Said converted church was an arts centre and the stage was large compared to most of the venues I’ve seen the Bones at and even had its own light show and mixing desk. This was a bit of a treat as once the first couple of numbers were out of the way the sound man had cleaned the sound up and it was probably the clearest I’ve heard them play, with the vocals sounding particularly good.

Set one highlight was ‘Sugaree’, but I always enjoy the opener, ‘You got to serve somebody’ - it’s too good to be used as the first song lads !

Set two kicked off with Dark Star - another odd set opener if you ask me but there y’go. Singing about ‘the transitive nightfall of diamonds’, to a bunch of lagered-up Hartlepool lads is a bit risky at the best of times and needless to say there were some bemused looks. I think there was an ‘experience gap’ somewhere! The set soon hotted up with a Franklin’s>Scarlet>Fire which grew and grew until it was so spacious you could have built a house in it !

It was, in short, the real deal and the highlight of the evening.

The venue has a strict 11.00 ‘no sound’ policy and the lads encored with Deal, sending us off happily into the night. As we left I heard a local talking to a couple who’d been sat near us. His face dropped and he exclaimed incredulously to his mates ‘these people came all the way from Newcastle *just* to see the band !’ We’d come a damn sight further -from Brighouse- and so thought it best to slip away quietly before they knew out-of-towners were in the place !

Full set list was:

(Thanks for taking the trouble, Big Fella !)