The main support for the show came from Seattle based punk/new wave band The Briefs.  They arrived on stage and proceeded to blast through several songs without much crowd enthusiasm, although things did improve as they progressed.  The singing was shared around the group, with the main singer giving way for the bassist on a couple of songs and even the drummer took lead on three. Highlights of their set, well “Destroy The USA”, Dead In The Suburbs” and “(I Think) My Baby Is A Communist” which arguably got the best crowd reaction.   

This trek round the UK is the Misfits 30^th Anniversary tour and whilst the band no longer comprising of the original members (with the current line up including Jerry Only on bass/vocals, Dez Cadena, previously of Black Flag, on guitar and former Misfits and Black Flag member Robo on drums) every other T-shirt at the venue showed without any doubt that there is still a loyal following.  The stage, for the most part, was modestly decorated with skulls, crosses, gargoyles and pumpkins, so when they took to the stage it was apt that they kicked off with “Halloween”.  Live the Misfits play faster than they do on albums, and with few pauses they managed to blast through an insane number of songs, played with more energy than most young bands can muster up; a sign that they may well still be touring when they reach their 40^th anniversary.  

For the majority of the set they covered their back catalogue with songs from each era being played, however they did lean most heavily on the Danzig era,  including “Attitude”, “Skulls”, “Teenagers From Mars”, “Astro Zombies” and “I Turned Into A Martian”.  However, the group is not all about the early material and they delved into relatively more recent times to showcase “Helena”, “American Psycho” and “Dig Up Her Bones”, the latter receiving a notably loud reaction from the crowd. They finished their main set strongly and returned after a very short break to serve up “Green Hell”, “Rise Above”, one of several Black Flag songs played tonight before finally finishing the evening with, what else, “Die, Die My Darling”. 

Overall, an enjoyable evening and while not the most talkative of bands live, the Misfits came across well enough and I’m sure most fiends, both young and olda like, went away happy.