Thumpermonkey & Grelch at the Engine Rooms

It's official, I'm too old to get drunk on a Tuesday night. I always welcome a mid-week jolly, but from now on, I resolve to stay off the booze until Friday night. Last night I tried to act 15 and woke up feeling 50. A gang of us went down to the distinctly seedy Engine Rooms, to support Michael's first Brighton gig with his band Thumpermonkey, stopping first for a civilised tipple at The Regency. The gig had been held up thanks to a slack, absentee promoter, and Michael eventually came on stage around 9.15pm, by which time I was already tipsy and indulging fond memories of similarly grungy rocker nights, half my life ago. There was even a familiar Eastbourne face from the 'Inn on the Track' days, though my memories of then are too hazy to recall a name. The highlight of Thumpermonkey's set for me was their tongue-in-cheek cover of 'As the World Falls Down' from the Labyrinth soundtrack, which topped off my teenage nostalgia trip nicely. After Thumpermonkey, a local band, Grelch, amused us with folk-rock pastiche and worryingly oddball humour. There wasn't much scope for conversation what with the small space and big speakers, so Mat and Ant decided physical communication was the way to go and ended up having a girlie brawl reminiscent of that classic Darcy vs. Cleaver scene from Bridget Jones's Diary. Nice.

I woke up this morning with a killer of a stiff neck, which I can't even put down to moshing (I'm more of a foot-tapper these days), and a bleary-eyed hangover which doesn't seem to be wearing off. Quiet night in tonight then.