I’d not been to many Sunday nights at The Marquee for a while but had a little spurt of them at the beginning of 1996… unfortunately for the sad reason that the legendary venue had been sold and was to be converted into a Weatherspoon’s pub. No more live music, all the history and bands that had trodden the boards, all the fans that had gotten glued to the thing that used to be carpet in front of the stage back in the Jurassic Age would be lost.

So were making the most of the last few weeks of The Marquee and tonight’s turn to say goodbye were a favourite of mine – Die Laughing – along with two bands I’d not seen live before.

Robed In Desire were the first band on and certainly warranted their opening position. They were on the better side of ok but didn’t really leave much of an impression on me, unlike the next band.

This Burning Effigy was a band I’d heard of, but hadn’t knowingly heard. They were an Irish band who had only just relocated to London – which may have explained why I’d not seen them before. They also released their debut album, “To Bestial Gods…”, this same year. They were really good live and very enjoyable to see. I’m not entirely sure I saw them again but hope they crop up on another night out somewhere as I progress through the years (although they split up in 2001 – but that still leaves the best part of five years…)

Having seen Die Laughing four times before I knew what to expect – they were a brilliant live band and Rachel Speight’s vocals were always amazing. I know I’ve said it before, but they were one of the bands on the goth scene that I really felt could have broken out to a wider following and were probably hindered by the ‘goth’ tag and the goth live circuit. They put on another great performance and was the last great gig at The Marquee I went to, even though I still had one more dance with her to go a couple of weeks later.