The Misfits: Gig Review

My husband & me.

OK, so I haven’t been to a gig in years, so I was giggly school-girl level excitable about this.

It was amazing. I had been worried they wouldn’t live up to my expectations and I had no clue as to what impact the fact that my favourite albums had been made when they had more members and a different lead singer would make.

Thankfully however, they played songs from pretty much every single album they have ever made (the only one missing was Project 1950 – I think – which in my mind is just as well).

This photo is stolen from http://inquisitiveelks.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/it-was-best-gig-ever-pt2-misfits.html but its exactly how he looked and it's a crackin shot.

The day before we went, my husband announced that – shockingly - this will be his first rock gig. Crikey. I’d spent all this time thinking it was pretty much ‘my’ night, this was a band I’d loved for a long time, but now it was definitely ‘our’ night; his first proper gig, my first time finally seeing the ‘fits.

And I’m so glad it was him I got to share it with. He’s one of the few people on this planet I can be completely myself with. I knew he wouldn’t mind how badly I danced, how excited I got, he’d always love me more for it.

The Misfits. 6/4/13 Manchester Ritz.

we were so rock'n'roll, returning our plastic cups to the bar and the only thing we sneaked in were sweeties.

We spent most of the night on the edge of the mosh pit, which was great because as the pit crushed in on itself, we got the best view of the stage. There were a few moments I could feel him tensing up as the pit got a little over-excitable. I hadn’t considered until then that he didn’t have much pit experience, but it was one of the friendliest pits I’ve seen, everyone picked everyone else up and the lad who got knocked in the jaw was given the space to leave.

There was one hilarious moment when the tallest teenage boy in the world came hurtling uncontrollably out of the pit straight at us. I caught him as he passed us, and once he’d got his wits back (he was completely bewildered), he went back in.

The topless encore.

They played ‘Scream’, the very first song I ever heard by them, about 3 or 4 songs in, and then saved all my favourite songs for the encore. And they played song after song after song. No stopping for a chat, no imposing their views of the world or anything. When they stopped playing at 9:40pm, we all knew there’d be more. They returned to the stage and Jerry Only had finally taken his top off (it's not a pervy thing, it’s the Misfits, it’s just part of the image), and sang my absolute favourite songs, including ‘Saturday Night’, which Jerry dedicated to all the girls. I don’t care what anyone says; he totally waved at me at this point. I was the only girl standing right in front of him, flanked by a bunch of student lads on one side and rocker boys on the other, the pit was still crushed up and there was this expanse of space in front of me. The wave I got wasn’t nearly as good as the wave someone else kept getting to the left of the stage, but hey-ho, no matter.

I sang at the top of my voice until I thought I’d choke and danced like no-one was watching.

Not to self for future gigs; wear ear plugs and don’t arrive on time. The doors opened at 6:30 and the ‘fits weren’t on til 8:30pm. One of the support bands was so bad we hid elsewhere, drank gin and ate the sweeties we’d stashed haha.

Me after the gig.

We both wore clothes we hadn't worn in years, decades even. I was super pleased to be wearing my old bones necklace which used to be a staple item, but somewhere along the line, along with any sense of individuality or style, it got sidelined. We're thinking it's time for a change now...