Phobia took to the stage as charged and ready to go as a small rat. Thier songs lacked energy, a vibe probably aided by thier lack of confidence. They droned through song after mindless song, until they finally left. I don't remember much of thier set, but what I do remember is not good. Hopefully they'll learn that yes, activity on stage is a good thing, and it isn't good to stand there like bricks. 

"We've never done a gig next to a retirement home before!" 
- Chris, Red Jezebel 

Red Jezebel stormed the stage. I'd never seen them before, but this convinced me that yes, this group were the best thing that I'd seen in my life. The long set went through the bulk of thier better tracks. Apparently they had bad a bad sound mix, but I didn't notice; I was entranced by funky pop melodies. I almost collapsed in awe when I heard Soothers for the first time. Smashing, baby. 

The Mavis's do rock, don't they? I mean, in contrast to thier squeaky clean pop Pink Pills disc, thier live sound is more reminiscent of a cross between Gary Numan and Blur (minus both of the strange British accents). I thought the mosh would be deserted for thier performance but the riff-fest of thier songs and thier, dare I say,  Kiss inspired stage antics made for a very happy crowd.While they left the smashes of Cry, Naughty Boy and Thunder to later in the set, the material from thier album was recieved very well due to the perfect playing. 

The Living End. Sure, they rock. But you knew that already. Thier set went off completely, thier anthems of youth angst being everything I'd wished for and more. Unfortunately my friends and I were up against the barrier, a place where the other eight thousand or so people wanted to be. Submarines could not withstand the sort of pressure we're talking here. My friend, who has a heart condition, passed out, so we were forced to go to the first aid building with her, missing Regurgitator. What I heard wasn't so hot though, so I'm not all that depressed - the sound was terribly quieet; we couldn't hear a thing from only three hundered metres away. 

The Superjesus were indeed super, but thier songs rely very much on fuzzy sounds and there is few moshable riffs etc. within. So we just sat to the side and watched Sarah's hair flicking antics. And other body parts. 

We left before Tumbleweed, only knowing Fang It and several baaad songs out of thier "hit parade". We considered them an un-necessary import for the evening; the spot could have better been given to some local produce; some whips, pelicans or eskimos would have gone down well. I really wanted to hear Fang It though... sigh. 

-Tomas Ford.