THE Newport Centre is known for its pool and gyms. On Wednesday night the place was packed out by fitness fanatics all right, except these ones weren’t wearing shorts or carrying towels.

Nope, they brought manes of hair, studded belts and enough energy to fill the main hall with a whirlwind of heaving bodies for some serious, and I mean serious, moshing (Moshine Head anyone?).

Frontman Robb Flynn and his ear-crunching buddies tore through earth-shaking classics including Clenching, Imperium, Burning Red and a blistering Aesthetics of Hate, as well as a rare play of Bite the Bullet, from the Ashes of Empire album. To the uninitiated, this band plays a brand of metal which mixes the raw power of Motorhead (OK, technically a rock band), the guitar skills of Judas Priest and the growling aggression of Pantera.

By now the whole place was a mass of head-banging bodies – and our Californian heroes finished off with Halo and Davidian.

I for one burned away more calories than I’d ever done in a gym. It had been nine years since the boys last played Newport.

I hope it’s not so long ’til next time