For a bunch of lads from the landlocked West Midlands, Ocean Colour Scene don’t half bang on about maritime matters.

Perhaps as the result of growing up so far from the briny, the references to open water go far beyond the band’s name (which tends to be abbreviated to OCS these days).

Their catalogue includes Travellers Tune, which refers to boats; Waving Not Drowning; Sail on my Boat and Go to Sea. Not to mention the album North Atlantic Drift.

But if there’s one aquatic ditty for which OCS are known above all, it’s The Riverboat Song. Even though it was more or less inevitable that it would be the finale, a couple of older fans could be heard muttering about its absence earlier in the set, which featured perhaps a tad too much new material mid-way through what was a typically amiable, crowd-pleasing gig, which started out as a low-key affair.

However, the ardent fans who had crowded close to the stage seemed more than happy, chanting and thrusting fists aloft not only during the famous Britpop-era tunes from the albums Moseley Shoals and Marchin’ Already, but also 1999’s One from the Modern, particularly the anthemic Profit in Peace.

Frontman Simon Fowler swapped the odd bit of relaxed banter with the fans as he reached sporadically for his acoustic guitar to offset the chunky riffs and licks for which the band became famous in the days when they sported Breton shirts and Beat Club haircuts. Fowler also made way on one occasion for guitarist Andy Bennett (a recent recruit) to take over the vocals – a surprisingly successful innovation.

However, once we’d been treated to a nostalgia-inducing rendition of The Day We Caught the Train, OCS at last launched into the thudding intro of The Riverboat Song, to loud cheers. Lyrically daft, but undoubtedly one of the great tunes of the past two decades.