You may well know how it is – weekend traffic on a second trip into Manchester in four nights taking its toll. For Haircut One Hundred on Wednesday, we let the train take the strain, but there’s always that worry about cancellations on a creaking network, Government underfunding truly telling. Besides, I had a willing driving team on this occasion, saving that last-minute schlep up Oxford Road to get to the venue.

We hadn’t planned on dodgy temporary traffic lights though, and then there was the moment we saw the huge queue and wondered when we’d get in. Thankfully it was Ellie Goulding doing the family entertainment there. We were next door, getting in just in time for the majority of Neville Staple’s nothing less than celebratory ska party, his 16-legged groove machine perfectly setting the scene for an end of tour happening. I’d have loved to catch The Rezillos – 45 years after their initial dates with The Undertones – or the Tom Robinson Band, also putting in special guest showings on this nine-date tour, but no one was short changed.

They’d set out on ‘The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)’ – co-written with Lynval Golding and the much-missed Terry Hall – as we entered the Academy 2, and it all seemed rather apt… as relevant today as when first aired by the Fun Boy Three late in ’81, the year of Positive Touch and my first ‘Tones sighting, aged 13. Roddy Byers’ ‘Concrete Jungle’ also sounded on-trend as the Original Rudeboy and his Rudegirl, Sugary, strutted their stuff to the mighty accompaniment of brass, bass, guitar, keyboards and drums.

My favourite moments were blistering takes on Toots and the Maytals’ ‘Monkey Man’ and The Pioneers’ ‘Long Shot Kick de Bucket’. The sound was a bit lost where we were for ‘Ghost Town’, but both that and ever-wondrous Specials debut LP opener ‘A Message to You, Rudy’ took me right back, before a nostalgic foray into Symarip’s ‘Skinhead Moonstomp’ saw them out in style. A little bit of Cov come to Cottonopolis. Carry on, Nev, 68 years young. We still need you to brighten our nights.

As per the same pairing’s appearance up the other end of Oxford Road at the Ritz in May 2019 (with my review here), this was an inspired choice of bill, and as per then there was to be a reappearance for two of the band, but I’ll get on to that. There’s not much I can write about The Undertones live that I haven’t before, yet from the moment those first chords rung out I was transported and totally invested, and in this instance ‘Emergency Cases’ launched us into a memorable night, side B track two of the ‘Teenage Kicks’ EP that first grabbed the attention this time in 1978 there in all its glory, followed in this instance by ‘Family Entertainment’, always such a blast, before true contender for best single ever, ‘You Got My Number (Why Don’t You Use It!)’. They could have played country takes on the third and fourth LP’s numbers then ended with those three numbers, and I’d have been more than happy. But no, there were still – I reckon – 30 stonking more songs to follow, and everyone a Maserati, as Monty Python’s Graham Chapman’s bus conductor put it.

‘The Love Parade’ remains as fresh as in 1982. In fact, better live. I just wish I still had that original t-shirt of the cover. ‘Jimmy Jimmy’ never fails to get a venue moving, ‘Tearproof’ has so many great lines, and ‘Thrill Me’ is somehow now 20 years young and also remains just as sharp.

Then Neville’s brass boys added sax and trombone to ‘It’s Going to Happen’, 42 years after I first heard that given added blow at Guildford Civic Hall on my first of at least 18 Undertones shows (which pales in comparison to the 120 one punter down the front has got to, Paul McLoone suggesting that’s more than the band have actually played). Also from that third LP there was ’Crisis of Mine’, never sounding better to these ears (still ringing as I write this – I think that’s the loudest I’ve heard the band in many moons).

Marking the main celebratory aspect of the night, they then whipped through the other three tracks from that iconic debut extended play, ‘Teenage Kicks’, ‘True Confessions’ and ‘Smarter Than You’. Unconfined joy. We then sprang forward 29 years to John O’Neill’s title track of most recent studio LP, ‘Dig Yourself Deep’, ‘Nine Times out of Ten’ following in all its glam rock wonder before Get What You Need’s ‘Oh Please’, one of Mickey Bradley’s finest moments. And we were still only halfway through as ‘I Gotta Getta’ gave rise to ‘Girls That Don’t Talk’ and inspirational punk rock classic ‘Male Model’.

Seeing as we were in Manchester, ‘Here Comes the Rain’ was a given (it was actually dry until we made our way back to the car at chucking out, chucking down time), which neatly exists alongside ‘Here Comes the Summer’ in these days of climate emergency. A heartfelt tribute followed to one of Manchester’s favourite sons (and of course Ashington, England, and the world’s), the peerless Bobby Charlton, whose (flawless) passing was announced that afternoon, aged 86, adding a poignant element to ‘When Saturday Comes’, that respectful nod followed not long after by Damian O’Neill lauding the  talented Blackpool-born, Hyde-based cartoonist Tony Husband, set to be there that night but having checked out this week, rather suddenly at the age of 73. So sad.

The show goes on, of course. It’s how they roll, and we had ‘Girls Don’t Like It’ and ‘(She’s a) Runaround’ before a gear change with John’s beyond reproach moments of reflective genius, ‘Julie Ocean’ and ‘Wednesday Week’. And from there, ‘Listening In’ and ‘Get Over You’ took us to a much-needed breather, two more classic nuggets of punk rock gold.

Those who have caught this band this past quarter-century will know and cherish the easy conversation between Mickey and Paul (with occasional bouts of giggling from the latter), with this occasion no exception, my favourite between-songs moment when Damian went down to sort out a guitar malfunction and Mickey suggested he’d dropped 50p, a deadpan mention of how he’d dropped his own plectrum earlier following, with John, to his right, remaining tight-lipped (I know, That Petrol Emotion fans, that was a Ciaran McLaughlin song), concentrating on getting through the next few songs before he could finally relax. As for Billy Doherty, it was a similar story, saving his own one-liners for those wonderful drum patterns, and probably ready to rail against some messed-up line or other that most of were either oblivious to or just not bothered by.

When they returned, ‘Hypnotised’, ‘I Know a Girl’ and ‘Jump Boys’ put the tin hat on it all. Come to think of it, Mickey suggested, amidst inevitable shouted requests, they were actually going through in alphabetical order. Either way, we got ‘Mars Bars’ too at some stage (I can’t recall when), ‘There Goes Norman’ and ‘My Perfect Cousin’ providing the last hurrahs on another wondrous night with Derry’s Finest. And I loved every single minute… but you probably guessed that.

For this website’s recent feature/interview with Billy Doherty, and links back to past Undertones-related interviews, features and live reviews, head here. And for this website’s March 2019 feature/interview with Neville Staple, head here. For the latest from The Undertones, try here. And for the latest from Neville Staple, try here.