They were dancing in the fountains.

It's not often you witness a huge, gleaming milestone on the candy-striped road they call 'pop'. I mean, like, first hand.

Scissor Sisters live in Trafalgar Square was the defining (pop) moment of the year. It started as it meant to go on with our saviour Kylie Minogue tottering on to the stage and looking ravishing. From then on, as she introduced the Scissors, you just knew that you were about to witness something very special indeed.

And it was.

They came on and started with a song most bands would kill to have as their final encore. Take Your Mama has always been a favourite of mine, and it served to whip the red-festooned crowd into a frenzy that would last the better part of two hours. It went straight into I Can't Decide - one of the highlights of the new album, and a crowd pleaser of the highest order. Which is some feat considering this is a tune that most people hadn't even heard yet.

Part of the magic of a Scissor Sisters gig is the feeling of connecting with the band. Jake, and particularly Ana, can hold any crowd in the palm of their hands and there was some real comedy gold on offer. On hearing that Prince William had recently attended a fancy dress party as Britney Spears (correct me if I'm wrong), Ana delighted in the fact that "the future King of the country has a little bit of queen in him".

Jake admitted that he was extremely nervous about the gig, as they were playing brand new songs and didn't know how they would be received. He needn't have worried, the new songs are immediate, crowd-friendly and pure pop. Everyone around me was singing along by the second chorus of most of the new songs.

The highlight for me (there were many), was Ana's tour-de-force Kiss You Off - the ultimate 'up yours' song, this translated live into a HUGE, bombastic bastard of a song and really needs to be a future single.

it wasn't all glitter and spectacle though. The gig was staged to help promote RED, a charity aiming to help eradicate AIDS in Africa. The ticket asked the crowd to wear red, which a good 70% of the audience gladly did. The message of the night was not overly pushed and it never became mawkish, but the sentiment was true and as Ana stated, almost everyone within the confines of Trafalgar Square is, has been, or will be affected.

The 'goosebump' moments of the night go to - in no particular order - Land Of A Thousand Words, the rumoured second single from the album and a beautiful ballad. Jake sang the song note-perfect and there was nothing but pure love from the crowd for him as he delivered one of the best performance I've seen him give.

Second - Comfortably Numb. It's always going to be their signature track, and the crowd exploded during the opening "Hello.. is there anybody in there...". By this point they were dancing in the fountains and every single one of us was intoxicated by the atmosphere of the night.

Finally, the encore. The current single I Don't Feel Like Dancin' was followed by a massive version of Filthy Gorgeous as the stage was invaded with huge costumes, dancing Nelson's Column's and Jake topped it all off by stripping down to his pants. Stunning.

It was all over far too quickly, but it only whetted my appetite to see them again in Manchester this November.

JUNK CULTURE

Music: Kiss You Off - SCISSOR SISTERS
Podcast: Vegetable Soup
TV: Afterlife - ITV1
Game: Zoo Keeper - DS
Magazine: Doctor Who Season 2 Companion