Prisoners

In 1980, Graham Day, Allan Crockford & Johnny Symons formed The Prisoners. Two years later they were joined,on the organ, by James Taylor who gave them a more powerful sound.
On the 18th September 1986, four albums & several singles later, they played their final gig at The 100 Club, Oxford Street.

So, what more could you want for Christmas than another chance to see The Prisoners live?
With passports in hand, myself & Daryl headed "Saff" of the river to the garden of England - Kent.
The venue was The Qube, which is attached to The King Charles Hotel Gillingham. A dark & cold venue with a very small stage.
The DJ played a nice mixture of Northern & 60�s Soul as the place slowly began to fill.
As the crowd built, so did the atmosphere and an ever growing buzz of anticipation. The support band was Speedball Junior, a very tight Belgium PsychoBilly band who came and went.

It was now approaching eleven thirty and everybody was chomping at the bit.
Finally, The Prisoners squeezed onto the stage, after a bit of banter with the PA guy, Graham Day shouts �we are The Prisoners , you are the fucking audience!� & they explode into �Melanie� followed by �Coming Home�. By now they had the 500 plus crowd mesmerised, anyone not moving was obviously dead!
The temperature seemed to rise during �The Revenge of the Cybermen� & �Nobody Wants Your Love�.
Battling through obvious sound problems & with the crowd at the front worked into a frenzy, they belted out a mind blowing set which included �Come To The Mushroom� �Hush� �Deceiving Eye� �Whenever I�m Gone� the masterful �Hurricane� �Are you Reaching My Head� �Love Me Lies� and the sublime �I Am The Fisherman�.
After two encores & several visits into the audience by Mr Day, it was all over. A superb set which left you breathlessly satisfied but wanting more.
In my mind tonight we had once again witnessed a band who 20 years ago were way ahead of their time, their sound since copied by the likes of The Inspiral Carpets, The Charlatans & Kula Shaker - all well known bands, but if you mention The Prisoners in the same sentence, people say "Who?"
Justice? There is none.
I was still buzzing three days later!

Uncle Fester
Ps Cheers to Daryl for driving.