By Carron Stacey, A Humdrum Mum

WHEN?: Friday 27 September, tour runs until 27 November 2024

Having never seen The The, nor been to the Ally Pally, this was a night of many a first, including attending a gig with a shoulder that had been broken the day before.

• Read on for reasons including how Johnson knows exactly how to work an audience

Thankfully, due solely to the demographic, I knew it would be a safe place and nobody would push me into the mosh pit.

Mr. H is the mega fan and has seen them before. The first part of the gig is the listening part, Matt Johnson informs us (in fact he emailed to let us know this earlier in the week), where we get to listen to the new album, Ensoulment, in full.

It is only a group with such a dedicated following (and impressive back catalogue) that can pull this sort of thing off. Normally, we say we don’t want to hear the new stuff, just play the things we know.

However, this works along with the moody lighting, the black-and-white big screens and his black suit and flat cap. The album deserves a listen, lyrically, such is the mastery of Johnson.

Johnson had also included in his email (and had repeated at the beginning of the gig) a plea to listen in this part, don’t chat. Sadly we seem to be standing by many people disabusing this instruction. (The only other time I’ve complained about people talking at a gig was during the tense, quiet part of Public Service Broadcasting song – The Other Side – about going round the dark side of the moon.)

After an interval, we are treated to a full dance set: the retrospective Johnson called it. He introduces many of the songs by saying he wrote this when he was a teenager. He tells us that he was on the dole at the time, but he calls it more a government arts grant. He tells us that the government certainly got their money’s worth! Everyone in that room agreed with that.

He also explains that the problem with having such a huge back catalogue is that you have to exclude certain songs. You’d have to Google for the set list but I could only work out that I didn’t hear The Beaten Generation.

Ending with GIANT, which was apparently missed out on the last tour much to the disdain of the fans, they’ve taken us back 40 years. We’ve been through a lot together in the last 40 years, he says. We’ve grown up together and now we’re growing old together.

There’s nothing old about hearing those first chugging bass lines of Infected, something I never thought I’d hear live. I could’ve listened to the piano solo in Uncertain Smile all evening and that song has been lingering as a welcome earworm ever since.

Emotion, nostalgia, sense of community, just pure class: Johnson knows exactly how to work an audience. He says enough to rouse us, but little enough to keep us wanting more. Until the next time, even with a broken limb.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy The The Tickets
• Have you seen a The The show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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