WHATEVER ups and downs punk has been through over the years, it is clearly held in high esteem by those old hands who, against all the odds, are still around to appreciate it.

The much younger crowd are too young to have experienced it first-hand, but are fascinated nevertheless.

The venue was already pretty full by the time the local lads Geezapunx took to the stage with their ever so slightly more contemporary take on what they had gotten up to as teenagers.

Fast, loud and proud, they belted out a mix of new and old material, with a couple of covers thrown in for good measure. They have plenty of catchy, sing-along bits and their fans duly obliged. This show also saw the launch of their debut EP Best before Dec 1982 and sales were brisk.

Next up was Ed Tudor-Pole who has been a musician for 40 plus years and yet it's the three weeks he spent in the Sex Pistols as Johnny Rotten's replacement that he is most (in)famous for.

On this night, he was in the company of fans and friends and he was appreciated for the musician he is.  Everyone got into his music and sung along with the songs. He also had loads of funny stories from his career and he would tell them between the songs. His encore was the ever-popular Over the hill with the swords of a thousand men!

Next up were The Sex Pistols Experience who are a Pistols tribute band. So they do not merely seek to cover the Pistols songs, they dress like them and act like them too.

By this time in the evening the ale had been flowing and I don't think people cared that they were not really the real thing - this was the Pistols show they never got to see 35 years ago.

They played a really long set, about an hour and a hour I believe and played all the songs. In between the songs there was plenty of banter and abuse - it was a really fun show.

So thanks to all the bands, the promoter and the manager and staff of the venue for setting up this time machine for one night.

Neil Duncan, ISSUEPUNKZINE