Before the Gallaghers there were the Davies: Ray and Dave, the sibling duo at the heart of The Kinks.

And with all due respect to Steps and the current raft of bands all getting their own musical, the story about how they became one of Britain’s most iconic bands is worth revisiting.

Having premiered in 2014, Sunny Afternoon has made a welcome return with this new tour capturing the raw essence, unpredictability and impact the quartet made in the swinging sixties.

It charts their highs and lows through a back catalogue brought superbly to life by the quartet and their accompanying musicians.

The stage was surrounded by giant walls of speakers with a window opening up to a recording studio in the lower centre, with Mick Avory’s drumkit in front.

There’s nothing to suggest what will come at the start with the band performing in a lounge bar with a different vocalist and the brothers on guitar.

But they burst into life after the sweary Dave cuts loose, followed by the legendary story of the incarnation of the You Really Got Me riff.

Hearing their first Number One in the flesh, turned up to 11, must have brought flashbacks in its reminder of how raw and exciting it must have sounded in the early 1960s.

The ensemble performing Dead End Street, where Mr Davies Snr (Allen Klein) bemoans life in Muswell Hill was a visual treat while the sight of Dave (Oliver Hoare) swinging on a chandelier as the band, fans and management, enjoy the high life was joyous. As was the flag-waving title song, with the whole cast joining the party as it becomes the sound of England’s 1966 World Cup success.

With every high there has to be a low and their story has a few, like their ill-fated US tour.

The placement of I’m Not Like Everybody Else and Where Did All The Good Times Go were apt amid Ray’s deepening depression and homesickness for wife Rasa (Lisa Wright), with her rendition of a sparse I Go To Sleep being particularly poignant.

Sunny Afternoon is a sprawling musical and could probably do with a little cutting down. It mirrors similar productions as its second half is more melancholy with lesser-known songs being used to highlight their financial and record company woes.

But even among the darker periods, there were terrific highlights. The gorgeous acapella harmonies of Days brought on a few tears while Zakarie Stokes (Avory) ditches the drumsticks and uses his hands in an incredible solo.

Danny Horn was spot on as Ray while Hoare was every bit the wild, young and carefree guitarist who craves girls and the limelight, a stark constrast to the timid and workmanlike bassist Pete Quaife (Harry Curley).

The show finishes with a smile as Waterloo Sunset comes together before an encore of Lola and a final play of You Really Got Me. See this, and you’ll be singing their hits All Day and All of the Night for Days…