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It’s been a quite brilliant year for The Alarm. Last night they played their 93rd gig of the year at SUB89 in my hometown of Reading. Apart from their busy touring schedule the band have released the brilliant Equals album as well as the superb remastered editions of their 1984 debut LP Declaration, and the Eponymous album of early singles and b-sides. On a personal front I have managed to see band in North Wales, New York, and London as well as Reading. Since I began my fundraising, and receiving the most amazing support from fans of the band, I have emerged from the shadows of barely knowing or speaking to anyone, and have made and continue to make new friendships. I cannot state how huge that has been for me on a personal level through a time of great personal sadness and bereavement.

The current four-piece lineup has become a really tight unit over the last couple of years. It has been really fascinating watching this, especially during 2018, as they have really seem to have found their feet the more I see them. At the same time what you are experience is very much a live performance and interpretation of the band’s music, and the power, passion and energy of the band never fails to deliver and hooks the audience in.

The set in Reading opened with a rousing version of Blaze Of Glory, refreshing to see this classic song given a fresh lease of life as the set opener rather than as the closing song it has been for so many years. Most of the new Equals album was performed during the set, and these new songs more than hold their own alongside the classic songs, and got a great reception and reaction from the crowd. At one point we got a hint of Across The Border as Mike began the intro to Peace Now. It was good to see The Stand get a full band performance, and sounding so fresh. It was the song that I heard on John Peel in early 1983 that got me into the band. One of the highlights for me was during the acoustic section when Mike performed Third Light, which was just spine tingly awesome. 

The segment where the band power through Marching On into Where Were You Hiding really got the crowd going as did Mike’s wonderfully funny description of how the card throwing came to be on Top Of The Pops. The main set closed with the classic 68 Guns, with a slightly changed arrangement, which once again freshened up the song. One thing that amazes me after all this time is that the band never cease to surprise. It is also rare for SUB89 to allow bands to go past the curfew time without pulling the plug, but with a two-hour stunning set in full flow, Mike and band carried on, and finished  with a superb rendition of Two Rivers followed by Get Down and Get With It drawing the evening to a close.

Last night was also a rare occasion of getting some old friends together for an Alarm gig. I finally managed to get my brother (2nd right) to an Alarm concert after all these years, and his verdict was tremendous. The other three reprobates are old school friends with friendships going back 40 years. My first Alarm gig was at The Marquee in May 1983, and the first time we all went to see The Alarm was at The Hammersmith Palais gig in February 1984. The band for me these days is very much about the friendships I have both old and new.

A great evening and a truly brilliant year for me following The Alarm. Perhaps the gigs in New York take the top spot, purely because it was my first time in America, and I was blown away by the place and the people, but it’s not easy to put any of the gigs in front of the other, and the Reading gig was as good as it gets. I am already looking ahead to 2019 and The Gathering in North Wales, and fingers crossed a return to New York, as well as any other opportunities to see the band.