Let's face it - I've seen some heartbreakingly bad shows from this band - to a half empty Kentish Town Forum In 2005 ….and also some utterly brilliant ones, during a string of reformation gigs in 2000. After the last time I saw them a few months ago, which was the second worst time I've ever seen them - this is a stunning about face. The Wonder Stuff - now with ex-PWEI drummer Fuzz fully intergrated into the line up - play an absolute blinder. Tight, precise, and with a crowd totally on their side, The Wonder Stuff play as if they were headlining ; and it's the roughest crowd I've seen at a gig in a decade - within 30 seconds of coming on stage I've sustained an injury to see the first aiders about. Yet with a set roughly the same as the support slot they threw out supporting The Levellers six months ago, but it’s a completely different experience. It's a thousand times better.

Words cannot adequately explain just how different they are tonight. Miles is certainly in a good mood - I don't think I've seen him this happy in years. You can tell that from the way he recycles his old stage raps during the not played in almost a decade "Full Of Life" ; shouting out before the guitar solo "Malc, you're still my guitar hero", before reciting the chrous of "Radio Ga Ga" and leading the audience into a series of synchronised handclap, joking "Forgive me, I've always wanted to do this". It's like watching the video of the 1994 Phoenix Festival all over again and again. In hindsight, that's an oddly prophetic thing to say.

Fuzz bashes ten shades of something out of his kit, and Erica performs a end of set costume change into a skeleton outfit. Mark McCarthy on bass, looks the same as he always does, as if he'd rather be his mind is perpetually on something else entirely, endlessly distracted - no change there then. You'll be pleased to know, that just like every other gig I've seen him play, he puts his foot on the monitors for the second half of the quick runthrough of "Unbearable" ; as someone whose seen The Stuffies a few times, (I think it's about 18 times), I can't decide if this is predictable, or bordering on self-parody. Probably both. And Malc? Malc looks happier than I think I've ever seen him look before.

It's a short, snappy, concise set that’s an absolute blinder. The crowd are rough and boisterous - inexcusably so, to the point where going to the first aid afterwards is required (not done that before at a gig!) - and every song goes down raputurously. From the opening bounce of "Redberry Joytown" to the closing "Ten Trenches Deep", via eight top forty singles and cherished album tracks like "Here Comes Everyone" and "Mission Drive", it’s a jampacked set that goes down a storm. Only one song here is less than 18 years old, and that’s the solo track "Fill Her Up" which fits in perfectly into the rest of the set. Unlike earlier in the year where an acoustic mid set lull killed the pace, here's there's no such lull - it’s a perfectly paced set, rammed to the rafters with hits, as a short and sweet 50 minute jukebox of spiky two minute blasts of melody, attitude and power chords. Z

Last week The Mission headlined a sold out five months in advance Brixton Academy - a gig recorded for a live CD. Tonight, it’s a homecoming show, in a venue about a third of the size - and it's ten times better. Despite an awkward setlist - opening with the slow paced "Beyond The Pale" when the crowd might be expecting something a little pacier - The Mission are firing on all cylinders. Whereas Brixton was perhaps hampered by a large contingent of otherwise bored Fields Of The Nephilim fans, not to mention the usual capital "we've seen everything, so impress us" standoffish-ness of cool plus people who'd rather watch it through the viewfinder of a camera phone (oblivious to the impending DVD release), Leeds has a far more passionate crowd.

The Mission comes to Leeds six days after their triumphant, sold out way in advance gig at Brixton Academy, recorded forever for posterity on CD. Good as that was, tonight is far better. Leeds is the hometown of The Mission - where singer/guitarist/mainstay Wayne lived, formed the band, and it shows. For a start, tonight is much much better - the best Mission show I've ever seen, by a long way. Far better than Brixton, and that’s down to two major factors. Firstly, Simon Hinkler isn't whacked out of his head on painkillers, and secondly, Wayne isn't drunk like a newt.

Playing through the same set as Brixton six days before, tonight is a revelation and a ressurection. From the opening use of the now traditional Dambusters theme via "Beyond The Pale" to the gonzoid 4mphetam1n3 powered blast of the Stooges "1969", it’s a stormer. I thought the Brixton crowd was rowdy, but this is far more active. Reuniting the classic line up Wayne Hussey, bassist / road hog Craig Adams, and guitarist Simon Hinkler with new drummer (name unknown), it’s a trip down the glory days of yore. There's only one song less than 20 years old, and that is played in a solo acoustic version. But the rest of the set? It's full tilt goth boogie, if such a thing exists.

