With support from

Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth - Wednesday 14th November 2001

After meeting up with friends in the pub and introducing Random 'It isn't big and it's certainly not clever' Jon Poole to some very scar(r)ed individuals (best not ask), it was time for the penultimate show of SG5's debut tour. I will admit I was a little hesitant about tonight after being thoroughly underwhelmed by London but fuck me, was tonight a stormer or what?

The Jellys were, yet again, on terrific form, despite (or because of) CJ's 'healthy glow'.Featuring exactly the same set as at the Ballroom, but Portsmouth's healthy Jelly's fanbase went several shades of spastic for them - this being a venue that they had previously headlined.

And tsk at me for doubting the buggers because tonight Silver Ginger 5 were on fire. As with the Jellys, it was the same set as last time but the magic was back, everyone had that glint in their eyes and the songs sounded brighter, with Nitebob's legendary production skills laying wreckage to the ear drums of the South Coast.

Tonight we get all the tricks and the party pieces (with albeit a slightly curtailed pyro show), and we even get a crowd surf from Conny, which despite Ginger's frequent mentions on this tour about punching crowdsurfers, he survives intact.

In short, tonight was the best I've seen SG5 since that very first Scala gig. And London was a dim and distant memory. .

Joe Dimmer