Bad Manners gig at The Step Inn

Well last night I gave the ole Docs a quick spit n polish, donned the Fred Perry & Harrington & drove into the Valley to the Step Inn to see one of my favourite bands of all time BAD MANNERS.
It had been 10 years since I last saw them perform at The Troubadour on the Gold Coast and I was mega excited.
It was also very cool because I was hitting the gig with my 3 of my favourite people.
My very own two-tone army.
The Three Ms. Mel, Mouse & Moose.

To be honest we didn't really listen to the support bands instead we stood outside the band area drinking Cascade Lites & talking music. However, when the last support band finished we quickly secured our positions right at the front of the stage. Poor Melly was crook-as with the flu & so she opted to stay out of the crowds as did Moose. Mouse & I stood firm, elbows at the ready front row centre. Very quickly the tiny room was packed & squished in with masses & masses of rude boys, skinheads & rude girls. The atsmophere was unreal especially when the DJ played any Madness or Specials songs. The whole room would erupt in a loud sing-a-long. 
Finally, the Bad Manners band members came on & the crowd began their chant to call the lead singer Buster Bloodvessel.
YOU FAT BASTARD YOU FAT BASTARD YOU FAT BASTARD!
When Buster came out in his hideous tiger print suit the crowd went beserk!

From then on it was a jumping, skanking frenzy. Mind you it was hard to skank when you only had the equilavent of the top of a twenty cent piece to dance on. Thank god I was at the front!  It was all going well until the sound went out on Buster's mic & he couldn't hear himself & me thinks he got a wee bit cranky. Then they got it fixed and the lights went out. Luckily it didn't affect the sound so the show just went on.  I got about 1/2 way through the show & I was starting to feel a bit faint & really needed to get some fresh non-BO'd air & a big drink of water. Mouse had already jumped ship needed a wee break and once you went out, there was no getting back in.
I elbowed my way through the throng of stinky Ben Sherman shirts & finally the freezing air hit me. Water never tasted so good.  I managed to watch the rest of the show with Moose from the sidelines.
Buster still sounds awesome & the band sounded fantatic & they really really know how to whip the besotted crowd into a frenzy. It was so cool to see a heap of people who obviously LOVE ska music but haven't gone to a live gig in ages. I saw one group of older rudies who were in their 50s and it was like a big reunion for them. They looked like they were having an absolute ball.
It was a great night & I must admit that I felt more comfortable in my rude girl threads than in a 1950s frock.
My only two bug-bears were 1. NO MERCH??? They only had a few collectable vinyl records but no shirts. Man, they would have made a FORTUNE on shirts if they had them. Crazy. 2. Shit venue. The Step Inn is a terrible venue. The room is wayyyyy too small for showing popular bands. Local bands perfect but International acts it is terrible. The Zoo would have been a MUCH better venue to have this gig.
Anyway the gig finished around 12.30 & Moose walked me back to my car as my body guard so I wouldn't get mugged. I would have pitied the poor person who would have tried to mug me with about 150 huge skinheads around to protect me!

Got to bed around 1.30am with my ears ringing & calf muscles caning! Brilliant!