Review and Pictures: Bay City Rollers starring Les McKeown, at the Robin 2, Bilston

Fans joined the lead singer in rolling back the years to hear the legendary Scottish group - the One Direction of the 70s - perform their classic pop hits.

And while it's almost 40 years since the multi-million album selling group split, McKeown still knows how to get the crowd going.

Females aged from their 20s to their 70s were all under the lead singer's spell at the Robin Hood 2.

Fans draped in the iconic tartan flocked to see the one-time teenage heart-throb who, despite being a few years older, continued to work the crowd throughout his two-part set.

The Bay City Rollers announced in September that three of the original band members would be reforming, armed with a new album and even a Christmas single, which is due to be released any time soon.

McKeown has been touring and performing the band's hit for years and the fans were only too happy to pack out the Bilston venue to see one of their heroes before the grand reunion.

Mandy Southall, 54, of Limes Avenue, Brierley Hill, who works as a domestic cleaner at Dudley's Russells Hall Hospital, had bought tickets to celebrate her friend's 60th birthday.

She said: "I've never seen this new line-up before and it was sometime in the 1970s we last saw them live.

"We were all into the tartan trousers and McKeown was always one of our favourites."

Housewife Sandra Carter, 59, also of Limes Avenue, was enjoying an early 60th birthday present courtesy of her friends on Thursday night.

She said she had been a fan of the rollers since the first day they came out.

"We loved the music but we also loved their looks equally," she said.

"I didn't think we would get the chance to see them again and we had originally planned to travel to Blackpool but we were happy when we discovered they were performing locally."

Cheryl Brown, 55, of Harden Road in Walsall, said she had been a Rollers fan from the age of 15.

She said: "I never thought I'd see them live again and it's great they're here, even if it is just one of the original band.

"The first time I saw them must've been back in 1975 and so I was so excited about this gig I could hardly contain myself.

"It's great reliving your youth and it's great to see them perform."

Sharon Ward, 56, of Brantley Avenue, Wolverhampton, said she had been a fan all her life.

"It was so great when they first came out and they were a great group," she said.

"It was a very sad time when they split and it shouldn't have happened when it did."

Pat Griffiths, 73, from Beech Road in Willenhall, had been treated to concert tickets as part of her daughter, Emma Taylor's, 50th birthday.

"She would drive me mad listening to their songs all the time when she was little," she said.

When the gig started the fans were not slow in showing their love and appreciation, by screaming wildly as bagpipe music blared out of the speakers.

Band members Si Mulvey, Alex Toff, Phil Hendriks and Scott McGowan soon had everyone clapping in anticipation of the main man's entrance - and then McKeown arrived on stage.

Opening with Summerlove Sensation the band then launched straight into I Only Want to Be With You, as front row fans began trying grab McKeown's hand.

McKeown really started playing to the crowd with his rendition of Remember (Sha-La-La) as he strutted up and down the stage with his shirt buttons undone.

Be My Baby from the Rolling album got everyone up and singing again as the fans hugged and swayed in time to the music.

The singer even got down on one knee to sing directly into the eyes of those lucky enough to get a close and intimate view of their hero near the front.

The band then pulled out a song, which had never been released in the UK before, singing Dedication, which gave the guitarist free reign to go heavy on the soloing.

It was at that point McKeown revealed to the an even more delighted crowd the Bay City Rollers would be releasing their first new album since 1978 in the new year.

The fans were fed even new material when McKeown began belting out the lyrics to their new single, "Boomerang", which drew a big cheer from the boisterous crowd.

After a short interlude the band exploded back with a couple more classics before McKeown led the crowd in some impromptu Christmas sing-a-alongs.

All that was left was for McKeown to belt out a couple of classics - including Bye Bye Baby, to ensure the fans went home happy.

By James Driver-Fisher