Ok, I'll start with a disclaimer that the relationship between the following review and the facts may at best be described as 'estranged', although others who were there might venture 'painfully divorced'.  

Description of the venue ought to be reliable I hope, partly because my first memories of it were sober ones and partly because it was very basic, possibly last decorated when Mondays was number one. The stage was housed in a spartan nightmare-for-roadies upstairs room, capacity allegedly 200 but feeling more than busy with about half that present.  For someone who, picking up on Lisa's comment, prefers smaller and more intimate indoor gigs, this was perfect. For someone who likes seeing those gigs fuelled by pints coming in at a shade over two quid it was heaven.

Support was ably provided by two of Wes' long time friends and former bandmates, playing an acoustic set with a guitar each, a sort of Black Country answer to The Proclaimers. I think it was mainly comprised of their own material but there may have been some covers unfamiliar to me at least. Either way they were good enough to keep a group of 40 or 50 away from the England match showing downstairs in the bars.

Rats came on to a lively and expectant crowd at around 9.45 and within 30 seconds of opening with Mary of the 4th Form the place was jumping. Another bonus after recent festival only performances was the re-introduction of tracks such as Neon Heart, the Feelgood songs and I Can Make It If You Can. The set had no surprises (if it ain't broke...) and perhaps with Mike finding his way it makes sense for the other three not to be in unfamiliar territory at the same time. As it turned out Mike looked and sounded like he had been with them for years. A brief conversation confirmed that he had a week's notice of his Brentwood baptism, and no rehearsal to speak of. The two full days spent rehearsing for this gig paid off handsomely. The new singer may be (for now) more reserved than his predecessors, but he can play, he can sing, and the rapport with his bandmates was evident. The rapport with the crowd will no doubt follow as his confidence grows. 

The set finished as usual with Mondays, to a rapturous reception, but for the first time I can remember they actually came back out for a heavily demanded encore. The evening finished as it had started, with a belting rendition of Mary.

As mentioned, my memories are limited, but I can recall Wes' grandson and grandaughter (clearly didn't spend all his time listening to Rats at a young age then ) playing some very enthusiastic air guitar about a foot from the stage all night, narrowly avoiding injury more than once from a pogo-ing poncho-clad Belgian called Allan (let's face it there are some things that will still register no matter how many pints you've had) who was having the time of his life. Apparently he was wandering past the pub at 6pm when he heard She's So Modern being soundchecked, promptly went in to find out who was playing one of his favourite ever band's songs and then couldn't believe his luck it was two of the original members and a mere £7.

Not sure how wise it was asking me to help get the gear downstairs post-gig as I nearly went flying with vintage amps and precious drums several times, but hopefully the kit survived for the next gig. Would highly recommend anyone to make the effort to see them at a future gig and judge for yourselves.

Just remains for me once again to thank Wes for promoting this one; everyone clearly enjoyed it including the band. Good to meet Lisa and hubby again after very brief exchange at Penn. Would be good to put some more faces to names on here. Maybe we could pool resources for a fan sponsored gig somewhere sometime?