Seven Heroes / Showing Off To Thieves / The Hot Melts / Templeton Pek

Whoever came up with the concept for this tour deserves a medal, for it surely was a work of inspired, unparalleled brilliance. Take four bands from four cities around the UK, and tour round said cities with the local band headlining each night. The local band pull the crowds in, and each band gets the platform they deserve.

Opening tonight were Birmingham punk three piece Templeton Pek, and the night hit the ground running. The power produced by this band is intense to say the least, and the tunes are to die for. Why the hell they aren't kicking up a media storm is a complete mystery to me, because tonight they were immense.



Highlights of the set included 'Konami', a ludicrously fast paced power punk number which will, in the future, have the kids jumping around like mentalists, and 'Vessel', a track which drew the crowd into a false sense of security with it's slow, melancholy intro, before kicking in to the biggest riff of the year.

Get into this band now, even if its just so you can hate them when they become massive. They are awesome and you will not regret it.

The band with the unfortunate task of following on were Liverpool based 'The Hot Melts', and with the crowd warmed up and raring to go, the only thing they had to do was turn up and turn on the tunes. That they did, and I started to wonder why all gigs can't be this good.


Playing fuzzed up rock n roll with a filthy edge, The Hot Melts may be the best thing to come out of Merseyside since Cilla was robbing car radios. 'Edith' is a ludicrously bouncy anthem which shows that this is a band that knows how to rock out, whilst 'Shrink' opens like the best Elvis track in the world, before turning into the sound of Mr Presley being taught how to rock by Eddie Vedder. Class isn't the word.

Time for the third band then, and by this point I was certain that our luck would have run out. Somerset's Showing Off To Thieves hit the stage clearly determined not to be upstaged, and they managed to not only equal the previous two bands, but to better them both. This gig was just getting silly now.



Sounding a bit like Reuben hope they sound, Showing Off To Thieves rock hard. 'Save Me' is simply awesome in its ability to lift the crowd before dropping the tempo right when you expect it to hit the high point, whilst 'Everyone Has Their Secrets' is easily the standout track of the night.

Up last in this fantastic lineup are local boys Seven Heroes, who have been making waves on Tyneside for a few months now, and are widely regarded as the best unsigned band in a city chock full of awesome unsigned bands.



Playing hard edged indie with a professional gloss that is unmistakable, Seven Heroes really are the complete package. With killer songs, an onstage professionalism that more experienced bands would die for, and in Dan Gibson a frontman who has crowd control down to a fine art.

'Start It Again' gets the biggest reaction of the set, but it is the U2-esque '17' which stands out as the highlight of this superb set. Given that the scene in the north east is built upon superb vocal harmonies, it would be rude not to mention 'Don't Call', which is reminiscent of both Maximo Park and The Futureheads - neither of which are as good as Seven Heroes at their peak.

So, overall a damn good show, and proof conclusive that the UK scene is alive and well. When a promoter can put on a show of this standard, it is safe to assume that we're not going to run out of decent bands anytime soon. Expect every one of these bands to be bothering the charts in the near future - they're too good not to.

FUTURE GIGS

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