Setlist:
'Intro'/'The Light Pours Out of Me'
'Model Worker'
'The Great Beautician in the Sky'/'The Honeymoon Killers'
'Because You're Frightened'
'You Never Knew Me'
'Rhythm of Cruelty'
'I Want to Burn Again'
'This Poison'
'A Song from Under the Floorboards'
'Permafrost'
'The Book'
'Twenty Years Ago'/'Definitive Gaze'
'Parade'
'Shot By Both Sides'

Encore:
'Thank You (falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)'
'Motorcade'

2nd Encore:
' Love You Big Dummy'

Watching the mighty Barry Adamson on a boat in Bristol last year his set peaked with a version of Sly & the Family Stone's 'Thank You' - was this a nod to the band he was once bass-player for, Manchester's Magazine? At that time we joked that Magazine might reform...

A joke when you consider they vanished in the early 80's, never really had proper hits, and guitarist John McGeoch - perhaps the greatest guitarist of the post-punk scene - sadly passed away in 2004. But tonight Magazine returned, about 27 years since ceasing to exist...

It was hard to believe this was happening, but Magazine burst into an epic version of 'The Light Pours Out of Me,' Noko from Apollo 400/Luxuria a fine stand-in for McGeoch tearing through the glam-rock riffs and reminding us where The Stone Roses got the drumbeat for 'I am the Resurrection' from! Howard Devoto appeared, looking like a university lecturer, pulling wonderful shapes and in as fine form as his bandmates; surely Devoto must have been joking that the band hadn't rehearsed till last week?

The presence of two Louise Brooks' bobbed vixens from support band Ipso Facto on several tracks added hugely, especially on the theatrical 'Great Beautician' /'Honeymoon Killers' medley and a gorgeous version of 'You Never Knew Me.' It seemed that their Martin Hannett-produced album The Correct Use of Soap was the main touchstone tonight and very kind of them to update the American President reference in 'Model Worker.'

Obviously their most popular songs 'A Song from Under the Floorboards' and 'Shot by Both Sides' were tremendous, but the peak of the set came with a vast reading of 'Permafrost' where people sang along to the charming "I will drug you and fuck you"-chorus followed by spoken-word b-side 'The Book,' and a seamless medley of another b-side 'Twenty Years Ago' (which achieves what Gang of Four did in a career in one song!) and 'Definitive Gaze.'

The encores were far from obvious and included the prog-post-punk of 'Motorcade' and their cover of Captain Beefheart's 'I Love You Big Dummy,' a song Devoto originally played when a member of Buzzcocks.

Tonight was the perfect set. OK they didn't play 'Stuck' or 'About the Weather,' but you can't have everything. The more the Joy Division-mythology is milked, the more Curtis & co seem like The Doors; this might make Magazine the Velvet Underground?