I can’t believe I made a 200-mile round trip to see Spizzenergi – a band I have already seen so many times I have lost count! On the way I made a small detour to pay my Dad a surprise flying visit in Letchworth.

The band were playing at the Marquee in Hertford. A bit outside my usual orbit, but what the hell. It is actually a pretty decent venue: the sort of place Crawley could really do with. It is upstairs in a small shopping arcade and, apparently, started life as a snooker hall.

Here is me making a knob of myself with the band before they played.

At the time there was another band onstage who were a decent punk band with touches of ska. They sounded quite a bit like Rancid except their songs were a bit more direct than Rancid, with titles like ‘Itchy Bollocks’ and ‘Sex Shop’.

After them there was a band who seemed to be all of about 15-years-old. I can’t criticise their ability – I have owned a guitar since before they were born and can’t even play a simple tune – but they were not as enjoyable. It sounded like they have been listening to too much Arctic Monkeys and Babyshambles.

The music was as it usually is. All the old favourites were played. I think this photo sums up why I enjoy seeing the band play as it shows how they enjoy playing. I think this was taken just after Spizz messed up on the lyrics of a song, even though he wrote it himself.

One thing I noticed straight away was that Jeff, the drummer, only had a snare and a bass drum – no toms at all. Normally he plays with a full kit, and plays very well, so I thought there might have been some sort of disaster, but it was deliberate. Most of the time I forgot he only had the one drum. I bet he can’t get away with it in his other job, which is playing in a Genesis tribute band.

But I don’t need to describe it all – if anyone really wants to know, there is a DVD on sale (details at spizzenergi.com). I was going to pick one up today but the usual Spizz shop was not present this time. I might order it from Play.com in the morning.

More photos at Flickr.