The Hip Priests open proceedings for the evening as the sole support and the small crowd around for when they arrive welcomes them quite warmly. While the numbers grow slowly but steadily through their set, this warmth continues throughout, with the newcomers showing a respectable level of appreciation for what is a well-played, in your face Punk set. They are tight and well up for the gig, doing themselves justice with their performance, with the Midlands five-piece giving their all despite the lower turnout by the time of their set, with at least one of their songs surely known by those around me, given their split single with our evening’s headliners, The Dwarves, they deserve a bigger crowd than they have, but at least do have some new fans to show for it!

The Dwarves come on slightly ahead of schedule, after I grab Blag Dahlia for a quick chat, and are immediately straight into the thick of things with a much busier crowd arriving in the mere 10 minutes I was able to grab with Blag outside the venue. A mosh pit kicks off with our second track of the evening, with the charged crowd lapping up the sonic delights of Blag et al and showing their love for it in different ways, with loud sing-alongs, shouting down the mic willingly proffered at times by Blag to a few of their loyalists right down the front, the mosh pit and more than a few feet and head moving at a rather alarming rate – although reports of whiplash incidence from that vicinity are yet to be made available.

Veering between their Garage Punk and rather more Hardcore tracks, we get almost an hour of their best, with the likes of Get Up & Get High, Sluts of the USA and Let’s Fuck ringing loudly around the venue, almost as loudly from the crowd, myself included, as from the band themselves. Blag’s constant modesty on the mic, with between-song declarations affirming that The Dwarves are both the best band and only remaining Punk band on the planet amongst others drawing smiles and laughs, creating an affable atmosphere in their quite non-PC manner, while Nick’s bass playing seems pretty effortless, belieing quite how much work is being put in by the pair and our other two headlining hosts to entertain us all through their set. A great evening of high octane Punk n Roll all around from two bands on top form.

DJ ASTROCREEP