The Vaselines

“Perhaps we should tone down the smut?” suggests Frances McKee - an unlikely task for the proud creators of Sex with an X. Five minutes into their intimate set at Bongo Club and alternative supremos The Vaselines have already bantered around such subjects as dry humping, homeopathic glasses of wine and the not so rampant sex lives of their support act. Tone down the smut? Absolutely not. Vaselines virgins, welcome to a baptism of fire.

With their new album drawing in fans seemingly by the day, the band’s original followers remain unrelenting in their support. The result is a mixed crowd which embraces the old and new with equal enthusiasm, Red Stripe in hand, creating an overwhelming atmosphere of encouragement and sheer fun. It must be gratifying for the band after all this time. After a mellow support from Haight-Astbury and Foxglove, the dirty jokes and quick licks that the band are famous for kick off their excitable set. Old classics 'Son of a Gun' and 'Dying for It' keep the crowd happy, whilst upcoming hits from their new album don’t disappoint, the highlights including 'The Devil inside Me', 'Turning it On' and 'Such a Fool'.

The Vaselines are legendary amongst Nirvana fans worldwide as key songwriters and close cohorts of Kurt Cobain. They were so important to Cobain, in fact, that he named his daughter Frances Bean after McKee. Almost twenty years on, the same raw sexuality and energy that was so important to the band and Nirvana is still very much alive, and likely to be claiming Vaseline virginity across the UK.