This gig was destined to sell out; a fantastic combination of one of the underground's best loved lo-fi noiseniks, coupled with one of the music press's most hyped new sounds, left me literally licking my lips in anticipation during the preceding week. Oh yeah, there was an embarrassingly poor punk outfit opening proceedings too, but I'll remove them from the equation and focus initially upon JJ72. I think I'm in two minds about them. On the one hand, their songs were lovely snippets of very brooding, slightly Celtic indie. Also, the singer's unbelievable voice lifted even their most mundane songs into higher ranks. However, their live performance left me rather unsatisfied. Good-looking as they may have been, they made little contact with an audience who, ultimately, were left feeling rather cold. In all though, JJ72 show certain promise, but they need to endear themselves to crowds with their personalities as well as their songs.

Every time I see Seafood I'm always left wondering why the band aren't huge. This gig was no exception; they blew the WEC away in a fashion that I've never seen any band do before. From start to finish, they encapsulated the performance of a band on the top of their form. The tracks from the new album were received as if old favourites, and I can remember being equally impressed with the sonic fury of 'Guntrip' as with the off-kilter country tune 'Dear Leap The Ride'. Of course, the highlight of the set for me was, as ever, the adrenaline-fueled, aural assault of 'Porchlight'. This time it was played as an encore, resulting in the band finishing on a maximum high, and leaving several astonished faces as they proceeded to drench the audience with feedback. Another devastating performance, and if you'd like to read the interview I did with the band before the gig, make sure you buy a copy of A&B #6!