It was the first time the band had played the entire album in front of an audience, the first time headlining at the Town Hall and, importantly, the first time the band had appeared wearing matching shoes. An anxious, tetchy week of fine-tuning had culminated in a prestigious home gig at the famous old neo-Classical venue. The instruments may have all come from car boot sales, but for the new outfits the band were all styled by George (of Asda) with additions from Primarni. We must’ve been the sharpest-looking 6-piece beat-combo on that stage since Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Titch….(plus whoever their VJ-genius was) round about the year of my birth.

Everything went to plan. The sound was good (if somewhat on the quiet side) and amongst the 600-odd crowd were many friendly faces, some who’d travelled from afar. Thank you, to everyone, for coming along last night. It was a special gig, indeed. Roll on the next one. In between now and then, though, I’ll be donning my Stan’s Cafe dust-coat for some Rice Show action. The plane flies tomorrow lunchtime, bound for the land of the rising sun.