Cliff, very good review. You should think about taking this up as a professional!! However, I have to disagree with a lot of what you said. For myself and the people I was with, and I was 'working', it was the best gig yet!! From the stage it was incredible to see so many young people enjoying the band probably for the first time ever. Every gig can't be talormade just for the diehards, there's a whole new audience there at every gig who are hearing the band for the first time and this is what it should be about. The very fact that their stage performance still stands 17- 20 years later says it all. I know many 'young'(16/17 yrs)people in Derry and other places who went and bought their first Undertones CD after the recent reformation gigs. To me, it was defintely their finest yet and quite easily Paul's greatest!! Until the next? Vinny

Phil, I've got both those Moondog singles,you can have them both,let me know if still interested.

Just going through my old singles looking for those Moondog ones brings back memories dosent it ? 'overcaring parents' is a great song.In the back of my green vinyl JJ I've noticed a card with all the dates of a tour printed on the back,does anybody else have this? (apart from Dave Richings who has everything !)Starting in Scotland on April 26th 1979,through the North of England and the Midlands (no Milton Keynes in those days)Middlesboro for George (rock garden)and Leeds (polytechnic)for lindsay.Bristol (locarno) for CR on may 28 and finally Chelmsford for me on June 3rd.A few weeks before Albion had finished 3rd in the old first Division(bliss!!)

78/79, what a botty venting season! Undertones, Clash & Buzz<i>AMD256</i>s @ the Locarno, ManU, Liverpool & <i>Fast Show Catch Phrase III</i>nal @ Ashton Gate. Anyway, my copy of Who's Gonna Tell Mary has the same label on both sides. Is that rare Dave or were they all like that? Overcaring Parents was a great tune but with desperately embarrassing lyrics. Oh and City finished 13th in div1 that year, beating West Brom along the way in a thrilling bank holiday clash in front of 30,000+ at the Gate. You remember Cliff!

I agree with you Cliff re.'appropriate' venues. Punk was all about dark, sweaty clubs/halls - pogoing in daylight not only feels strange but also means you can't be anonymously embarrassing either! However,if the Festivals have got youngsters listening to the 'Tones then they are certainly well worth doing. I wonder what the band members' own kids think of their Dads performing again? Talking of poky clubs and the recent 'What ever happened to ....' discussions have got me thinking about another Irish band called PROTEX who released at least one record on Good Vibrations cos' it's in my collection ('Don't Ring Me Up') and were then signed up to Polydor ('I Can't Cope/Popularity'). We thought they had lots of (unfulfilled) potential (and of course it was the music we liked and not the fact that they were (to quote Republica) 'D.D.G.' - sorry I'm lying just a bit here!). Sadly, never got to see them live - not without trying though - we did turn up to see them in July '79 at York Pop Club (v.poky club with stage a foot off the floor). The 'Tones played there too on that same 'Plug The LP Tour' Cliff is talking about - I was actually outside on the night dead upset cos' I was performing at a theatre nearby and my mum said I couldn't fit in the gig as well - parents! Protex were due to perform there supporting Adam and his Ants (pre-Prince Charming days thankfully) but we turned up to find they had dropped out of the tour half way through! Interest waned after that, so does anyone know 'What happened to them?' Of other bands mentioned here, I've only got one Moondogs single ('She's 19'-awfully good) and one Lurkers single ('Pills'-just awful!).

Cliff - top review, but as someone who has only managed to see them twice - Fleadh & Mean Fiddler - I can only say that any appearance is a bonus.

Thanks Pete,yes you're right any appearance these days is one to savour,as I said in my review, forgetting all else, the one hour they were on stage was fantastic.

City Rocker, my version of 'who's gonna tell Mary' doesn't have the same on both sides.If I remember correctly, at the time there was a competition in the Bristol area, "get the same label on both sides and win a tractor" you had to claim your prize while Bristol City were in the 1st Division so obviously you didn't have long !! Yes, I did go to that match on the Bank holiday,I'll always remember it coz a horse sneezed on me while I queued to get in (queues,remember them?!)

CMoS has organised the 'best 60 mins' in such a way that we can see our favourite tracks and,in effect, albums.Julie Ocean ties with Jimmy Jimmy in first place,I'll bet there aren't any other punk (?)bands who's own fans vote a balad as their favourite song,what a romantic lot we must be.You can also work out from this our favourite albums which are not surprisingly:(1)Undertones (2)Hypnotised (3) Positive Touch and (4) Sin of pride.Personally I find it impossible to seperate the first three.

so many closet moondogs fans...wow dont know anything about Protex altough i remember them (never rated them)...liked the Starjets (signed to epic), Rudi and the Sweat(from Dublin). fans may also be interested to know that a certain Terry Hooley is alive and well, still running Good Vibes (the store) and still only got one eye!...he does a lot of djing these days on reggae nights (man)and still running a great little shop...visit Belfast sometime...meet the man who gave the world the Undertones...

hey Mickey...what DOES incoherently mean?

Am I the only one surprised at Teenage Kicks not being voted on 60 minutes by over a quarter of those taking part. As for my old photos of the band which have been added to the site. The photo of Mickey playing the <i>Bolero</i> was taken in the Creech Castle or Castle Creech Hotel, Taunton. I had travelled overnight to see the band play at St. Austell, Cornwall only to discover on arrival that the concert had been cancelled. I travelled to Taunton where they were playing the following night and whilst walking around the city centre was fortunate to spot the tour minibus pull up and the Undertones got out. So it wasn't a wasted journey after all. I know Derek from Liverpool was stabbed at a concert in Belgium. Any other memorable concerts/journeys!