The Futureheads are responsible for one of my favourite albums to materialise this year, and what with a string of US dates supporting the likes of Franz Ferdinand, they are on the steady rise to fame. So you can imagine the excitement and expectations I was harbouring when I awoke on the morning of the 5th.

I arrived at the venue about 20 minutes before door time, and was suprised by the lack of people there already (The Futureheads were supporting The Zutons, but I left before The Zutons...but anyway). After and agonizing 20 minute wait we were let in, only to find we had to queue up again once we were inside, and as we

climbed the staircase up to the actuly venue, I could hear the glorious refrains of 'Carnival Kids' being soundchecked. Soon enough it stopped, and 'Heads drummer Dave wandered past, whilst people in the queue

were oblivious to who he was. I however got extremly excited and squealed to myself (i'm such a girl!).

Now, Bristol Uni is not the best venue in Bristol, by far. It's rather like a giant school sports hall. But anyway, finally we were allowed in, and after 30 minutes The Futureheads took to the stage to loud screams (from me and my friends anyway). Opening with 'Le Garage' their set consisted of 14 songs, good for the support band eh? 12 of these songs were from their album, 1 from the previous '1-2-3-Nul!' ep, and 1 song which they apparently play live alot entitled 'Piece of Crap'.

Their live show manages to acheive the energy of the album 3 times over, so much so that guitar strings were flying everywhere (okay, so maybe that's an exaggeration). Sometimes they would pause to chat with the crowd,

which is always nice. You could clearly see how much they were enjoying themselves. Set highlights for me were: 'Le Garage', 'Meantime', 'Carnival Kids' and 'First Day'. But it's hard to pick, I enjoyed every song so much.

One final thought: Ross and Jaff are alot taller than they appear.

Review and pictures by Jackie Barker

www.thefutureheads.com