And so came the Borderline and the chance for me to do something I had only ever dreamt possible - to see Sigue Sigue Sputnik live in London. The Sputnik's had played London before, but I never made it. This was to be the ultimate Sputnik gig, playing to a crowd of just 300. Tony said it was a small and intimate venue and boy was he right. It was hot, it was full, and it was a great night.

The first thing you noticed on arriving at the club was the amount of people buying tickets at the door, a problem SSS used to have years ago when gigs would be cancelled because of "poor sales". I had met up with mATTy, aNNIe, SputnikFred and the rest earlier and we all entered together and went straight to the bar. MrsW and CyberGeorge secured their seats for the evening as the rest of us perused the merchandise stall. 2 all new cd's and a sci fi sex stars t-shirt, all of which were purchased of course. Once the support act had finished we headed to the front of the stage and waited - we were not disappointed.

SSS took to the stage to wild applause, the crowd went ballistic. They started with Ray Of Light which was brilliant, Sputnik certainly have put their own stamp on that one. It was obvious to everyone there how much the group were enjoying themselves onstage. They looked terrific especially tjboSSS, clad in black and Degville - tonight he was the devil in red. You really were close to the group, we're literally talking reach out and touch them. The set list comprised the same songs as the other gigs of 2000, Love Missile included (again) Sympathy For The Devil AND The Real Slim Shady, plus Is The Future On Fire With Rock n Roll, performed with Tony taking a break, resting on the equipment. "I don't know this one!" he shouted to us at the front, that cheeky grin of his all over his face. He finally took to the mic to sing the chorus, to rapturous applause.

Having only heard the old gigs on tape, it feels that this show was very close in style and atmosphere to the SSS shows of old, there certainly was a lot of pushing and shoving going on in the crowd, all to the fifth generation of rock n roll soundtrack. Superb!

Once again, after the show, the group appeared for photo's, autographs and handed out backstage passes, well stickers. We stayed and chatted for a while but had to leave to catch the last train. Sadly, Tony was not able to play any of Pirate Space, although a copy had been brought with him. Next time?

For KP's page on this show click HERE.

ANNIE, ME, SPUTNIKFRED & FABIO

TICKET

BACKSTAGE PASS