Ahh, now that was a gig! There were times when I wondered if making a 280 mile round trip for a gig in a city I'd never been to, on a school night in minus temperatures was really a good idea...but it was!
Journey took me about 3 hours despite constant lane closures for cones to sit unattended on the M1. Found a Weatherspoons and played spot the HMHB fan - fairly easy when they are wearing Dukla Prague away kit shirts. The venue was quite easy to find. It looked like a hell-hole from the outside but inside, wow, really nice and biggish (about 500 capacity I'd say), a great bar, a disco area (they were playing Smiths and MBV when we arrived) and then a nice stage/mosh area with good vantage points for shorties.
They started with Mathematically Safe and then the glorious PRS Yearbook which had me leave the safety zone and bound into the mosh pit where I stayed for the duration. Security were busy stopping the speakers from toppling into the audience as we bounced up and down - you could actually feel the floor go up and down - so there was no one to stop the many people who got on the stage to cuddle Nigel and then crowdsurf.
They played a few old favourites (Fred Titmus/Bob Todd) but mostly played tracks from the last few albums. Still it send to go down very well. They ended the regular set with perennial favourite Everything's AOR before encoring with their cover of Here Comes Your Man then Joy Division Oven Gloves and finally Trumpton Riots.