There were about 150-170 people in the Hard Rock, the place was packed. As far as I could see it was middle aged dudes - average age maybe 40 - a few with their wives or girlfriends. Lots of bald or balding heads, one dude with a Joy Division shirt. So, the Hard Rock has a strange loading situation, there' s no back door so bands load straight up a ramp in the middle of the audience and onto the stage. A few minutes later they come up the ramp through the audience. Lineup is: Cy Curnin - more than six feet tall. dapper hair and glasses, tight white shirt & black pants. grimaces a bit while he sings, but very charismatic. Jamie West-Oram - on the right, he's got a shaggy haircut and is wearing this baggy red getup. still has that trademark 'ching' guitar effect sound. Rupert Greenall - on the left behind a keyboard stack. has the most new-wavy hair of the bunch, somewhat spiked. dressed all in black. GARY TIBBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - on bass. from Adam and the Ants, the naughty north and the sexy south!!!!! bald. in a sweatpants ensemble. drummer - didn't catch his name. but I'd heard 4 of the 5 guys were original members so since Gary is from A&TA that means the drummer was original. hard to see him from my vantage. set list as I wrote it down: - something called "Touch"? - something called "Holding Out"? -"How Much Is Enough" -"Are You Satisfied?" -"Secret Separation" -"Straight Round the Bend" -"Everyone Believes in Something" (totally unreleased) -"something called "Remember Me"? (also not released) then they start to pile on the hits you want to hear - "Stand or Fall" - something called "Here Stands the Phone"? -"One Thing Leads to Another" -"Deeper & Deeper" -"Red Skies" then for an encore "Saved By Zero" good sound, good time. turned out to be only $12, not $15. totally worth it. there were also five other people there that I knew, from the punk/goth scene of the late 80s, in their late 30s like me. "I will conquer space around me."

Fantastic - a tour which was promoting "Liverpool" as an album. A crazy time in the ring at NEC. This concert was reviewed as "the band that put the word LIVE back into live music". They played a set for just under 2 hours. Particularly remember "Rage Hard" and "Relax" being totally amazing that night. This was my first ever concert - and has to rate as one of the best I have still seen.