Live Review: The Rubens, Walk The Moon, Bloods

A solid early crowd battled the driving rain to make it out and welcome first band, Bloods, to the stage. The punk rock three-piece had a raw, unpolished edge but plenty of spunk to pull it off with tracks including the heavy All The Things You Say Are Wrong and Goodnight.

In contrast to their dark, super-cool-looking predecessors, Ohio's Walk The Moon bounced onto the stage next, full of energy and colourful outfits with streaks of face paint to match. Hits Tightrope, Shiver Shiver and Quesadilla were performed with the skill of a band much greater than their years and experience, and the crowd went wild for them.

A clever cover of David Bowie's Let's Dance was probably a little lost on the young all ages crowd, but things came back with the hugely popular I Can Lift A Car. A surprise appearance on stage by The Ruben's drummer, Scott Baldwin, unfortunately stole the guys much deserved limelight and slightly dampened their electric vibe.

In a maze of sexy red lights and crazed screams from the crowd, The Rubens, looking rather sultry, sauntered onto the stage to open with track, The Day You Went Away. For such a new band, they had great command of the stage, looking effortlessly casual cool in jeans and T-shirts with big flicks of floppy hair. As a band with only one album, the set list was pretty predictable with tracks Be Gone, Elvis and I'll Surely Die getting a great reception.

A cover of The Roots' The Seed went down a treat and The Best We Got prompted a mass throwing of bras onto the stage, which became slightly awkward when singer Sam Margin realised it was an all ages gig! New track, Cut Me Loose, got its first outing and its bluesy riffs and familiar sound went down well.

The youngest of the brothers, but not yet a full-time band member, Jet Margin, was brought onto stage to play extra drums for Lay It Down and an epic rock ending in Don't Ever Want To Be Found. After a short break, the band were back for an encore with Sam playing keys for the beautiful Never Be The Same before the track everyone was waiting for, My Gun, finished off the set.

A great gig, but it has to be said that Walk The Moon really stole the show.