Fatman:Starjumps / Time for China / Café Assassin / The Dead Orchestra / Snowblind

@ Manchester Ruby Lounge

On a night that peaked too early and slid downhill from the word go, Snowblind provided a promising start to the evenings proceedings. Aggressive and intent, Snowblind made their presence felt, employing beautifully textured guitars and thoughtful intricacies. And with a mindfulness towards their own sound, Snowblind may well burgeon into to something pretty fantastic.

The Dead Orchestra emitted some rather clichéd lyrics and unchallenging instrumental phrases and despite some powerful sounding stuff on their demo, came across lacklustre in tonight's live setting. The foundation is there for improvement however, and with talent in the band such as bassist Ryan, these concerned words may well be baked into a healthy serving of humble pie in the coming months.

With no consideration for image or musical aptitude, Café Assassin executed some nostalgic punk ethic. That ship sailed some years ago now and Cafe Assassin may figure better in a historic documentary of a bygone era. Slightly behind the times and not really authentic enough to resurrect the spirit of punk.

Blighted by technical difficulties in the form of a virus-ridden laptop, Time For China landed an unfortunate and unprofessional set tonight. While repair work was being undertaken on the cyber drum kit, Ryan alleviated some of the cringing by performing a couple of solo numbers. These moments were fantastic and provided a glimpse in to what TFC may sound like at full throttle. Alas, the technology continued to fail them and instead of a gleeful opportunity seized upon, Time For China exited with red faces and a new motto; never trust a machine to do a man's job.

Finally Fatman:Starjumps: With the exuberance seen in teenagers who rapidly learn a new instrument and form their first band, this Manchester 4-piece were excitable but not particularly exciting. Formulaic in their approach to Blink-eque punk, Fatman:Starjumps never pushed any boundaries and did little for their credibility by butchering Jackson 5's classic, 'I Want You Back'. Crowd pleasers? Yes. Punk pioneers? No.

Simon S Wright

Zelig, On Porter / Maggie 8 / R Tetley / Maia

@ Leeds Packhorse

It's midweek and outside is an arctic wasteland, let's go out! I got my wooly hat and crampons on and set off like an explorer, an explorer looking to discover new musical landscapes, new kings and queens and peoples and customs. So I went to the Packhorse.

5 bands for 3 quid is an absolute steal. Maia from Huddersfield open things. There are 5 or 6 of them (they kept moving about) and they are young, really young. It was like being in an episode of Skins, except not irritating. Like a miniature arcade fire. There were French horns and violins and songs that sounded good. The band seemed a little tentative at times and perhaps their influences poked through on occasion but they showed real promise.

R. Tetley is a man and a woman. He plays piano and sings accompanied by a lady, who informs us that she is not from Spain. Sounded to me like someone calling me at 3.23am on a Monday morning when they couldn't sleep and confessing to dark fears and deeds. Haunting and compelling.

Maggie8. Last time I caught them was at the same venue probably a year ago and my, haven't they grown up. Where they were sketchy they are now fuller, where they were hesitant they are now kickass. They play banjos and trumpets and make a Beirut / Beach Boys / Pentangle / beautiful noise that is joyous and melancholy, naive and wise all at the same time and is... just really good!! They sing about the weird complex world in a way that makes it seem simple and kind of a nice place to be. I'm excited about this band. The melodies seem like they have always have been yet are refreshing the way melodies are when you hear them the first time. The girl singer sings trance-like in, I think, Hindi, that completely transports me. I was not on my own either, the audience were defo feeling it. There seems to be a buzz around this band. Highlight of the night.

On Porter, drummer from Maggie8 and a guy on guitar. Imagine the White Stripes but with a Mark E Smith on drums and vocals. Now imagine that it was good. Weird and good. Not exactly bluesy garage rock, not exactly not. I don't know what to tell you other than it was kind of fascinating and sadly all too brief.

Headliners Zelig play a stirring goulash of Kelzmer party music. Ok, so you have heard "Hava Naglia" and its fun for a minute and yer over it. Stop right there! Let me tell you that live, this music will you leave you sweaty and dizzy, you cannot stay still to this music. There is a reason that this music has survived centuries. Zelig rock the house and send everyone home out into the cold December air with a nice warm feeling. Top night.

Gavin Meagher

F*cked Up

@ Leeds Brudenell Social Club

The cosy confines of this inner-city social club seem, at first, an odd place for F*cked Up to host their travelling punk rock spectacle. However, it turned out to be the perfect venue. Vocalist, Pink Eyes took full advantage of the low stage and the split-level lay-out, bounding into the crowd, going for a wander and standing atop the Brudenell's red velvet upholstery, spouting between song rhetoric while holding onto the ceiling.

