The club is very much still alive

JLS GIVE A REMINDER OF GOLDEN ERA OF BOYBANDS

- By LOTTIE GIBBONS

WHAT we witnessed on Thursday night felt like a rarity in modern pop - a dying trade, even.

Few things are more disheartening than paying for a live show only to discover the artist is leaning almost entirely on backing tracks, occasionally chiming in with a live vocal just to prove they haven't fled backstage.

Thankfully, JLS have never subscribed to that trend, and Thursday's stop on The Club Is Alive tour was refreshing proof.

Seventeen years on from their breakthrough on The X Factor, where they finished runners-up to Alexandra Burke, the four-piece have settled comfortably into their role as a nostalgia-fuelled pop act.

Having seen other success stories from the show - Leona Lewis, Little Mix and the like - one thread ties them all together: they can sing live, and they can perform.