"Beyond The Pale" (an odd choice for an opener, but fitting) leads straight into the disposable lightweight pop of "Hands Across The Ocean". Hardly the stuff of legend, but played with a vigour I've never seen in any other line up Of The Mission. debut single "Serpent's Kiss" is spiky, aggressive and chock full of melody - a song 25 years old sounding as fresh as if it had been written 25 minutes ago. "Naked And Savage", is sadly, far from their best material. Being the same setlist as Brixton a week earlier, it is subject to the same setlist quibbles - heaven forbid the tuneless dirge of "Wake" be replaced by the utterly elegaic "Kingdom Come", eh? And wither "Amelia" and meaningless jaunt of "Into The Blue"? Never mind, have another cup of Neil Young cover versions instead. Because that's what we'd rather hear instead. rmmmph."Wake", is a featureless monotonous dirge. Sorry Wayne. There's songs with colour and grandeur in your backcatalogue, and this isn't one of them, and at least the drummer has calmed down a bit in the past week.

"Garden of Delight" and "Severina" sound like The Mission at their finest - whilst the words may degenerate into lazy cliche and occasional nonsense, the music swirls into psychedlic melancholy, with a joyful edge. "Butterfly On A Wheel" is The Mission at their finest - whilst poppy, and accessible, it's atmospheric and has the best minimalist guitar solo ever. "Wasteland" (not by T.S Eliot) is a perennial fave - and the double pairing of "Crystal Ocean" and "Deliverance" is The Mission at their absolute best. "Crystal Ocean" is a total stormer, and breaks out of your usual guitar goth cliché swamped in reverb and echo, bringing in keyboards and it's epic. "Deliverance", where Wayne hams up the ending for a good many minutes - is not just the traditional set closer, but probably a highlight ....which in a set comprised almost entirely of highlights, tells you how good that is.

The encore sees the band taking their foot off the pedal a little, slowing down with the tenderness of "Like A Child Again" and "Like A Hurricane". Probably a good idea, as down the front things were getting a little hectic. The rather inevitable "Tower Of Strength" is as magnificent as it is predictable. For once, I'd like to see it somewhere else in the set except as last encore, which it has been everytime I've seen them. At least this time, it's shorn of the hokey world music remix intro that samples Dead Can Dance's "Host Of Serpahim" - a novel change when it first appeared in 1993,less so after being done that way for every gig in the last seventeen years.Over curfew, and over caffeinated, comes the final pairing of "Blood Brothers" and "1969". And then we're over and out.

The Mission tonight came as conquering heroes, but like Brixton the week before, were bowled over by a stellar support act in The Wonderstuff, playing the best gig I've seen them do. Though this was, by far, the best Mission gig I've ever seen by a long long way, and far superior to Brixton's rather damp squib where overexpectations met the cold hard reality of playing a gig with a hangover ; with a double bill of two fantastic bands on top form, this might just come close to my gig of the year. Anything else will find this will be hard to beat. Deliverance? They Delivered. But the strength of the double bill mean they were blown away but an incendiary, spiky Wonderstuff playing the best gig I've seen them do in ten years, if not ever. Which is no mean feat at all. No matter how good The Mission were - and they were incredibly good - The Wonder Stuff blew them away with an incredible set. If their shows in December reach anything like this, they'll be unmissable, not Unbearable. Far Out.

On a cold dark night in october, there's nowhere else I'd rather be than here. Two bands on top form? Gig of the year.

Salvation: ? / Watch The Children / She's An Island / Bamboo / Now The Time Has Gone / Watch You Dancing / Thunderbird / Don't Need You / Why Lie

The Wonderstuff: Redberry Joytown / On The Ropes / Here Comes Everyone / Mission Drive / Circlesquare /Full Of Life / Fill Her Up/ Animals And Me / Golden Green / Size Of A Cow / Don’t let Me Down / Give Give Give / Unbearable / Ten Trenches Deep

The Mission: Dambusters intro / Beyond The Pale / Hands Across The Ocean / Serpents Kiss / Naked And Savage / Garden of Delight / Severina / Butterfly On A Wheel /Stay With Me / Wake / Wasteland / Crystal Ocean / Deliverance Encores: - Like A Child Again / Like A Hurricane / Tower Of Strength / Blood Brothers / 1969

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