We arrived at the venue shortly before the band were due on stage. Once again we managed to get right to the front of the stage although it has to be said this time that wasn't so hard to do as there were no more than 100 people there. MrsW found a place to film the show and we waited. Jenny Z of Sonic State was there and came over to say hello. They are, of course, supporting SSS at The Borderline on the 16th. As usual the Clockwork Orange intro started but the band didn't come on stage until after it was complete then going straight into Alien Christ. Martin looked like the bastard son of Worzel Gummidge with an Elvis t-shirt, light purple jacket and a brilliant peacock hat.

There were a couple of technical hiccups, 21st Century Boy died after about a minute and was restarted. Slave Trade crashed after the second verse and was abandoned. 2 songs made their 2000 debut's, She's My Man which sounds better than ever before and alien@tion (or is that aNNIenation) which is very true to the album version. For the encore the band returned with an impromptu version of The Future's On Fire With Rock N Roll which included aNNIe and I singing along for all we were worth, much to the amusement of Martin and Neal!! The encore was supposed to start with Ultra Violence, Tony has since told me that this was changed because he was feeling extremely unwell and needed the rest that the acoustic song afforded him. Zero Zero ended the show, again with aNNIe singing over Martin (for which he seemed quite grateful). As the band left the stage (poor TJ had gone before Zero Zero was over) Neal said that they may come back for one more - they didn't. Not surprising really as I don't think tj would have lasted.

The various problems aside this was a very enjoyable gig - all the songs were really tight, the lighting was great and Martin and Neal seemed to be in tune with the audience throughout. We chatted with Martin for a while, we talked about The Royal Albert Hall show, the infamous frightmask he used to wear. Apparently he wore them ALL the time and was once accused of robbing a bank. He also spoke of his dislike for Zero Zero and said that it would not be performed any more after The Borderline.

Many thanks to Tony for carrying on with the show, it was really appreciated.

ME WITH ORVILLE

ANNIE WITH ORVILLE

BRENDON AND JON NURSE

MARTIN, ANNIE AND ME

MY FIRST AND FAVOURITE PHOTO OF ME AND JENNY Z

SET LIST