' Cocks thrust, dulled by muffled mush!

Just so you don't all believe that I only go to Scratch gigs! ... Here's one I went to last week with the Scratch ... I was invited out by the chaps on their christmas do ... a visit to the usually redoubtable forum to witness Northern Punk originators and god like genius' the Buzzcocks ... well Pete and Steve ... and friends ... anticipation was high after an afternoon of chrtismas shopper dodging in a couple of soho's darker drinking establishments. Neville Staples was in support, as great as it was to hear those classic numbers, they couldn't sound anything other then nostalgic head bobbers, without Terry Hall. Bit like the sadly now departed Micky Finns attempts at his version of T.Rex. Then for the main course ... The Buzzcocks came blistering into their set with three tracks, straight off the bat, so great to see a band do that rather than bugger about mumbling over the mic ... sadly though despite the semi-comical Mayesque posturing of Steve Diggle and the galant frantic highpitched mastery of Pete Shelly's voice ... the only thing you could really hear audibly was the drums ... in a strange perverse way it was heart warming to see that it wasn't just the poor sods on the pub/small venue circuit who have to put up with sub standard sound, but at £15 a ticket and with all their years of brilliance it was a shame that this marred the bands considerable efforts.