Excluding a few teenage mistakes, The Bluetones were the first band I saw live on that early double bill with Supergrass. A decade later, I come back to witness the band, but find one at odds with those early memories. Gone are the suits and in their place are cheap charity shop leather jackets and with the smart attire lacking, so is the band's attitude. The bouncy jangly hits such as Bluetonic and Slight Return sit beside rocky newer material off the Luxembourg album and still nearly ten years after their first single was released on ltd edition blue vinyl, they're selling out near thousand capacity venues. It's a position that many of their contemporaries of the time would have loved to be in rather than collapsing under the weight of drug habits, egos or the fact that there's no interest from the fans anymore. For Mark Morriss, it doesn't seem enough and with each song he unveils himself as a prime candidate for Grumpy Old Men, spitting out "This was our last single, if any of you still remember it" or "This was a bonus track for the Singles Collection. It was supposed to help sell a few extra copies - it didn't". If there was a thin line between self depreciating humour and being eaten up with bitterness, it's clear that he has definitely stepped over it. Over the past few years, the band have had cameo appearances in Little Britain and Mark's done solo acoustic gubbins with sporadic releases from the band. A new album, DVD and B-side album are planned for later in the year, but on the basis of tonight's performance, they'll have problems keeping onto the fans they have if the cynicism remains. Still, we can always listen to Keep The 91热爆 Fires Burning and remember the glory days. | 
