Therapy? at the Spirit Store

It's the last night of their tour this evening and their pre-Samhain set features classics old and new and it's all treats and no tricks from the boys right from the get-go. Opening proceedings in style with the tasty trio of 'Meat Abstract,' 'Nausea' and 'Potato Junkie,' the songs' jagged edges are as sharp as ever, while fourth number 'Living In The Shadow Of A Terrible Thing' bothers plenty of necks thanks to a satisfyingly crunchy riff and manic vocal hook. So far – so awesome.

As you might expect when you've got the North's greatest group playing in one of the best venues in the country, this evening's show is a classic in the making. Feeding off the sweat-drenched, up for it crowd, Therapy? give us alt-rock outsider anthem after alt-rock outsider anthem and 'If It Kills Me,' with its starry-eyed, power pop melody and 'Teethgrinder,' with that riff that sounds like it was sent from space are particular stand-outs.

Through the night we also hear a brace of new songs which may or may not feature on their soon-to-be-made 14th album and both 'Armed With Anger' and 'Still Hurts' (which has an ace machine gun-like chorus) bristle with the spirit of '70s-era Ulster punk (and that's certainly no bad thing). If there are any criticisms, it's that this reviewer would like to see their cover of 'Isolation' rested for a while, but the folks crowd-surfing during the number would probably disagree with me. It was certainly good to have 'Polar Bear' dusted down and de-iced though and their cover of the Misfits' 'Where Eagles Dare' was a timely treat too. We don't think it'll be too long before we see Andrew James Cairns, “Father” Michael McKeegan and Neil “the Derby Demon” Cooper back in the Spirit Store once more.

In the meantime, we'll bide our time by waiting for their career-spanning box-set.