Happy talk

Have you ever found that it's possible to look forward to something so much that it's all but inevitable that it's a disappointment when it actually happens? I know that I have... last night at The Forum in Kentish Town had all the makings of just such an occasion - but, thankfully it was no such thing. Captain Sensible's 60th Birthday Party was all that it promised to be and more. Everybody on the bill played a great show - T.V. Smith appeared with Vom on drums for the first time in The U.K. ('TVOM'!) and gave a typically energetic performance to begin the evening; the only annoyance from my point was that when I spoke to them both afterwards they said that if they'd been able to find me before the show then they'd have asked me to join them for a few numbers. Bah! (I of course was in The Assembly House mourning the loss of The Bull and Gate... mind you, have neither of them ever heard of mobile phones?!?) Next up was Johnny Moped, who I first saw supporting The Damned at The Marquee sometime last century - he was bonkers then and he's bonkers now, with 'Panic Button' remaining a neglected classic of the genre. Maybe one day I'll work out what genre it's part of... with the venue getting fuller and fuller (surely there was more people in than there should have been?) Ed Tudor-Pole went down a storm, although you could feel the anticipation for the main attraction building throughout his set. By the time The Damned appeared everybody was in party mood, and The Captain and co. rose to the occasion to give a mighty performance which ended with balloons and silly string everywhere. It couldn't really have ended any other way. All that remained was for Ruts D.C. to close the evening - we battled against collapsing microphone stands and what was probably the worst onstage sound that I've ever experienced (someone said that the monitor engineer was eating his dinner during our show - I don't think that they were joking...) to give what we thought was a below-par show but which everyone that any of us spoke to assured us was fine out front. That's a lot better than us thinking that it was great but that it actually wasn't don't you think? Afterwards there was time for a drink in the upstairs bar where Gaye Advert introduced me to her sister Wendy, I saw Sarah Pink for the first time in a while and Eugene from Vive Le Rock magazine kept asking me when we're going to play some new songs. They're on their way Eugene, they're on their way... and probably strangest of all, Captain Sensible asked me to sign his birthday book. Why is that strange? Well because I never thought that someone like him would ever ask me to do something like that for them. I'm supposed to ask them for autographs, not the other way round! A great night from start to finish. Happy Birthday Captain - here's to many more.