Yes campaign crusader Tommy Sheridan packed around 800 people into Dundee’s Marryat Hall on Thursday night.
The firebrand socialist began the evening addressing voters from the steps of the Caird Hall, after an unexpected turnout saw organisers forced to limit entry.
In a series of typically loud and passionate rallying calls, Sheridan forcefully stated the case for independence on behalf of left-wing party Solidarity.
“It is a complete and utter fallacy to suggest we’ve got anything to gain from sticking with the Westminster system this is a chance to build something better,” said the former MSP as he opened his hour-long stint.
Paying tribute to the work of the SNP in bringing the referendum to Scotland, Sheridan said it is finally time to decide “who runs our country.”
He added: “We never voted Thatcher, we never voted Cameron, we got saddled with both of them.
“You go out there and speak to your work mates who are undecided and tell them that they can vote Yes and go home and look in their kids’ eyes and say, ‘I saved you from ever having a Tory government ever again’.”
The wide-ranging speech covered major campaign issues from ‘bedroom tax’ and education to oil reserves and currency.
Sheridan said a Yes vote is the only way to safeguard Scotland from NHS privatisation.
“We have it within our grasp to save health and education and all we have to do is vote,” he said.
“We are going to invest in the things that matter most to ordinary people, not in illegal immoral weapons of mass destruction.
“We are going to be a country of peace.”
The opening speakers were Jim McFarlane and Angela McCormick of Solidarity.
Mr McFarlane spoke about changing the high child poverty rate in Dundee saying it is time to “put the millions before the millionaires.”
Ms McCormick said she had met several people on the campaign trail who were planning to vote for the first time.
Claiming Scotland would be a wealthy nation under independence, Sheridan pointed to fresh reports from the oil and gas industry that fields off the west coast of the country have massive potential.
He said Scottish voters should choose Yes to stop Westminster taking such a large share of tax revenue from the sector.
“If we vote Yes our children are going to grow up in a country they can be proud of.
“In a 21st century modern country nobody should have authority over my life unless they are elected.
“Once we get independence I will campaign for referendums on the head of state, the currency and the EU I may lose them but I will accept it because the people of Scotland will have decided.”
* An earlier version of this report wrongly estimated the audience at around 1500 people.