So we reached the final date of this UK tour, a return visit to Chelmsford where last February, the band were joined on stage by Yana Ya Ya.

I got to the venue just after the shy girl, and was greeted by Zammo banging on the window while I was in the car park. On getting inside I was promptly asked if I'd seen or heard anything of JZ, she hadn't turned up yet, and there was less than 45mins to show time. I got a drink, more red shit I have gotta stop drinking that stuff, then chatted with Shy Girl, Baz, Pen and whoever else came to speak to us while we sat there. It was just starting to look as if Zammo was gonna have to don the pink wig and stand behind the boys in place of JZ when her and Jon pulled into the car park.

Shouting at her from the window as to where she had been resulted in a, well, rather negative answer!! Bless her, she got it right on the night.

On they trooped, Martin announcing that he was there to play for his fans. What followed was a really tight and well performed set,

CLOCKWORK ORANGE
SEX BOMB BOOGIE
EVERYBODY LOVES U
21ST CENTURY BOY
ALIEN CHRIST
THE KING OF ROCK N ROLL
ALIEN@TION
RAZZ CRAZY
JAYNE MANSFIELD
SLAVE TRADE
LOVE MISSILE F1-11
ATARI BABY
SUPER CROOK BLUES
ROCKIT MISS USA

As at Brighton, they seemed to be having real fun on the stage. Neal looked into the crowd on two occasions and asked a certain young lady if she'd been sending dirty photo's to him!!! He also commented that is was the best sound on stage he'd ever had. Once again PirateSpace was proclaimed as the new album during the set, which I suppose to the casual punter it is, seems kinda weird though as we've had it for over a year now. The more I hear The King Of Rock N Roll the more I think it rocks. Can't wait for it to be recorded. Martin seemed keen for someone/anyone to join him on Jayne Mansfield. Penny thought I should go but I didn't think I'd look too good on the video!! Mind you she wouldn't go either, although she wasn't feeling 100%. At the end of Love Missile, Martin tagged some of MAD so it went Ultra Violence in Japan, Bomb Afghan and Pakistan, Argentina and Iran, and then proclaimed God bless America. A slightly less than enthusiastic cheered the band back on for the encore. Neal announced that as this was the last night of the tour that the encore would be three hours long, starting with Jazz Odyssey(?), written by tj backstage!!!!! Shame then that, after just three songs, the band were gone.

And they closed the fucking bar.

Afterwards we got a chance to talk to all of them. Tony asked how many miles I'd knocked up in the last week or so following the band round the country. He spoke of his plans to record both the Elvis and the new album very shortly, hence the end of the tour. Apparently more European dates will then follow and possibly, in the run up to Xmas, three or four larger UK gigs, possibly including London and Birmingham (I think he had some big Birmingham club in mind, so hopefully that doesn't mean The Old Railway again. It's not a band venue but where it's situated leaves a lot to be desired and the toilets.....wicked jukebox though). Martin was more than a tad tanked and was hugging and kissing everyone. I got the impression talking to Neal that he certainly is kinda fed up with the smaller venues and likes the bigger clubs with better facilities, lighting etc where you can put on more of a show and get the crowd more involved. We also got the chance to have our photo taken with the whole band and quite a few people took shots of us all together. If you were one of them please e mail them to me as I'd love to see all the different versions.

And then we had to leave, although the fact that the doorman, like myself, watches Crossroads gave us a little more time!!

Great band, great gig attended by great people.

How do you get out of Chelmsford Penny?? Trust me, I'm the Doc!!

SHY GIRL, LOUD TROUSERS

THE GANG'S ALL HERE