IT WAS a night out they were going to remember... for a very long time.

So Rocky Horror Show narrator Norman Pace tells us a couple of musical numbers into this 43-year-old but still timeless classic.

He was referring to our fresh-faced and squeaky clean duo Brad and Janet – but he could have been talking about the packed audience as well.

Ann Summers’ profits must spike every time the Rocky Horror tour comes to town.

If you’re shopping for a corset in the Bristol area this week you might be out of luck as the Hippodrome on Monday night was turned into a fetishists’ convention.

Dressing up for a night out at Rocky Horror is, of course, part of the whole experience.

And there is much pre-show entertainment to be had watching fans who did not quite have the front to travel on public transport in their fishnets and heels emerge from the ladies (and men’s) toilets as fully formed basque-tte cases.

Another development post the 1975 filmed version is the audience participation.

It takes an old pro like Pace (the one in Hale and Pace without the moustache) to cope with the hecklers as the interaction has now become truly embedded in the script.

It is Pace who introduces the topical references – Donald Trump’s hair, the Referendum and when he is accused by the crowd of being washed up, Chris Evans and half the Tory government. But even Pace is doubled up by some of the original barbs thrown at him by the crowd.

However, I digress. Rocky Horror at its core is still about the memorable songs and the audience can’t wait to get on their feet and party to the first rendition of Time Warp.

Liam Tamne (Frank-N-Furter) got will.i.am, Danny O’Donoghue, Jessie J and Sir Tom Jones all to turn their chairs on The Voice and he gives an energetic performance throughout, too exuberant at one point when he inadvertently slaps a stunned Diane Vickers in the face with a rubber-gloved hand.

Tamne also lends some great comic touches to the bed scene which opens act two – where Brad and Janet undergo their voyage of sexual discovery, but for sleazy stage presence and raw power he is no Tim Curry nor David Badella.

The clever use of stage curtains in various guises and the set’s other nods to B pictures are eye-catching while the live band were excellent. Did I hear the Sensational Alex Harvey band’s ‘Gang Bang’ woven into the score at one point?

But at times the musicians did overpower the vocalists.

And for once it was the secondary players who caught the eye and ear.

Kristian Lavercombe had the voice to make Riff Raff much more of a singing part than Richard O’Brien ever did in the original, Richard Meek brought a vocal clarity to Brad, Dominic Andersen added plenty of humour to the under-written role of Rocky and Sophie Linder-Lee almost stole the show as Columbia during her drug-induced spell in the spotlight towards the finale.

There is still time to give yourself over to absolute pleasure at the Bristol Hippodrome with the Rocky Horror Show until Saturday (July 23).