THAT distinctive Paisley voice warning of doom and gloom, could be heard booming through Lisburn's Bow Street. He was urging people to vote for the DUP to protect the Union.
Heads turned expecting to see Big Ian turn the corner but instead a white, windowless van with DUP painted on the side, came into view.
It was from two speakers perched on top that Dr Paisley's voice was emanating. So clear were his warnings about "Ulster's enemies" you believed he must be perched inside in the darkness with a microphone in hand.
As it happened it was a recording and the man himself was actually canvassing elsewhere in a local shopping mall, accompanied by the Rev William McCrea and Peter Robinson.
The two local party candidates in the Lagan Valley, Cecil Calvert and Edwin Poots, were also there. They just carried election literature and along with the others, watched as Dr Paisley, despite his 70 years, swiftly "did" the mall.
Voters were not thick on the ground but, of those who were, almost all appeared to be DUP supporters. "Hello there," he would say approaching a shopper. "What about ya, Big Ian?" came the reply.
"You know what to do for us, he would say, while pressing an election leaflet into the hand of a shopper, adding with a chuckle, "there's some bedside reading for you. Give us the kiss of life on Thursday week." One elderly woman in a wheelchair, clearly a fan, immediately blew him a kiss.
In between handshakes, he said he was confident of a good vote in the area where Ulster Unionist Jim Molyneaux is the sitting MP. "I always get more unionist votes here in the European elections. We'll do very well."
Dr Paisley, Mr McCrea and Mr Robinson are deliberately canvassing all the constituencies together. "There is no difference where people live, the message is the same," explained Mr McCrea. "People are deciding on a negotiating team that will decide Ulster's future. We will be the negotiating team and we are letting people know that."
Earlier at a press conference in Hillsborough, Mr McCrea and Mr Robinson laid out their position. The big word for the voters is "trust". Peace is rarely mentioned, it's all trust, trust, trust. Trust Ian, trust the DUP and never, ever trust IRA/Sinn Fein.
According to Mr Robinson, parties in this election needed to declare on which side of the fence they are so voters knew where they stood.
He has little time for the newcomers in Northern politics, describing the Labour Party as "a dolly mixture of Stalinists and Trotskyites", the Women's Coalition as wanting "everyone to be happy and eat apple pie" and suggesting that "creches and the environment" were the only interests of the Green Party.
"You know who you are voting for when you see the name Ian Paisley," he said
At the end of the day the DUP cavalcade pulled out of town with Big Ian's voice once again speaking plainly to the people of Northern Ireland.
The man himself travelled behind in a Range Rover sitting just inside a car sticker which stated "Stuff the EU - Eat British Beef".