First up on stage were support band Is Bliss who hail from Portsmouth so are practically locals for tonight’s gig. Their set was loud and fast and delivered to a crowd that remained pretty static throughout but the vast majority also stayed that way for the whole of the J.A.M.C set so no reflection on Is Bliss.

A quick change over and it was an early start for The Jesus and Mary Chain who are on the road in support of their recently released album Damage and Joy their first release in nearly nineteen years. Known in the early years for incredibly short sets that consisted of howling feedback played with their backs to the audience and being hailed as the greatest band ever they seemed to be on an unsustainable career path that could only see them burning out. But here they are thirty odd years later still going strong and attracting a reasonably sized crowd to the O2. The line-up may have gone through a number of changes over the years but the one constant driving force has always been the pairing of the Reid brothers Jim and William.

The gig its-self was one of the loudest I have been to for a while with the crowd still shouting for it to be turned up louder, what lighting there was left the band in shadow with front man Jim not much more than a silhouette and William hanging at the back of the stage for the entire gig. As strange as it may sound that is not a criticism as that’s pretty much what I was expecting.

The set list covered most of their career and albums including Some Candy Talking from the 1986 album of the same name, Upside Down, Just Like Honey and main set closer the cheery Reverence from the bands 1992 album Honey's Dead exiting the stage leaving behind a wall of howling feedback.

It was a short-ish main set at almost bang on the hour but followed by a five-song encore that lasted another twenty minutes. If you like The Jesus & Mary Chain then you got exactly what you paid for but they are definitely an acquired taste and to be honest I do like to be able to actually see the band I have come along to watch.