Misty Moon on Sunday nights plays host to Metalworks, who seem to be an established rock/metal cover band. They invite a band to play in their break. Tonight it is the Hyenas.

When I left home it was dry, by I emerge from the underground in Chalk Farm it is pouring with rain and distinctly cold. I wonder whether I should have chosen more substantial clothes. Arriving at the Misty Moon I find I have too many clothes on, the venue is hot, sweaty and full. Its a struggle to reach the bar on the other side of the band. Some of the songs seem familiar which is rather embarassing and much of the crowd seem as old as me. There seems something rather sad about rehashing old Status Quo numbers on this scale, but at least these people are out enjoying live music rather than sitting in front of the TV.

Although there is the now traditional exodus for cigarettes, there is still a substantial crowd to enjoy the Hyenas. The guys from Metalworks give them a warm introduction and they are confident in playing their own songs. The audience handle their lack of familiarity with the material well. I see no looks of bemusement, nor do I hear any discussions of whether that riff was reminiscent of a metal band the long-haired slighly greasy man in the leather trousers had seen at Donnington in '83 or was it '85; but then I'm taking pictures with my head virtually in a monitor so I may have missed such coversations.

There are actually a number of us who have come specifically to see the Hyenas and I think we all enjoyed a good set. I was reminded of a riff from a band I saw at the Hope & Anchor in 1978.....or was it.....

Shocking as it may seem the last tube from Camden leaves at 11.30 on a Sunday. Presumably this anachtonism is a hang over from the licensing laws introduced around 1915 where everyone had to go to bed early on Sundays so they could be bright and fresh on Monday mornings ready to produce astonishing numbers of bombs and other deadly munitions to fight the Great War. Perhaps one of the candidates for the Mayoral elections might propose bringing London on a Sunday night into the 21st century. Until then it looks like I shall have to get the car out if I want to out on a Sunday. In the end it took me 2 and a half hours to get home from Camden, exactly the same time as it took me to get home the previous night from somewhere north of Ipswich.