On this, the last night of the Misfits tour, initially there didn’t look like there would be many people for the first band, Swindon’s, ‘2 Sick Monkeys’, but by the time they hit the stage a pretty decent crowd of about two hundred were loitering in front of the stage, which was good because anyone who missed them, missed a pair of real Punk gems. They had a massive sound for just two guys and epitomized everything that was and still is great about British Punk music.

Opening with the words “Tonight’s show is brought to you with the words Ding Dong and the Witch is Dead” raising a wry smile on the faces of anyone who understood the inference. They went on to play a highly entertaining set with equally entertaining between track banter, some of which were from their split CD with ‘Rash Decision’, ‘Less is More….More or Less’. Also included in the set were ‘Nirvana Song’ , a self proclaimed ‘rip off’ song, explained by guitarist/vocalist Pete Tower, so that they could be sued for everything they don’t have, including their debts, ‘Inside Outside’, a song about bullying, and ‘Happy Days’, a song about suicide.

Towards the conclusion of their set Pete paused to photograph the crowd because, he said, no one would believe they had played before such a large audience. As far as opening acts go, they were by far one of the better ones, I thought they were engaging, amusing and musically very good and I think a great many of the crowd would agree also, judging by their very positive reactions.

The changeover period was much swifter than anticipated and it wasn’t too long before Horror Punk legends, The Misfits hit the stage, playing an hour and a half set, which spanned their back catalog but with a greater percent coming from their most recent album ‘The Devils Rain’, which was pretty much nonstop. When he did stop to interact with the crowd, Jerry Only engaged in a friendly and upbeat manner to an enthralled crowd, he certainly seemed to be enjoying himself. ’Scream’ proved to be a big crowd pleaser with everyone singing along. Crowd surfing and literally hanging from the ceiling was well underway as they played ‘I Turned into a ‘Martian ‘ and ‘Skulls’. It was good to see this far too well behaved crowd getting really lively.

I retreated to the top of the bar for the encore, for a better view and safety, ‘Rise Above ‘was dedicated to the crowd, “the craziest bunch of knuckleheads of the tour” followed by ’Die, Die, Die, my Darling’, another song which had the crowd singing along. At the end of the set, Jerry stayed on stage to chat and sign autographs, which I thought was a very positive aspect and was something that was greatly appreciated by the fans.

Misfits founding member Jerry Only: Bass/Vocals
Black Flag alumni Dez Cadena: Guitar
Eric "Chupacabra" Arce: Drums

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