I may have mentioned that I recently bought some new kit, because I was missing auto focus particularly in low light, and Sunday was the big test because Electric Six were playing the Old Fire Station in Carlisle.

Yes I had covered a few General Election events for Labour, bizarrely the other parties have not sent their big guns to Cumbria in recent weeks, but we were blessed with good Cumbrian light during those events.

We all remember the band’s breakout singles Gay Bar and Panic In The Disco in the early noughties but then they dropped off my musical radar. I always liked their tongue in cheek videos although I did read that they upset Queen fans with the video of their cover version of Radio Ga Ga which just goes to show you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

Having said that I was pleased to hear they were set to play the Old Fire Station in Carlisle on Sunday. When I arrived in the middle of support act Vanity Fairy it was good to see there was already a good crowd to welcome both acts.

Right from the start lead vocalist Dick Valentine held the audience in the palm of his hand, as there was an immediate connection, which he quite rightly exploited to flog a few copies of the band’s latest album.

Of course they played Gay Bar and Panic In The Disco which, if they did not, would have resulted in a riot from the crowd but it was also good to hear the band’s later material.

And when they returned to the stage for their three-song encore they delivered a cracking version of Murder On The Dancefloor which, and I am going out on a limb here, I reckon was better than the original.

Apparently they have played Carlisle before and I for one am looking forward to their return.

On a technical note I was quite impressed with the new Sony kit but I reckon using the latest generation of AF will take some getting used to (but I am quite pleased with it so far).