Apartment

And then the scene went "POP!"...

This time last year you would have put your house, car and life savings on Apartment being one of the next bands to take the quantum leap into the mainstream. So, why hasn't it happened for them yet? Well, maybe it has something to do with the similarity of most of their songs for starters. Granted, 'Everyone Says I'm Paranoid' is a veritable advert for morose and comatose rock if ever there was one, even if it should come with the bracketed subtitle (Because I Smoke Too Much Weed), but over a year after its initial release, the song still stands head and shoulders above the rest of the band's set. Admittedly 'My Brother Chris' and 'Taxi' liven things up a bit, but it has to be said there can't be many more avenues left to go for the Bunnymen/Cure riff-thieves and no one could have expected the Simple Minds revival to start now, if ever. Or maybe their timing is just unfortunate?

My previous live experience of Boy Kill Boy consists of a 20-minute support slot many months ago, where admittedly they shone like future stars in the making.

Unfortunately, tonight's 50-plus-minute headline set highlights one major flaw in their armoury: they have a distinct lack of killer tunes. Every man, woman and spilt pint was jumping for joy as the first strains of 'Last Of The Great' livened up the room while 'Civil Sin' was greeted like a Friends Reunited homecoming for your former best schoolpal's £20 million lottery win, but Boy Kill Boy only expose themselves when surprisingly charismatic singer Chris Peck announces 'Suzie' as "our first single... and also our next one out in May".

And you thought 2005 was the year of the re-package/re-release/re-issue? Ho-hum...