Neurotic Outsiders live Viper Room 26th April 1999

I got to the Viper Room at about 8:00pm and there was already a line stretched around the block. I was pretty lucky to have been put on the guest list so I got inside about 9:00pm when the doors opened. Once inside I made my way to the bar and staked out a place to enjoy the show. The opening band came on about an hour or so after they opened the doors; they sounded a little bit like Mercury Rev to me, which is ok if you go for that sort of thing but it's not exactly my cup of tea. There was a large cross section of people in the crowd, including many famous faces, most notably the actor Stephen Dorf from the movie Backbeat, and Blade etc. I also saw former Beastie Boys producer Rick Rubin, but to be honest with you I didn't really give a fuck about either of them because I was there to see the Neurotic's. The band finally came on about 12:15 and by this time I was pretty well drunk, but when they started playing it was FUCKING AMAZING!!!!! They started their set with 'Nasty Ho' which is one of my favourite cuts on the Neurotic's album and the crowd went fucking mental. The next song was 'Silly Thing', which was really cool to see live. Next up was 'Always Wrong', then another treat, the Steve and Paul classic 'Black Leather', and then onto Iggy's 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' with Duff on vocals. The show continued with several other punk classics and then Steve said, "We have a very special guest here tonight", and then said, "Where is that bird anyway?" Then something happened I never thought I would see in a million fucking years - Mel C, Sporty Spice, from the Spice Girls came up on stage and played Billy Idol's 'White Wedding' and then they jumped into 'Pretty Vacant' and then 'Anarchy in the UK'!! Now, I'm gonna be honest, I have never liked the Spice Girls but Met C did a great fucking job, and the band looked as if they couldn't have been enjoying themselves anymore than they were...

Later as the night went on Steve called Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy from The Cult up on stage and they did 'Wild Flower', 'Love Removal Machine' and then closed the show with a great version of the Sex Pistols classic 'Bodies', it sounded just like the Pistols but with Ian Astbury doing the vocals. After the show I waited out front for the Neurotics to come out. They all seemed in good spirits and pleased with their performance. Steve was the last one out of the club, and I waited around so that I could have a word with him and get some CDs autographed. He asked me if I enjoyed myself and he even gave me one of his guitar picks, he's a FUCKING REAT GUY. I walked back to my hotel and then passed out thinking of what a great time I had (I had just flew from Atlanta to LA to see this!).