The room dimmed and the backdrop came alive with a video montage of historic events of the last 30 years. Margaret Thatcher appeared on the screen to a chorus of boos and jeers. The other Prime Ministers (Major, Blair, Brown & Cameron) faired little better. The images lasted for about 2 minutes before the band took to the stage and launched into Gangsters. The crowd dancing and singing along from the off. Do The Dog and (Dawning Of) A New Era followed in quick succession.
Terry Hall, chattier than usual, eventually addressed the crowd asking a member of the audience her name before dedicating It's Up To You to her.
The set comprised of both their albums but wasn't in strict running order, saving some of the songs for the encore.
After the initial excitement the crowd seemed a bit subdued and they took a while to warm up. Although this didn't stop Clare dancing her way through the set.
Standing next to me was a bloke in his 50s who stood stock still throughout the majority of the gig suddenly decided to launch his pint into the crowd. He soaked a good majority of the people around him including Clare and myself. Although I half expect this sort of the thing a lad in front of me took exception. He marched up to the bloke and pushed him in the chest (despite being half his size). It looked as if a fight was on the cards until someone pointed out they had their young daughter with them and the lad made his way back to his mates. The big bloke next to me disappeared all together and it wasn't until we were making our way out at the end of the night that we saw him again, looking a bit sheepish.
This bloke, however, was completely outdone by the grotesque woman (in every sense) in front of us. Downing pints of lager and hurling her plastic cups into the crowd, she seemed to think that Friday Night, Saturday Morning was an anthem. All traces of irony were lost on her. She stood there waving her arms in the air (too big to dance) getting more and more drunk. When she sparked up a cigarette it wasn't long before security came over and had a word. I had hoped they'd kick her out but unfortunately they let her off with a warning.
The band were storming through their set and it wasn't long before the encore. Ghost Town, Little Bitch and You're Wondering Now. I had hoped they might have come back and treated us to a few others, Skinhead Moonstomp for example but it wasn't to be.
At the start of the show I'd bought a voucher for a CD of the night's performance. It's amazing to think that you can watch a show and five minutes after the end a recording of it is available. As the lights came up we made our way to the foyer and queued up to get our copy.
It wasn't long before we were back at the hotel with a CD of the show, two commemorative pint glasses and a poster that Clare liberated during the last song!
The night itself had started well. Having complained to the hotel following our last visit there (when we went to see Beady Eye back in April) we were promised an upgrade on this trip. True to his word the manager had booked us into the bridal suite and having walked into the bedroom we wandered through to the living room to find a bottle of sparkling wine on chill and two glasses.
Once we had settled in and got changed we headed out for a bite to eat. If we are in Wolverhampton we always head for City Bar. With the exception of a couple of blokes we were the only people there. It's not a grand place but is a step up from most of the other bars around the town centre so I was surprised at it's lack of after work clientele.
Having had a veggie burger and chips, washed down with a couple of gins & tonic, it was a short walk over to The Civic for the gig.
The support came from The Stone Foundation. More Mod than Ska they seemed to go down OK with the crowd and had one or two decent numbers. I wasn't really in the mood and preferred the reggae played through the sound system rather than something that sounded more akin to The Kinks. Were I to see them on their own I would probably enjoy them.
An early start on Sunday for a trip to Solihull Nature Reserve. Arriving at sun up we managed to see the best part of 40 species of bird in just under 2 hours. Not bad for what is in fact a park with a couple of fields attached. 
Redwing, Fieldfare, Brambling, and a couple of Green Woodpeckers were amongst the highlights but my favourite was the return of the Mute/Whooper hybrid swans on the lake. I last saw them on January 10th!
Sitting in a booth next to an open window looking down onto the street it was lovely. The rustic furniture, dog eared menus really do show off shabby chic at it's best. The food is standard fayre. Paninis, baguettes etc but it is served in a bowl with a mock newspaper advertising the cafe and showing stories of various gangsters.
Once we had settled in and got changed we headed out for a bite to eat. If we are in Wolverhampton we always head for City Bar. With the exception of a couple of blokes we were the only people there. It's not a grand place but is a step up from most of the other bars around the town centre so I was surprised at it's lack of after work clientele. 
Yesterday afternoon was a quick dash over to the NEC for Grand Designs Exhibition . It's the 3rd year I've been now and I spent most of my time walking round saying "these were here last year" and "that's where we bought.... last year". Only stopping for a couple of hours before grabbing a free goody bag and dashing home, having something to eat, and getting ready for guests.
It is still unseasonably warm although it has become somewhat cloudy. The cloud rolled in towards the end of yesterday afternoon and even brought some rain with it last night. The temperature however has remained in the 20s. 
