From the moment I walked in to the Mayflower, I knew this was going to be a good night. Even the music being played beforehand was of an era that just transported me back to a time that was just... just so special.
You either loved glam rock or hated it. Me? I didn't just love it, I simply ADORED it.
Blasting out of the speakers was Roxy's Virginia Plain - one of THE songs in 1972 that transformed my life and career. I heard that particular song at a disco in 1972 alongside T. Rex and all those other greats. I immediately wanted to be a DJ.
Not that I have ever forgotten those times anyway. Marc Bolan's music has survived, long after some of his contemporaries have been forgotten about. How many people can honestly say that they don't sing along to Hot Love when they hear it on the radio?
Marc Bolan and I have previous. He was part of my life in the early 1970s when it was just great to be a teenager. If I couldn't play an instrument, then I was sure going to play his records on the radio later in life.
I can remember as if it were yesterday the day one of my classmates brought Electric Warrior to school. This was the album that shot Marc Bolan and T Rex to superstardom, and the one which is featured in the Billy Elliot.
Perhaps it was strange that in an all-boys school, this one moment should have caused so much fuss.
But it was clear that Bolan appealed to us and to female fans. We all loved the music - they did the screaming and loved the look. Many of them feature in archive footage that's flashed up around the stage.
Marc was one of those guys that we all talked about in school on a Friday morning post Thursday's Top of the Pops. The way he commanded the stage in the studio, forever looking at himself in the monitors.
And here it is, laid out before us; the life and music of a man who wanted to be "Bigger Than Elvis"... and yet both he and Elvis died within a month of each other in 1977.
Marc's death as we know was a sudden and unexpected one for a person who wrote lyrics that talked of a life of peace and love. His beloved purple Mini car hit a tree in Barnes. He wasn't even driving; that was Gloria Jones, Marc's girlfriend and backing vocalist in T. Rex at the time. Marc was 2 weeks short of his 30th birthday. She survived, he didn't.
Their son, Rolan, escaped being a passenger because he was at his grandparents' house. He was barely two at the time, and the show is his quest to discover his father's life, to come back to England, to see people and places and discover his past to make peace with his own future.
We're taken through the early days of Bolan's initial quest for stardom, and how his music was initially triumphed by Radio 1 DJ and friend John Peel.
The rest comes at you thick and fast; I already had tears in my eyes towards the end of the first act with songs like Ride a White Swan - and those I had forgotten like Debora.
There are plenty of jokes too. I mean, just how do you get to Number 1 when Grandad is already there?!
Director Gary Lloyd says casting was "a joy... and needed to have a combination of characters who could also pick up an instrument and play this iconic music..." - and so they do, because T.Rex had that unique sound. The band is, quite simply superb.
The cast do not disappoint; Luke Bailey is a familiar face and gave a tender portrayal of Rolan. Donna Hines (Gloria) can sure belt out a tune. I loved the infectious smile (particularly in the encore) of Lucy Sinclair who plays Marc's wife June. Sue Jenkins is another familiar face and revelled in her role of Phyllis. Warren Sollars has Marc's speech, singing and mannerisms down to a 'T'. At times, it is quite uncanny.
The show had promised to be warts-and-all, and it is difficult to watch these aspects of the show sometimes; Gloria blaming herself for the accident, Marc's bust-ups with former friend DJ John Peel and his record producer Tony Visconti.
But we cannot forget the legacy, and the reason we are here: the music. Boy, what a legacy. 4 Number 1s...10 songs in the UK Top 10...
The encore is sensational, bringing even more hits and the audience to their feet, clapping and singing along. Everyone around me was still singing the chorus to Hot Love as we left the theatre.
The show is a triumph for all of us who knew all of the words, and for those who discovered them tonight.
And girls... sorry, but the red fluffy boa I was given tonight is MINE!
20th Century Boy is touring around the UK until July.
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