Nottingham’s biggest stars were out in force for the first night of Paper Lace’s much-anticipated interactive concert residency in Sneinton Market.

The team behind the new show — called Paper Lace’s Pilgrimage— have used animatronics to perfectly recreate the band, celebrated as Nottingham’s biggest export, in their ‘1973 prime’.

The show — being performed in a purpose-built 30-seater unit on Sneinton Market — is expected to run for around a month.

The dummies ‘perform’ using isolated vocal tracks sampled from the original studio recordings and are accompanied by a live band during the 30-minute show.

Three of the original group members were present at the show as the pioneering animatronics were carried onto stage for the first time.

A tearful Philip Wright, the group’s former lead singer’ was overheard praising the show to a fan in the audience.

‘The likeness is uncanny. I’m stood here, but it’s like I am up…there,” he said.

Fans and celebrity VIPS were treated to a setlist made up of Billy Don’t Be A Hero, The Night Chicago Died, The Black-Eyed Boys, acoustic versions of Billy Don’t Be A Hero and The Night Chicago Died before ending the night with a medley made up of Billy Don’t Be A Hero and The Night Chicago Died.

Budget constraints prevented the team behind the show including the band’s hit with “We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands” — their 1978 minor hit with Nottingham Forest — on the setlist.

“Fund are tight at Nottingham City Council so we’ve had to reuse old animatronics from the Tales of Robin Hood attraction, that we closed down back in 2009,” explained chief engineer Phil Talbot.

“There weren’t enough merry men to create the 1978 Forest squad as well as the band so we had to leave that song out.”

The launch night was attended by a host of the city’s celebrities including Su Pollard and ex-East Midlands Today presenter Dominic Heale.

Pollard said: “Wow, just wow. It’s a proud day for Nottingham.”

The show organisers say they hope to continue celebrating Nottingham’s rich musical history with a similar show featuring KWS next summer.