Review by David Potts

Having played "Setting Sons" to death, I couldn't believe my luck when I read that The Jam were coming to play live at my local venue - Wolverhampton Civic Hall. It was to be only the second concert I had ever attended.

The Jam had recently gone straight into the UK charts at No. 1 with "Going Underground" ensuring the tickets had sold out fast.

The first thing I remember about the gig were the cheap T-shirts. They were selling for 1ukp each (cheap even then!).

The magic moment took an age to arrive but finally the support band disappeared, the lights went down, and the three heroes ran on stage to a deafening welcome. Up came the lights and The Jam thrashed into their opening number (Thick as Thieves I think!).

The concert was a highly charged affair with Weller and Foxton leaping around the stage in front of the steady and powerful Rick Buckler.

Around halfway through, Weller and Foxton picked up acoustic guitars and Weller introduced a new song by saying that he thought it would provoke a Jam backlash. He said it was the first time the song had been performed live. It was called "That's Entertainment" and it brought the house down.

Other highlights included a fast and furious "Going Underground", "Dreams of Children" and a sublime "Little Boy Soldiers".

Of course the gig lasted too short a time, (about an hour and a half), but I always preferred quality to quantity and everyone came away wanting more.

During the next two and a half years I was to see The Jam another five times. They were superb at each gig, but none was so special as that first one at Wolverhampton.