FeatureJohn Power: The journey of joy and heartache with LFC is beautiful

It’s become tradition for Cast to end our tours with a pilgrimage back home. We’ve just rounded out the year with two very special hometown shows in Liverpool at The Academy.

I used to get a bit nervous about playing for family and friends but it’s a great way to celebrate the festive season, a time when everyone is taking a deep sigh of relief that we’ve got through another year of madness.

It’s about putting your feet up for 10 days, realising you’ve made it to the shore again, having some mince pies and a few drinks with the family. Everybody’s in a good mood. On stage, all we’ve got to do is capture that energy. We deserve a good time because life is chaotic, somewhere along the line you’ve got to have a bit of unity and a bit of rock and roll.

It’s the same with Liverpool FC in that we’re all a part of the same thing. In a world that seems to promote so much separation, any chance to get together in this communal mass is always a blessing. The whole ground singing is such a powerful thing, I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of that for most of my life.

I remember the Kop in the early ’70s when it was this steaming, writhing body of warmness as a unified terrace. When my dad first took me to the game I was in awe of the vocals, the sound, the choir and the togetherness of it all.

As a kid, I used to watch the crowd more than the game because it was just fascinating and I was one of those atoms oscillating in it. You don’t even know what the power is, it’s such a force. I went through the Shankly and Paisley days with players like Keegan, Callaghan, Heighway and all those greats. The Kop used to properly sing with depth and it was absolutely breathtaking. Throughout my whole childhood Liverpool were the greatest team, they were unstoppable and imperious across Europe.

I lived on that energy for such a long time. It made me believe in magic as a very little boy. You realise the greatest football team and the greatest band in The Beatles are from this city and it makes you think anything is possible. I can still remember the day when I found out Liverpool wasn’t the capital of the world!

Football and music are the two main things that unite people. I’m lucky enough to come from a club that has beautiful songs as well. There’s always been something special about us, football and music is in the marrow of our bones.

When Liverpool win, my dad wins, I win and my son wins. My dad’s not with us anymore but a lot of our relationship was through going to the game together. We’d be over the moon when we won or absolutely heartbroken when something went wrong. That journey through all of the heartache and the joy that Liverpool FC has experienced is beautiful. It’s a special thing to show your love for the club, whether that’s wearing a red shirt on a rainy Sunday League game or playing in front of thousands of people in a fan park at a Champions League final.

With the band, 2025 is going to be a massive year for us. It all started with our most recent album Love Is The Call, which captured the energy of our debut album. That record has really galvanised us. It’s set us up for some huge dates opening for Oasis next summer, it’s the biggest tour in the world and we’re doing 19 dates with them. It really fits the legacy of Cast because we were always there and we’re still here, the new record is full of life and energy.

It’s been 30 years since Oasis and Cast both began and even before that we had The La’s. I remember Noel when he was working as a guitar tech with The Inspiral Carpets and Liam when he was a 16-year-old kid at a La’s gig. It doesn’t give you any special right to anything but it means our story is part of theirs and vice versa. Liam and Noel are obviously Man City through and through, it’s the only thing I disagree with them on.

Liverpool winning the league would be the only cherry on the cake for 2025. It’s early days, we’ve all been on this rollercoaster so many times before, but you’ve got to believe haven’t you?

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