�??Ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn�??t have fallen in love with?�?� �?? Probably the Buzzcocks�?? most known and adored lyric, timeless even, yet ironically is now more fitting when describing the relationship the Buzzcocks now have with their biggest (or most delusional) fans. A tepid, lifeless display from the �??Cocks was met with voracious cheers from the sweaty Neolithic has-beens colonising the Electric Ballroom.

The Moonies, a young trio of Liverpudlians, on the other hand were met with wholly undeserved apathy. Brandishing My Bloody Valentine riffs combined with harmonies straight from Pet Sounds era Beach Boys their 8 song fireball of a set failed to wow the crowd, who were probably saving themselves for the Buzzcocks�?? snooze-fest 26 song set. Justice? I think not. Yet ironically, the only person who might begin to agree was Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks, who specifically requested that the Moonies support them. He too might have noticed the difference between the shape of punk to come, and the shape of punk after 20 years as �??waste disposal experts�??.

On the whole though, it was an enjoyable gig, and we left happy in the knowledge that we had seen one of music�??s great pioneering bands, the names of the Moonies singles to go out and buy (Blue, Cool, I would, and the Rock and Roll EP) and an inexplicable phobia of feral, foul smelling leather clad old men furtively attempting to relive their past by screaming along to Orgasm Addict, Oh Shit and Love Battery�?�

Mark Burton/ Ed Lugg