Tonight's support bands flicker between the two of Simpson's bands. Locals Hollywood Ending have the phwoar factor with a singer that looks a cross somewhere between Richey Manic and Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. They even break into a ‘Love Spreads’ style Roses riff during a breakdown for one song. While they've got potential they lack the killer song or killer riff to leave you wanting more. Cry For Silence end up somewhere between From Autumn To Ashes and My Chemical Romance. A point where old skool metal riffs meet an almost prog like work ethic. Each song hits you round the head in a ‘you've had it coming for 20 years – thwack’ sense of the word. CFS's frontman Adam Petite has the beguiling look of a homeless messiah, they're spellbinding from the outset and are one of the best emo, and we use that term loosely, bands in a long while.
 | | Fightstar (pic: Karen McBride) |
As we head back to see Fightstar we're greeted by five men of the law. It's the most unintentional rock’n’roll moment in the band’s career as a bunch of chavs try to fight their way into the gig. The mood inside is one of trepidation, anticipation and it hangs like it’s waiting for a car crash to happen. Charlie looks like a permanently damaged and deranged Howard Hughes, schizophrenic twitching and glassy eyed stares. It soon becomes clear that Simpson is lost without the songwriting talent of James Bourne by his side. Whereas Busted took punk-pop and made it something more then the sum of its parts, Fightstar are steeped in the route of pedestrian emo. Bizarrely enough it's the poppier tracks - Palahniuk's Laughter, Lost Like Tears In Rain and Mono - that really make the impact. The latter is Fightstar's own 3am as read by Radiohead and you sense this wasn't what Simpson was aiming for when he started Fightstar. At the moment Charlie Simpson stands at the crossroads with important decisions to make. He can leave Busted behind once and for all and be truly inventive like Cry For Silence or he can tread the more poppy route as fans of his former band seem to crave. At the moment, this middle ground isn't appealing to either and if it stays that way, the interest will wane faster than Fightstar came to prominence. | 
