大象传媒

Oh Hooky, tonight you are spoiling us. 听Not one or two, but three bands. 听Hooky is, of course, the Mancunian legend de bass of Joy Division and New Order fame, and tonight he is playing the role of host. 听Unfortunately his puns need work - apologising for the delay before the Delays, even Rigsy wouldn't stoop that low.

Anyway, on with the music. Delays open up, and are here to promote their new album, hawking their own brand of soft-indie rock. 'Long Time Coming' has a pleasantly catchy chorus, and 'Touch Down' is likewise pleasant, and could fit into a teen American drama without any great difficulty, but there is very little that is memorable. 'Tell Me' has a relatively more interesting, but derivative electro beat hidden in there, but it's not enough. Three albums in, and having failed to make huge indentations on the public conscience, on this evidence these pleasant chaps are unlikely to do so in the future.

Second up are festival favourites, Subways, who are, in comparison to the delicate openers, a proper little rock and roll three-piece. There's a lot of new material tried out by these young of years veterans, who work the crowd well in-between their Manic Street Preachers/Foo Fighters-esque populist rock and roll. Dishing out the new songs, because we're so sexy, 'California' has a grungey little undertone to the pop-rock, and 'Alright' is somewhere between Liverpool, Manchester and Seattle, recalling Nine Black Alps. 'Mary' is almost sweet Merseybeat pop-punk, while 'Shake Shake' is power-pop with a hint of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and new single 'Girls and Boys' is as good as anything Tim Wheeler has done in a while. Now, for a treat, as Peter Hook joins them on bass for 'Oh Yeah', before departing to let them tear the place up with their so-simple-it's-genius-why-didn't-I-think-of-it-first anthem 'Rock and Roll Queen' which turns the front of the crowd into a moshfest as we're singing along, finishing with front-man Billy in with the people and the drumkit going flying.

Our headliners for the night are art-indie-electro flavours of the month Foals, making a belated Belfast appearance. First off, it's nice to see something so niche going so mainstream, as proved by the reaction to the introduction of 'Cassius' as glow sticks go flying. They do the "hard art" of the type espoused by Gang of Four and Sonic Youth, and invite an obvious comparison with Bloc Party, while front-man Yannis is a ringer for Prince. They're almost too serious on-stage, giving off a vibe of concentration rather than enjoyment, yet this doesn't matter to the crowd who are eating up songs like 'Vampire', with its frantic, slightly un-nerving and discordant edge to the paranoia. Everything is a little to fast, with a little too much of it going on, making it jumpy, but in a good way. 'Two Steps Twice' is an oldie, bouncing along like Fourtet, while 'By A Heartbeat' is a meeting between Bloc Party and Hot Chip. 'Red Socks, Blue Jeans' is a band favourite, while 'Electric Brew' has a wonderful little drone to it to add to the hypnotic pounding drums, and the encore overcomes technical difficulties by letting the sweat-drenched guitarist hurl himself into the crowd to join the various other surfers.

There's a lot worse ways to spend a Friday night.

William Johnston