​MARTIN Kemp is looking forward to celebrating the first chapter of Spandau Ballet's history when the band comes to Liverpool as part of its second world tour.

The band - who had a string of top ten hits during the 80s including Gold and True - return to the Echo Arena in Liverpool on Saturday, March 7 as part of the Soul Boys Of The Western World tour.

It is the second time Tony Hadley, brothers Gary and Martin Kemp, Steve Norman and John Kebble will have been back on the road since getting back together for a world tour in 2009.

The Globe caught up with Martin and Steve at the Echo Arena during a promotional tour for the show this afternoon and found out that they are raring to get back on stage.

Martin said: "It’s going to be a Spandau Ballet celebration. There's nothing I love more than being on stage with the other boys.

"The last time we played in Liverpool was 2009.

"It was a strange tour, looking back, because we were unsure, at that time, how many people were going to come and see the show, because we hadn’t been around for 20 years, or whether they were still interested in us.

"Also, more than that, we were unsure about how the five of us would get on.

"So it was a testing tour. We put our toe in the water and we realised that the band was still appreciated out there.

"So this is the real thing; this is the tour that we’re taking on the road, for the fans to enjoy."

Steve added: "We're going out to other territories; places like New York, places we didn’t go to last time and putting out a few gigs in the Far East.

"As far as the show is concerned, it's going to be at least two hours, because we’re integrating a few more bits from the early part of our career.

"A lot of people don't always know that we were an electronic dance band in the beginning.

"We came out of the cool clubby environment of the late '70s, early ‘80s. and we want to remind people and ourselves that we are going to include stuff from the first album, some obscure B-sides, just to remind people that there was a whole section they may not know about."

Dreams of stardom in the late 1970s were followed by sales of more than 25 million records, earning them status as one of Britain's most iconic bands. They split in 1989.

After their split, Martin and Gary went into acting, starring as East End gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray in the 1990 film The Krays. Martin also starred as villain Steve Owen in EastEnders in the 1990s.

Tony Hadley embarked on a successful solo recording career, starred as Billy Flynn in the West End production of Chicago and won ITV's reality TV show Reborn In The USA.

Steve has stayed true to Spandau's dance credentials, immersing himself in the house music scene for the last decade.

And John has never erred from his passion for, in his own words, "hitting things with other things," for various artists including bandmate Tony.

Spandau are the latest in a series of groups to reunite - Take That and the Police have both staged successful comeback tours in recent years.

Steve said the band is as creative as ever: "We've written some new songs over the last six months, which is a great indication of where things can go. We're keen to still be seen as an active band.

"The songs came together so quickly, were obviously in a very creative mindset at the moment. It’s pushing that forward and also showing people what we’ve done in the past.

"At the moment, we're so creative because we're so relaxed.

“When we split in 1989, I thought, that’s it - the band’s over. But we’ve been given a second chance, which is why we’re enjoying it so much.”

Martin added: "This is, at the end of the day, Spandau Ballet, so we will be playing all the hits that everybody knows.

"Some of those songs have featured in intimate moments of people’s lives."

"It’s going to be a Spandau Ballet celebration. There's nothing I love more than being on stage with the other boys."

Their story has been documented in the film Soul Boys Of The Western World, which was directed by George Hencken and released in October.

Reflecting on the film Martin said: "It was a very cathartic experience for us. It was a strange one. George went off and had about 450 hours of archive footage and put the film together.

"The masterstroke of this was that we chose a woman to make the film. What she brought to the table was emotion."

Steve added: "She found that our friendship was the story, not just the music. What is also great is that it showed the political and fashion landscapes of the '80s too and our influences. We can now focus a little bit more now on what happens in the future.

"It allows us to fill in the gaps of how the band got together."

Martin ended: "Adding the film makes it feel like we've reached the end of the first chapter; we can start the second one now." 

Tickets for their show at the Echo Arena are from the box office on 0844 8000 400.