Punk In Drublic

Hello blogfans, it's been a while. For the benefit of those of you who couldn't decipher my drunken ramblings on Twitter last Wednesday evening, here is the full story of the concert I went to.
I hadn't been to Newcastle for a few years and I was delighted to see nothing much had changed (13 year-old mothers in tracksuits, morbidly obese men without shirts). I chose to stay at Heroes "Hotel" due to its cheap price tag, but was thrilled to see my room resembled a prison cell and came without towels. Unperturbed by this, I necked a half bottle of Jack Daniel's in about an hour and headed out to the venue.

I followed the steady stream of punks and skins along the street and even gave a skint Scottish guy £5 towards his ticket. I then stood in line and chatted with a fella from Sunderland who was loudly declaring Newcastle to be a "fucking shithole, full of wankers".
The venue in question was the O2 Academy, which was ironic given the lack of fresh air in the place, and having paid £3.81 in "charges" to pick up my reserved ticket, I entered the arena.
I was relieved of another £5 for a hotdog that I simply had to have in a feeble attempt to soak up some of the laughing juice I had recently consumed.
By the time I'd haemorrhaged yet more cash on a t-shirt and a double Jack and Coke, the first band was starting. Margate played Offspring-esque punk, but in a terrible way and they couldn't finish quick enough for me. And why do Americans do this: "we're from southern California"? I don't go around saying "I'm from County Durham", but that's mostly due to the embarrassment it would cause me.
Next up were Snuff, who I thought were Margate on the night. This is because they came out to Chas 'n' Dave's Margate and I was hammered. They opened up with a cover of the Likely Lads theme, which was always going to be well-received in the north east of England and continued to keep the crowd moving for the next 45 minutes. The absolute highlight for me was their cover of the music off the cricket (Soul Limbo, apparently), which brought a smile to most people's faces.
I had been looking forward to Less Than Jake, even though I find them very hit and miss. Unfortunately, they were "miss" for me on the night. It looked like they didn't want to be there and I definitely didn't want them to be. I passed the time while they played getting even more drunk with a group of Scottish mentalists.
By the time NOFX took to the stage, I was absolutely leathered. This was certainly not going to hinder my enjoyment and I began to push my way through the crowd to get closer to the stage. I got to the moshpit just as the band started playing I'm Telling Tim (it was as if they knew!). Much pogoing and barging ensued and I was hit in the face and came pretty close to having my leg broken, but it was all good fun! After 5 minutes, I had to take a breather and as I was so drunk I could have fallen over if I was lying down, I got myself a Red Bull and sat against the wall. I wish I could reel off a long list of songs they played during their 2 hour set, but it's incredibly blurry.
I do remember when the band were asking what the crowd wanted to hear for an encore, that I screamed "PLAY THE FUCKING DECLINE, YOU CUNTS!" Hilariously, a guy next to me said, in a most un-punk manner, "they'll never play it if you ask like that, you know". He may have had a point, because they never played it.