Reviews

The atmosphere was similarly fractured, split between the distractions, which included wearyingly-cool TV types sat awkwardly with the older, wiser rent-a-Hooky in a studio made out of a crash barrier and a booth, and the main event.

Not that The Futureheads cared. The four piece’s harmonising was loud and boisterous and brought the crowd right back to where they should be, in the thick of it.

The vocal support for them meant the band were suitably appreciative, and numerous references to a love of Manchester were backed up by hard graft to keep people in tune with their singalong choruses.

Switching between old and new favourites, the pogoing Beginning Of The Twist was speedily followed by an announcement that they were to cover Wuthering Heights, which got more than one person excited.

Sadly, this turned out to be a ruse, though the energetic Hounds Of Love more than made up for it.

There were more than hints at Lost In The Supermarket as they once more came back to the tried ground of Skip To The End, while Hard To Bear added a melancholic twist to proceedings, before the excitable form with Stupid And Shallow steered things back to familiar territory.

Altogether the Futureheads were on great form and, although the material from new album This Is Not The World never hit the excitement level of their insane Kate Bush cover, as co-front man Ross Millard put it, the set was "great for a bit of up and down". And who can ask for more than that on a Friday night?