POP lovers were treated to a night of nostalgic chart hits when bands Steps and Blue took to the stage outdoors.

The groups performed in Colchester’s Castle Park on Saturday night to a crowd of more than 5,000.

The night, with its festival atmosphere, was kicked off by support acts Power of Muzik and Saara Aalto.

Blue received a rapturous welcome when the four-piece opened their hour-long set with All Rise.

The set included crowd-pleasers such as Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word, Fly By and If You Come Back.

Headliners Steps made the perfect start to their set with the hit Summer Of Love.

The next 90 minutes saw numerous vibrant costume changes and non-stop dancing and singing from the group who were minus band member Lee Latchford-Evans.

The musical line-up included Heartbeat, Better The Devil You Know, Stomp, Chain Reaction and One For Sorrow.

As dusk came the set rounded up with an abundance of bright lights for Deeper Shade of Blue and finally, Tragedy, with the crowd joining in with the hit’s dance moves.

The event was staged by Colchester Events Company, an entertainments arm of Colchester Council.

Joe Sharphouse, head of sales and marketing for concert producers LHG Live, said: “It has been great, it has been really smoothly run. I think this has been one of the best attended we have done [of the tour].”

Mr Sharphouse said around 5,000 tickets were sold in advance. More were bought on the gate.

He added: “Steps are fantastic, the show they put on - even if you are not a Steps fan - you cannot fail to appreciate the quality of what they put on.”

On August 26 The Pretenders and Simple Minds perform in the park.