The Prisoners, Rochester Royal Function Rooms, 30/11/22

How do you normally feel when one of your favourite bands from a misspent youth decide to reform? Nerves, due to that “can they still do it” feeling? Excitement, tinged with the fear of potential embarrassment? Well leading up to this chilly night in Medway I felt neither, mainly because Graham Day and Allan Crockford have played together regularly over the years and Hammond man James Taylor should need no introduction due to the Acid Jazz work of his Quartet. Only drummer Johnny Symons hadn’t kept his hand in over the last thirty years or so. 62 miles is a long trek for me on a school night but great mid-eighties memories of seeing this band in small London venues such as Hammersmith Clarendon, Kennington Oval’s Cricketers, The 100 Club and others meant it couldn’t be missed.
This then, the first of a four night reunion at the wonderfully old school Royal Function Rooms, its main room being a Victorian Music Hall, (with what was apparently the second oldest purpose built stage in England) and possibly the ideal setting for this band, its roots so very much in the sixties influence of The Kinks, The Who, The Pretty Things and English freakbeat/psych.
Ostensibly here on home turf to celebrate 40 years of their debut A Taste Of Pink album, this set covered their whole career together, from self-released albums to those on a Stiff subsidiary and lots of nuggets in between. Kicking off with the first album’s Better In Black, it’s clear we needn’t have worried. “Turn your guitar up” shouts a punter next to me at its conclusion, which they do, and then that classic raucous Medway garage sound really kicks in. Day and Crockford pound their guitars and maestro Taylor on Hammond finally breaks into a stifled grin, sneaking fond looks over at his old schoolmates. No sign of rustiness either from the previously missing in action drummer Symons, who has clearly been putting the hours in recently-at one point even bursting his bass drum meaning a short delay while he sheepishly replaced it.
Punters have come far to see this. Travellers from other countries mentioned on the band’s Facebook page include some from Scotland, the USA and Sweden, but North Kent’s own mod and psych fraternity are also out in force tonight, quite a few of them recognising each other, breaking out into grins and hugging. Great to see quite a few younger fans present too, presumably subconsciously brought up on a garage diet.
Witnessing a tight set, with a good level of interaction from the band, the crowd saw a thrilling set including versions of Hurricane, Love Me Lies, Melanie, Whenever I’m Gone, Deceiving Eye and the bands penchant for a Small Faces style instrumental wasn’t overlooked either with Revenge of The Cybermen and Come To The Mushroom both evident, no doubt a chance for Graham Day to rest his tonsils and who can blame him. Day has apparently hinted there may be more shows depending on how these go. We’ll see.
So, a late night in the middle of a busy week but for a couple of hours I was 16 again. The old showbiz adage of “always leaving them hungry” usually works but when reunions are as good as this, quite frankly I’d rather gorge.

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