Saturday night I went up to London for a night out. I don’t do that often: after commuting for 5 weekdays, the last thing I want to do is take another train up there!

The trouble is that I do like going to concerts and the people I want to see just don’t come to Crawley. On Saturday it was Spizzenergi playing at the Metro Bar in Oxford Street. I have seen Spizz play quite a few times, first in 1979 when he was supporting Siouxie & The Banshees and then again in the 80s and 90s. Once in the 80s I even saw the band twice in a week. When I first got online I set up a web site for the band and got to know Spizz a bit, so now I would feel a bit of an obligation to go even if I didn’t enjoy the actual shows.

Although I always enjoy seeing Spizzenergi play, this time was possibly the best I have seen them play. There were a few songs I would have liked to hear that were missed out, but it was a good set and the band sounded really tight and all looked like they were enjoying themselves. I met up with an old colleague from my London Underground days for the show. Usually we go to see ‘world music’ concerts together because nobody else we know wants to go and see Rachid Taha, Manu Chao, Ojos de Brujo or artists like that, so this was a change.

He seemed to enjoy it, but maybe he was just being diplomatic as he knows I am friendly with Spizz. I am a bit prejudiced and can’t see how anyone could fail to enjoy a set that starts with ‘6000 Crazy’, ends with ‘Where’s Captain Kirk?’ and has ‘Soldier, Soldier’, ‘No Room’, ‘Spocks Missing’, ‘Central Park’ and other such hits inbetween, as well as cracking covers of Kraftwerk’s The Model and Roxy Music’s Virginia Plain.

The band may well be playing at the Punk Aid festival in Great Yarmouth next year and might even be on the same day as The Tubes… I’ll make a point of going to that!