At the end of a rather wet and dreary evening broken up by a string of thrilling races, evergreen New Romantics Spandau Ballet lit up Newmarket Racecourse last night.

Thousands of pop fans packed into the Premier Enclosure to enjoy a Newmarket Nights show packed with anthemic hits and pop classics, with a few new Gary Kemp originals thrown into the mix.

After a steady start with Only When You Leave and Highly Strung, the pace picked up with Chant No.1 and debut single To Cut A Long Story Short, which Tony Hadley dedicated to the late Steve Strange, who was instrumental in the band’s early days.

A calming acoustic Empty Spaces saw frontman Hadley and Gary Kemp take to the stage together, before teasing the 20,000 crowd with a nugget of Gold, which was then showcased in full later in the set.

Instinction showed off the multiple talents of Steve Norman while the Kemp brothers kept things cool with their effortless interplay and crowd-pleasing antics throughout the set.

Communication and Lifeline back to back just proved to illustrate the sheer number of hit singles there are in the Spandau Ballet back catalogue.

Of course epic ballad True was among the best-received tracks on the night, with the smooth Hadley giving it everything he had - which turned out to be quite a lot.

The reunion of Spandau Ballet after years of acrimony may have been seen as a bit of a cynical money-spinner when it was first announced a few years ago, but from the incredible welcome and sense of appreciation from the July Course crowd, it’s clear that the decision to ‘get the band back together’ and put past issues aside was the right one, for the band and the fans.