I sadly missed Eastern Lane and half of the Subways set. The Subways as always were on top form but something lacked in their performance, it might have been the fact that I have never seen them playing in a large venue. The played a couple of new songs from their long awaited debut album and they sounded good even if Ian Broudie is producing.

Next up was the highly praised “The Others”. All I can say is it left me baffled why people seem to worship the pants of the singer. Pants is what they were! This time next year we will be saying “whatever happened to The Others?” or else they will be spotted stacking shelves at their local Iceland.

I don’t mind what I have heard of the Ordinary Boys but tonight they sucked. I thought it was down to bad sound but my gig partner said that it had nothing to do with the sound and that they were just crap. We left before the end.

Monday 14th Feb

Sonia:At 6.20pm Juliette Lewis and her Licks came on stage to perform to a handful of people. What entertainment! There is no denying that she has a great voice but if she stopped trying to prove herself as a rock chick and sang some decent songs, she could have a decent career ahead of her in music.

Steve: She wore kneepads. That's about all I can remember about Juliette Lewis' short set with her band The Licks as they played to the sparse crowd assembled before 7pm. She has a decent enough voice and tried to look like a rock chick. She so nearly pulled it off.

Sonia: The Go Team! Performed well and with enthusiasm and won the audience over by the end of their set. Ladyflash was the stand out track from their set.

Steve: It's always good to see a band enjoying themselves on stage and the Go! Team certainly look they do just that. They even get a few people actually moving, though, this being London, many are obviously too cool for that sort of thing. As a live band, their sample-heavy sound translates surprisingly well to the stage.

Sonia: Then came the winners of the night. Soulwax played a blinding set and I was mesmerised and in awe for the entire set. Nothing could top it.

Steve: Whilst they garner much acclaim under their 2 Many DJ's guise,Belgium's Dewaele brothers are criminally underated as Soulwax but they are the highlight of the evening for me. Concentrating on last years 'Any Minute Now' album (only giving us 'Conversation Intercom' from 2000's breakthrough 'Much Against Everyones Advice') they give a performance that, while devoid of the glitz and showmanship of old, is full of energy, peaking with the monstrous NY Excuse.

Sonia: And so LCD Soundsystem indeed failed to match the energy that came from Soulwax. They are this year’s Rapture and did not leave any impression on me whatsoever.

Steve: Despite having a sore throat, and taking regular hits of some medicated spray between songs, James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem put on a fairly average show, showcasing tracks from their recent album. They're flavour of the moment but personally I would have much rather heard more from Soulwax.

Tuesday 15th Feb

Sonia:Willy Mason was interesting but not sure about him being the new Bob Dylan. Oxygen is a beautiful song with emotive lyrics.

Steve: Martha's Vineyard resident Willy Mason does a quick run-through of the highlights from his 'Where The Humans Eat' album. Backed by the 22-20's, as opposed to the acoustic shows he's been more accustomed to doing, the album sounds are more faithfully recreated. Oxygen- the folk Teen Spirit, as it's now customary to say - is the only solo and is as stunning and utterly beguiling as ever

Sonia:The hugely hyped Bravery don’t live up to expectations. Their two radio friendly singles sound less convincing than they do on the radio. Hyped nonsense.

Steve: Oh great! A Sigue Sigue Sputnik tribute act. Tonight, The Bravery leave me cold. They kick off with a half-arsed version of 'Unconditional' and it goes downhill from there. If they were only half as good as they think they are, they'd be just about watchable. Several bands are plundering the 80's for influences, at the moment, and coming up with something new. The Bravery just sound dated.

Sonia:Sons and Daughters were brave to do a set full of new songs in front of a hungry crowd. Only a couple of songs from Love the Cup but the new songs sounded good. Hopefully they have a bright future ahead of them.

Steve: Their 'Love The Cup' mini-album was one of the highlights of last year for me so I'd been looking forward to seeing Sons And Daughters and I was only slightly disappointed. Their set is heavily weighted in new songs and it's not that these aren't any good, it just feels like there's something missing and it's difficult to put a finger on what it is. Still, definitely ones to watch.

Sonia: Hope of the States rocked my world. All the hype that surrounded them a year ago is justified. They were epic in everyway and with a violin player in centre stage this really was a memorable performance.

Steve: So finally, it's the Hope of the States Audio/Visual experience. Bravely playing 7 unreleased songs, several of these making their live debut, the set is none the worse for it as they put on the usual incendiary performance. 'Bonfires' is already a live favourite and 'Stax' further hints that their second album will definitely be one to watch. Add that promise to the tried and trusted 'Black Dollar Bills', 'Nehemiah' and 'Enemies/Friends' and you're left with one damned good show.

Friday 18th Feb

A day after the NME awards at the Hammersmith Palais, the week is rounded off by a headline gig by Graham Coxon.

Hard Fi are being touted as the new Clash and having heard repeated plays of Cash Machine on the radio I was starting to believe the hype until I saw them tonight. They are undistinguishable and mediocre who are lucky enough to come up with one catch song.

Tom Vek is yet another singer/songwriter trying to stand out in an already drenched solo male singer arena. Yet again one song stands out and all the rest just blends into harmless background music.

I was very excited about seeing The Departure. All Mapped Out and Be my Enemy are quality tunes but by the time that they came on I was very drunk and tired. Apart from those two songs nothing stood out but I am sure that if I saw them on another night my opinion would be completely different.

I’ve seen Graham Coxon once before when he headlined the Friday night last year at Reading. I was tired and my wellies were hurting my toes and thought he was quite boring. It was the same this time expect my feet didn’t hurt, I was just weary. In fact I never stayed until the end. I was NME’d out but I still think he is boring to watch.

Review by Sonia Pagliari + Steve Vickers

www.theordinaryboys.co.uk.....www.letskilltheothers.com.....www.thesubways.net
www.dfarecords.com.....www.soulwax.com.....www.thegoteam.co.uk... www.julietteandthelicks.com
www.hopeofthestates.com.....www.sonsanddaughtersloveyou.com.....www.thebravery.com.....
www.willy-mason.com
www.grahamcoxon.co.uk.....www.thedeparture.co.uk.....www.tomvek.tv.....www.hard-fi.com