This was my first taste of the F*cked Up live experience but most of the crowd already knew the drill. As the big man wades through them, screaming into the faces of those looking most ill-at-ease, he's like the Pied Piper to budding local punkers who, treating him like some super-tame Russian circus bear, excitedly jump on his back and swing around his neck, partly as a ritualistic macho wrestle-dance and partly as a show of blatant PinkEyesMania: ''I touched him!!'' ''He let me shout into his mike!!''

He's a scary-looking yet charming fella, playing the attention-grabbing ringleader, turning to a bit of impromptu comedy as the band take yonks to fine-tune their guitars, winning over and recruiting troops to join his creative energy collective. As their frontman goes for a stompabout, the band plug away onstage. Without him and they're a compellingly odd-looking bunch; one guitarist appears to be aged about 12 while the bassist sullenly sways her long dress in time to the fury she's helping to create. Their thoughtful take on full-on rage rock has the requisite level of Black Flag power, locking into metronomic Krautrock drone-outs on the rare occasion when they slip out of 5th gear pace. The drummer hammers away on his minimal kit like a hydraulic machine at full pelt, ensuring everyone else has to raise the intensity levels of their big, fat familiar chord chains in order to match his power.

Witnessing a F*cked Up show is an exhilarating blast of total entertainment and their inventive, far-sighted approach to creating punk rock, particular on record, make them a refreshingly exciting band to treasure.

Matty Hebditch

Liam Finn

@ Manchester Night And Day

The sight of tonight's main performer arranging his own equipment on stage was rather surprising for the eagerly awaiting packed crowd at the Night And Day, but after opener 'Better To Be' it became clearly apparent that only Liam Finn would know exactly where everything needed to be on stage so he could effortlessly move between the myriad of guitars and drums on display with such required grace.

Liam Finn is the eldest son of Neil Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz) who is in Manchester to promote his debut solo release 'I'll Be Lightning' after the demise of his band Betchadupa. On tour he is accompanied by E-J Barnes (daughter of Australian rock legend Jimmy Barnes) whose percussion and vocal talents give Liam's wanderings on stage just enough rope so not to hang him.

In concert Liam Finn plays the part of three or four musicians. He utilizes loop pedals with expert timing to perform rhythm, lead, bass guitar and drums parts of his songs. He is an artist who makes even the most learner musician scoff in jealousy at his talent. Anyone who can play this well deserves immense credit and appreciation, the question i was waiting to be answered this evening was would there be the structure of an album or the ramblings of a jam, the answer was rather boringly somewhere in between. Liam however got away with it because of the interaction with his audience, keeping them feeling involved throughout by happily indulging in conversation with any drunken slur that could be heard and also by recording them singing on 'Second Chance' and them later looping it back as part of the song. During 'Second Chance' he showed he was not infallible by taking three attempts to perfect the closing drum solo, nearly injuring an audience member with a flailing drumstick twice.

The highlight of the show was when Liam invited his friend and opening act Connan Mockasin back onstage for his album's title track 'I'll Be Lightning' (which they wrote together), he also later invited the members of other opening act Laurence Arabia on stage to perform a Betchadupa song with showed his rockier earlier days.

The only criticism I did have was that I felt the gig should have ended after 'Lead Balloon' as the repeated encores showed a demise in song quality as he delved into his Betchadupa catalogue. But Liam was obviously having so much fun he didn't want to leave and how refreshing is that.

Iain Ferry

Slipknot / Machinehead / Children Of Bodom

@ Sheffield Arena

The final instalment of Slipknot's All Hope Is Gone Tour took place in a near capacity-filling Sheffield Arena. Children of Bodom were the first act on, providing the audience with a severely underwhelming performance.

Sounding like the backing music to Nightmare on Elm Street, the Finish rockers were out of their depth the minute they set foot on the stage.

Machinehead were next up, an established act who were playing their first ever gig in Sheffield. The band ripped through a powerful set showcasing their 2007 The Blackening album, before cutting their night short after guitarist Phil Demmel suddenly fainted on stage.

After pulling out of Leeds festival at the last minute, Slipknot had to put on a big performance to satisfy their Yorkshire fan base. A clearly jaded Corey Taylor an co. put on an enigmatic display that saw rotating drum kits, pyrotechnics and the simultaneous jumping of 3500 people from the floor during the track Spit It Out. The set list was for the old school fans, with the band ignoring the majority of their singles and favouring albums track from their self titled debut. The nine piece band did save room for a few crowd favourites though, Before I Forget was sung by everyone in attendance, whilst Duality saw the emergence of multiple mosh pits almost instantaneously. Slipknot closed with the track (Sic), which saw drummer Joey Jordison play his drum kit whilst he was upside down. Despite the criticisms levelled at Slipknot branding them as predictable and more generic than ever, the band showed tonight they're just the same as they always have been. They're frantic yet well choreographed stage show is something every band should aspire to [except maybe Muse], and the bands current record is their best yet. Roll on Slipknot.

Tom Crowther

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