Well what a brilliant gig, a soggy wet, depressing Hull on a Tuesday night is not where you would expect to find 2 of the hottest indie/slightly punk bands and one not so good band tearing it up like there was no tomorrow and getting a pretty good response from the usually reticent Hull crowd.

Opening band 10,000 THINGS from Leeds were truely brilliant, playing songs with lyrics about everyday life, very similar to Pulp or The Smiths but with a serious rock'n'roll attitude that owed more to the Sex Pistols. Lead singer Sam had an easy rapport with the Hull crowd and made some truely off the wall remarks when describing the material, musically tighter than a ducks behind and with everything played at a ferocious speed they are a band I would want to see again. Also Sam is a jolly nice chap and seemed pleasantly surprised by all the congratulations he was receiving after their excellent set, nice guy, rocking band, see them at a small venue before they explode big time (if they don't it will be a real pity).

Second band to hit the stage where THE CRIBS and I thought they where excruitatingly poor and after their second song I was wishing for 10,000 Things to return, the less said the better from me, apart from they had some very nice cycling shirts.

Tonights headliners where Wakefield's THE BLUESKINS and even though this tour has a rotating headline act every night they are the 'biggest' band of the three at the moment with live appearances on MTV2 and loads of great reviews of their two singles. Musically they mix blues/punk/pop/rock'n'roll into one big sound that is fresh and exciting and guaranteed to get heads nodding and feet shuffling, on stage they where pretty no nonsense reeling off songs one after another with hardly a pause for breath.

The Blueskins straddle several musical genres and if they continue to write material as strong as User Friendly (their first single and a cracking live track) they should be more than the latest 'cool' flash in the pan band, when called back for an encore they played a new song that was as good as if not better than any of their other songs which bodes well for there debut album due out later this year. Like 10,000 Things go and see them live now before they hit the bigger venues as within a year they should be several rungs further up the ladder to music stardom.

For more info on the Blueskins, visit their site at www.theblueskins.com or read Joy's review of their single 'Change My Mind'

The Cribs can be found at www.thecribs.co.uk, while 10,000 Things site is www.10000things.tv

Review by Darren Bunting