Having only a week earlier seen The Mission two nights on the trot, it was never going to be enough and with the four-night stint at The Forum, it seems only fair that I top off an incredible week with my favourite Goths witnessing the final night, where they do a set entirely made up of (cough) twenty songs picked by the fans who were attending. Now, I applaud such a noble gesture, but I’m sure many in attendance have quite poor musical taste, with the odd exception (current band being the obvious one) and picking twenty there are bound to be dissapointments and a few suprises like the new single being in there but I’m sure we were asked to pick before the news was out or has my brain just been addled by over exposure to so many Mission shows in a row (not a chance how can anyone have enough of such a great band) I believe someone even made a spreadsheet of all the songs they’ve played thus far over the past few weeks and its almost seventy which is impressive especially for the people attending multiple times. Anyway, The Forum is sold out, and we are packed in like sardines with the usual bellends who have no gig manners and try carrying three pints through a crowd, knocking young women and older people flying in the process, but that’s a minor gripe I guess you pay your money, you take your chance, and tonight it was a particularly rowdy stalls with many people who might regret flying around for two hours when they wake up on the Sunday.

The lights go down, and the band takes the stage with the Familiar intro playing. Wayne takes the mic and sounds in fine voice, considering he’s picked up the tour lurgy, which he speaks of later in the set, the difference being a more mature man of a certain age compared to a young man who goes at it 100 mph, catches no tour lurgy, yet the older guy goes down hard. Tell us about it we’re with you, Wayne. It’s the familiar strains of ‘Beyond The Pale’ to get this one up and running, followed by ‘Like A Hurricane’ (did people really plumb for a cover as one of their fav Mission songs? Anyway, I’ll take it you can never get enough of The Mission, especially lately because they look and sound like they’re having the best of times. There was a moment in the show where Wayne was on manoeuvres around the stage, and he looked up at Craig, who broke out a huge grin at his old mate that spoke a thousand words to me, and catching the fleeting moment filled me to the brim with feel-good vibes. Having done over a thousand miles in a week to watch these gents, it’s moments like this that make it all worthwhile, never mind hearing the next string of songs from ‘Naked And Savage’, ‘Serpent’s Kiss ‘, and ‘And The Dance Goes On’, ‘Love Me To Death ‘, ‘Butterfly On A Wheel ‘, and an exceptional ‘Deliverance ‘. I was wondering if this might top the second night from Tomorrow’s Ghosts. With the new single being played, I think it’s brewing into a classic and sounds like a familiar friend already.

The band sounds super tight, and the mix is spot on, with Simon’s guitar being more prominent this evening, but that could be down to where you find yourself standing. The first encore is upon us, and ‘Wake ‘ and ‘Crystal Ocean’ are dusted off with ‘Wastelands’, and I’m not sure I can remember such a fantastic, committed encore by the band; it sounded magnificent.

The second encore and pop pickers’ most voted-for songs are played in reverse order – drum roll, please, Alex, ‘Wishing Well’ really? Hey ho, followed by ‘Blood Brothers’ and ‘1969’ to test Wayne’s voice, which has pretty much stood up to the test all evening and a whopping two house plus. The evening was drawn to a close with the magnificent ‘Tower of Strength’ that sounded as fresh as the first time I heard it . Tonight much the same as last weekend could have gone on for hours, On the journey back to the hotel we talked about the show and how good it was and how great it was seeing the band enjoying more than ever and feeding off that and then we joked about th esongs that weren’t played, where was ‘Met-amor-phosis’, ‘Grotesque’, ‘Like A Child Again’ ah damn I could go on and on. What a run of shows it’s been and capped off with a superb Saturday night in the big smoke. The band sounded awesome and looked like they enjoyed it as much as the audience did. Now on to the new album, another run of UK shows, and to renew my passport for some European fun in the sun next summer, watching The Mission. Bring it on.

Author: Dom Daley