Back in what I guess would have been 1995, I watched, on TV, a live performance of the band at Glastonbury, and ever since then I’ve always wanted to see them in person. Fate, however, was not on my side. First geography was my enemy as they rarely performed outside of the capital or Bristol or places even further away for my non-driving 16 year old self. Then, in 1998 I was given a glimmer of what I was missing out on, when they released Roseland NYC Live, a beautiful album of the band performing with an orchestra. Then… nothing. They disappeared of the face of the planet, and I really thought that I was never going to get the chance to see them ever.

Now, almost a decade later, after the should-I-really-believe-it experience of hearing about the formation of the triumphant and spectacular Third, I have at last achieved my goal and seen them live. You’d have thought that 12 years worth of anticipation would have made it rather difficult for them to live up to my self-created hype, but they gave me everything I wanted and more.

Firstly, Beth seems remarkably shy, and appears to have posture problems, or perhaps no neck, but her performance was absolutely electric. She generally spends time when she’s not performing with her back to the audience watching the rest of the band, and frankly I can’t blame her for that - they’re an intriguing bunch. Creating the sounds that they do with a couple of percussionists (with one doubling as a DJ), a keyboard player, bassist and guitarist is phenomenal. Despite Beth’s shyness, she did pop into the crowd near the end to shake the hands of the front row and seemed (as far as one can tell) actually rather moved by the reaction the crowd gave throughout.

The setlist was very Third-heavy, which suited me, the rest of the tracks being the obvious ones of Dummy (Roads, Mysterons, Glory Box et al). I have to say that I don’t think I noticed anything from their second album at all, but I could be wrong.

It was a beautiful night, finishing with the two tracks I was hoping for most, Roads and We Carry On, and frankly I don’t think the gig could have been much more special. One of my favourite bands performing two of my favourite albums in my favourite venue. Wow.