening notes rang out, the sold-out arena erupted, 11,000 voices singing in unison, arms aloft, the connection unmistakable.

On a winter’s evening, few things feel as reliable as the company of a great old friend, and that is the space Stereophonics now occupy with complete confidence. Familiar without ever feeling worn thin, this was comfort without complacency, less spectacle than reassurance. It felt like pulling on one of Kelly Jones’ famously oversized knitted jumpers, well-worn, unmistakably his, and exactly what the night called for. A quietly powerful reminder of why Stereophonics remain one of Britain’s most dependable and enduring live bands.