Saturday 24th July saw the UK Modies descend once again on the DM capital of the Universe for a night of pure delight with tribute band Black Celebration. This was BC's first Saturday night gig at the Limelight Club in Crewe and the success of the gig would determine whether the boys get more regular Saturdays instead of their usual midweek slots. Spurred on by ace PR man Darkside, the forum turned out in force. Mad Crewe Clutch Clan members came from the far flung corners of the UK to give their support, and even the sceptical among us had to admit they had a good night.........

My weekend started on Friday night, when a girlie night in with Soze descended into the depths of depravity when, after a good duck, we spent 3 hours chatting online with Igbandy. Saturday was spent drinking coffee in the Titanic and browsing the wears in Ann Summers, where I learnt what the sticky out bit on a Rampant Rabbit is for........

After a hearty meal at the Michelin starred Hotel Freelove's restaurant it was time to head down the motorway to Mode Mecca. We arrived at around 8, the first ones to the Limelight, and met Igbandy in the carpark. The rest of the gang soon arrived and Christmas came early with a round of goodie swapping. All present and correct were: me, soze, Igbandy, roadrunner, Nichi, Dopplegahaner, DGG, DGGs Mum, DGGs Dad, Albarst and Debs, Dave's Angel, Little Miss Mercy complete with Zippy Gahan, Yourfavouriteslave, Marblehead Johnson, Mossy, Truckerted, DMPaul and his friends (including Air Traffic Control Man), and last but not least Darkside and Violet. If I've left anyone out my apologies!!!

After a stonking good DJ set by the main man Darkie himself, the tones of PIMPF signalled the start of the band's set and caused mass hysteria in an effort to get to the front of the stage. What followed was 2 hours of absolute sheer bliss, as the boys from Black Celebration stepped it up a gear and delivered what is, without doubt, the best performance I've seen so far. Hit followed hit, the set list skillfully put together to mix timeless classics like JCGE and New Life with up to date renditions such as I Feel Loved and Dirty Sticky Floors and the odd gem such as Fly on the Windscreen and Pleasure Little Treasure thrown in for the die hard fans. The scene front of stage was one of utter worship, from the first notes of the Dead of Night, right through to the manic arm waving of NLMDA, with screaming, sweating, possitively orgasming girls (and boys?) reaching out to try and touch the boys. Highlights of the evening for me were Waiting for the Night, which reduced me to a jibbering wreck, Fly on the Windscreen - better than Mode!!!!, and the crazy leaping hug thingie we did to Enjoy the Silence.

The night ended with an 80's disco, then it was time to head off back up the motorway, dropping Dave's Angel off on the way home before munching on toast and marmelade and forcing soze to watch the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy until 3 in the morning!!

What a night, congratulations to Jeff, Duncan and Steve for pulling off what they must surely regard as a triumph against all the odds - on Thursday night they lost all the programming in their main keyboard and had to start again from scratch! We honestly couldn't tell boys! You were absolutely superb and I can't wait to see you again.

And can the northerners still throw a better party than the Southern Jessies? Course we can! But I'm going to have to go back to London soon just to make sure.........

SET LIST:

Dead of Night
Get the Balance Right
See You
It's No Good
Master and Servant
Walking in My Shoes
Waiting for the Night
Policy of Truth
Dirty Sticky Floors
In Your Room
Somebody
A Question of Lust
People are People
Shake the Disease
Stripped
I Feel Loved
New Life
Just Can't Get Enough
Everything Counts
Enjoy the Silence
Personal Jesus
Pleasure Little Treasure
Fly on the Windscreen
Never Let Me Down Again

Oooop north we have always maintained that we know how to put on a better party than the southern jessies. However, being the fair-minded individual that I am, I thought it was only fair to actually attend a London DM night to see for myself if it was true or not. So I packed my rucksack (mostly with beer) and jumped on the "high speed" train to London St Pancreas (keep reading the medical journals Soze!) in order to attend a DM party in a toilet………

The high speed train turned out to be anything but speedy. After much standing still staring at a field full of cows, the fat controller eventually decided to disconnect the train’s air conditioning system in order to provide enough power for us to get to London. I finally arrived at St Pancras hot and bothered and very very hungry to a warm welcome by Soze and SmashTV. We found our hotel without any problems, dumped our stuff, and headed off to Burger King where Soze and I very nearly killed half the attendees at a kids birthday party.

After a quick wash and brush up it was off to the Ten Bells to meet the rest of the forum members. Present and correct were: Me, Soze, SmashTV, Ultragirl, Yourfavouriteslave, Grinning_Fish, Marblehead Johnson, Lips of Tragedy, Kadi, Cubik Planet, Lady Claudia, Sabry and her friend Chiara, Daveposer, Limp Halo, Limp Halo’s mate Joe, DEpth, Igbandy, Dressed in Black, Easy Tiger, Secret Sister, Woundsaren’thealing, Clearblue, Icesharp and his friend, and from the DMMB, Chalky and Keaton (who I believe have both now signed up for the forum - good choice! :D).

After a couple of drinks in the pub, we headed off to Public Life for the party. An ex public toilet, the venue is very small, and was soon packed to the rafters with strange individuals, mainly dressed in black, reaching out and touching faith. The night was an absolute cracker, wall to wall DM music with some particular treats including But Not Tonight, Get Right with Me, Dangerous and Fly on the Windscreen. We never did get round to that DM Karaoke, though – think there was only me brave enough to give it a go! There was much dancing, lots of drinking, a fair amount of debauchery (can I just apologise now for removing my t-shirt!), some more drinking, some more dancing, lots of reaching out and touching faith (how many times did you play PJ J-LEE???) and, erm, did I mention the drinking?

At 2 am the official party ended and we staggered back to the hotel for drinkies in our room. At this point I have to confess I don’t remember much as I spent most of the time asleep with SmashTV rubbing my head, but I do remember (vaguely) something to do with mushrooms.

Eventually, everyone drifted off to bed and Soze and I settled down for the night only to discover that we had a few "guests", namely Smashie, Fishie and Chalky. So the five of us settled down on two single beds pushed together and tried to get some sleep. After much giggling and various renditions of "there were 10 in the bed and the little one said…" we finally dozed off at about 5am. No doubt you’re all gagging to know who spent the night in my crack (between the beds) – and the answer is Fishie spent the night there, and Soze had a go on Sunday morning!

Sunday was spent doing the guided tour of London Grinning_Fish style. After a 10 mile hike to a café which was actually only 5 minutes away from the hotel, we had a huge fried breakfast in a vain attempt to mop up some of the alcohol, then headed off to the river for a boat trip (which I’m not sure was wise, under the circumstances). After a few hairs of the dog in what will soon be Fishie’s new local (nice toilets!) it was time for Soze, Fishie and Chalky to escort me to the station. After a hold up on the underground, this turned into a re-run of the London Marathon, only to arrive too late at the station. Thanks to you all for putting up with my hysterics and for waiting with me for the next train. I would say thanks to Fish for buying the pasties but they were so fecking awful I’m not sure I’ll bother :p

All in all, a wonderful time was had by all. It was great to meet so many forum members after chatting online for so long, and good to meet some new faces, particularly "Jools", who is now firmly established as one of the gang. I also want to say a HUGE thank you to J-LEE for organising the party, to Soze for drumming up so much support on the forum, and to Igbandy who totally blew me away with his generosity.

And the verdict? Are the southern jessies any good at holding a party? Well, let’s just say that we’ll have to go some in Crewe.