Riff's Bar, Greatfield, Swindon

13 years ago, Clive Nolan shrugged off his Shadowland front man cloak, hung it up in his cloakroom and retreated back behind his keyboards in Pendragon and Arena. Now it seems that after his experiences up front for Caamora he has gotten the limelight bug again.

So, what else to do but fire up his half of the old Lurve Ambassadors and get them oiled up and out on the road again. So he did.

However, seeing that the gig was on Friday the 13th, we should have known that something would go wrong. In fact, Lara Frodo had it right by dropping out at the last minute, citing a body-wax session that she'd forgotten.

So, after a predictably bad 4 hour journey, thanks to a two hour delay on the M4 at Reading, we made it into Riffs just in time to see support act Damian Wilson leave the stage to a decent round of applause.

This did give us time to get a few drinks in, and have a brief chat to some of the star studded crowd, namely local boys Nick Barrett and Mark Credo,Mick Pointer, former Shandyhander Ian Salmon and Arena alumni Paul Wrightson. Well, they're definitely stars, but maybe not studs...

Pretty soon, the Shandylads (Clive, Karl Groom, Mike Varty, Nick Harradence and new kid Mark Westwood) squeezed onto the stage and pumped their way through what could only be described as a "greatest hits" package, including The Whistleblower, Jigsaw, Hall of Mirrors,The Hunger, Through The Looking Glass, Mindgames, Mephisto Bridge, USI... I could go on guessing all night! Clive started off looking very nervous, but soon settled back into the role.

There was a surprise for the crowd, and I guess for Mark too, when Ian Salmon leaped on to the stage, like a salmon leaping on to a stage, and proceeded to play bass on a few numbers. Clive also played some keys throughout the night.

They also played a couple of new tracks, which I think are on the new - and available at gigs - "Best Of" compilation "A Matter Of Perspective".

But they saved the best for last. Well for the encore anyway.

Yeah, they'd planted the seeds in our minds back at the end of last year, when the reunion tour was announced. Since then, housewives around Europe have been digging out their old CD's and trying to remember the moves. And time time has now come... Ring of Roses was the only way to end the evening, accompanied by an odd assortment of "dancers".

I had a quick chat to Clive after the show, and if this tour goes wel, they may well be another Shadowland album. There was also mention of a possible gig at The Peal in London.

But meanwhile, they are out in Europe, where the lucky people of Belgium, Holland and Germany will get their go!

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