BurySOUND

The evening started with VANILLA KICK who, although they weren't competing, were a definite crowd-pleaser. They had an impressive amount of depth and volume for a three-piece with bass player Rory Hill keeping it grounded with solid funk bass lines. A jangly guitar sound over the top and excellent use of effects gave the band a great and dynamic sound.

Next up was more funk with THE KAZBARS whose front man James Moore's eccentric, jerky stage presence and great voice really had the crowd going. The whole band bounced off each other with excellent Hendrix-influenced guitar and flowing bass kept in line by flawless drumming from Jack Harris. The crowd stayed very much into it throughout most of their set and, just as people started to slip away towards the end, they were dragged back by a fantastic cover of Muse’s “Time is Running Out.” Real crowd pleasers and a great performance.

Dead Reflection

The next band to take to the stage were DEAD REFLECTION whose singer, dressed like someone from "A Clockwork Orange," did a good job of whipping up the crowd. Their set started off well with “classic rock” style songs getting everyone moving, but gradually towards the end of their set the songs became slower and some people began to lose some interest. The band admirably soldiered on until the end of their set.

To follow were THE YELLOW WEDNESDAY, with sophisticated guitar work and some impressive bass playing, but they failed to capture most of the audience's attention. However, people got moving when they played a good cover of "I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor” by Arctic Monkeys, which helped to make their set slightly more diverse, but the last few songs unfortunately merged into each other and the crowd started to disperse as a result.

The last band on were the eventual winners THE FOUR KICKS who combined barrages of Zeppelinesque guitar with Lloyd Whitaker's electrifying vocals which the crowd went berserk for. Lloyd put on a unique performance, brandishing his microphone stand at the crowd while the rest of the band did their thing, displaying energy and raw talent. Their set was riveting all the way through and was played with amazing togetherness and the crowd loved every minute of it.

The judges took their cue from the audience. The Four Kicks will join The Heroics and For What We Lost in the final on Saturday 18th November. Last year's winners The Khe Sanh Approach won't be appearing due to other commitments. The Fillers (previously known as Where's Johnny? will be the special guests instead.

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