I'd been counting down the days to this gig, one of the very few that Sweet have played in the UK in the last year. Whilst I very much enjoyed the "Sweetlife" launch and the CD has rarely been off my CD player since, there's nothing like a live gig.

I knew that many of the regulars would be at Plinston and when I arrived at 7.35 I immediately spotted Lost Angel in the foyer. Doors opened at 7.45 and I made for the bar, bought a beer and made a small part of the "limited seating" my own. Plinston is a cosy venue with lots of atmosphere, but there were few people sharing it at such an early stage. I knew from the previous Plinston gig that Sweet would not be out until 10 p.m. at the earliest.

I settled down to listen to the background music and await the support act, "Kiss Thiss", who were the support act the last time Sweet played at Plinston. Shortly before they came on stage, a lady approached me to enquire if she could sit at the table I was using. We quickly got chatting and it turned out that she (Sue from Liverpool, now working near Letchworth) had come to see Sweet, having last seen them in 1973 at the Lido on the Isle of Man. I told her that I would be very interested to know how she thought the new band sounded 29 years later!

At 8.45 there were about 100 people in the hall as Kiss Thiss came on stage, but another 50 or so came in as the live music began. They played a 12 number hour long set including "Brown Sugar", "Rock'n Me", "Can't get enough of your love", "Whole Lotta Woman" and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door". They worked hard, put a lot into their performance, clearly enjoyed themselves and looked and sounded good. By the time they finished at 9.45, there were about 300 in the hall.

Equipment was shuffled round on the stage awaiting the arrival of Sweet. I spotted Woody across the hall and one or two others whose faces I can remember but names have long since dropped out of my slowly ageing brain.

Sue and I moved to a prime position at the front and at 10.10 I saw various band members hovering in the wings. Numbers were up to around 400 and there was an air of expectation as the James Bond theme was played to introduce the band. And then - on they came. Andy grabbed his guitar and struck up the familiar and sweet "Hell Raiser" riff and the rest of the band powered in. Hardly time to catch your breath as the explosions rumbled away at the end and "Burn on the Flame" was up and running. I never thought much of that track on vinyl but it is unbelievably good when played live. Andy said that this was Sweet's first gig in the UK for a while, although he had played his local carnival at Pewsey. Then it was on with the music - "The Six Teens" to be precise. Andy, Steve, Jeff and Bruce were clearly enjoying themselves immensely during this song and there was some amusement when Andy popped in a (deliberate) mistake to see if we were all listening - which we were.

Jeff then mentioned Sweetlife and said that they were going to play a couple of tracks from it. First up was "Do it all over again" which, rather disappointingly for me, started off with Andy strumming an introduction for Jeff to sing in to, rather than the riff I was expecting (dum da dum da dum dum da dum dum). My disappointment quickly faded as there powered into the song and the diehards could be seen singing along whilst the rest danced or tapped their feet. We then had "Everything", a song which I would describe as good rather than excellent from hearing it on the CD, but live it was superb and a bit haunting, showing off Jeff's fine singing and giving opportunity for the rest of the band to demonstrate their instrumental skills at different times. Andy went through a range of fascinating expressions as he played the guitar solos - a sign of concentration, but fun to watch. Bruce played with a noticeable energy and enthusiasm and I thoroughly enjoyed his performance, which was well worthy of a drummer from a band called "Sweet".

New album over, we moved back into the usual set as hit followed hit followed hit. Now it's back to the beginning" said Jeff. Andy looked puzzled. "Or maybe not", continued Jeff, "Are we doing something different?" Andy broke into a smile and Jeff twigged the wind up. "OK", he said, "You have to understand that this set is worked on a need to know basis, and apparently I don't need to know". Co Co/Funny Funny/Poppa Jo followed, then Wig Wam Bam/Little Willy (I saw you singing along, Sue), Teenage Rampage, AC/DC (which Jeff introduced with the words "This is gonna hurt" - a reference to the strain the song puts on his voice rather than the audience's reaction), "Love is like Oxygen" (excellent keyboard work from Steve), "Action", and "Blockbuster".

The show stopped briefly for Andy to remark on the fact that it would have been Brian Connolly's birthday tomorrow (October 5th) and that Mick was no longer with us - a poignant moment. He then introduced the band and Jeff reciprocated by crediting "the man who was, is and always will be Sweet, Mr Andy Scott". The final number was "Fox on the Run" with some great duelling guitars from Steve and Andy.

The band disappeared to loud (not quite thunderous) applause and cheers. "Will they be coming out again" asked Sue. "I hope so," I said, "they've not played "Ballroom Blitz" yet". A couple of minutes later they were out again and Andy bellowed "It's, it's the Ballroom Blitz" into the microphone several times, encouraging the audience to repeat the phrase louder and louder until they were satisfied we wanted to hear the song, at which point B ruce's drums struck up the oh so familiar beat. They really let rip on this with Steve squeezing every last ounce of power from his guitar, Jeff singing and playing wonderfully well, Bruce supporting with first class drumming and Andy doing his bit including a reprise on the expressions of concentration evident earlier in the evening and turning up the amp to ensure that we all went home deaf.

As they disappeared at 11.20 for the last time, I asked Sue what she thought. "Brilliant, yeah, really good" she said, "I thoroughly enjoyed it". I asked what her favourites were and she said the 1973 to 1975 period. "What did you think of the new ones", I said. "Not bad at all", she replied. I introduced her to Woody and a couple of others as the crowd dispersed. I told Sue not to wait another 29 years before she went to see Sweet again as she might be disappointed.

You wouldn't expect me to say anything other than "what a night - when's the next one?" but my slightly less biased critic, Sue, seems to confirm that Sweet are alive and giggin', playing the classics with style and strength and bringing in new material to a new audience. Will S Club and Atomic Kitten still be around in 2031?

Steve Goldspink