'A'

I'm feeling so old. All ver kids are under 16, either in large gangs or with their parents. This is a trip down memory lane for me, years ago I saw 'A' supporting Symposium countless times. Now things are different. 'A' are headlining, one fifth of Symposium is in the audience and a further two fifths are special guests in the guise of Hell is For Heroes. Shame they were on at 7pm, when all but the aforementioned hyped up kids were in the pub, me included!

Walking on stage to their namesake's theme song, Goldfinger are like Green Day but with more cover versions, including some boy band song and '99 Red Balloons'. The latter sounding like ultra punked up Blondie. They also have a competition for one special kid who wants to go backstage and hang with the band, to eat a chocolate bar out of the drummer's arse. Cue green-ness from the old people and jubilation from the younger. Goldfinger are dirty fun who have a very large following, in fact when they finished loads of people left, pausing only to get their trainers signed by the wandering drummer!

'A', on the other hand, may be popular but unfortunately not popular enough to sell out Brixton Academy. The upstairs balcony is closed off and downstairs is half full, there is barely any mosh pit and I am able to get close to the stage without spilling my beer! 'A' work well on a larger stage, but seem less at home than on a small stage running into each other. Despite the small crowd they rock the place, they don't worry that the gig is empty. All 'A' care about is playing their hearts out for the people that have come to see them. Jason shouts screams as a man possessed, only pausing to ask if we hate our jobs and bosses as an intro to 'Starbucks'.

Despite most of the people at the gig only owning Hi Fi Serious the older songs, including 'Bad Idea', 'Number One' and 'Old Folks', go down well and especially remind me of being 16 again (awwwwh!). Closing the main set with a festive blizzard, courtesy of some wind turbines and fake snow, they returned for the ever predictable encore to play bona-fide chart smash, 'Nothing'.