Tonight’s concert was an evening of firsts for me - in addition to this being the first gig I have covered for Midlands Rocks, it was my first visit to a venue I knew very little about beforehand, The Asylum in Birmingham.

The venue is a relatively recent addition to Birmingham’s music scene. A fully independent venue, it is run by the team behind Madhouse Studios, a widely respected rehearsal and recording facility in the city.

The evening’s entertainment was kicked off by Pegasus Bridge, a four-piece band from Macclesfield. I had, prior to the gig, carried out a little bit of research on each band on the bill, and to be honest I wasn’t particularly looking forward to seeing Pegasus Bridge play. The tracks showcased on the band's myspace site aren’t really to my personal taste as I prefer a harder rock sound. However, the band's live performance was very impressive indeed. The music, whilst still a little ‘indie’ for me, translated very well live and the band's onstage energy, enthusiasm and humour was infectious, even getting the early evening crowd involved in a sing along to ‘Wishing she was you’.

According to the band, they have recently been recording new material which has a slightly harder edge to it. If the new material is as suggested, coupled with the obvious songwriting and musical talent of the band, I would suggest that the lads have a bright future. One final point of interest is that the band's keyboard genius is a dead ringer for Eddie Vedder….. Check out the photos!

www.myspace.com/pegasusbridge

Entering onto the stage to an intro tape akin to the start of a prize fight, Canadian ‘Reggae Metallers’ Zeroscape helped to raise the atmosphere in the venue further, following the great opening set from Pegasus Bridge. Of course it didn’t hurt that Binski (vocals) proclaimed his love for Birmingham (and Scruffy Murphys) on a number of occasions throughout the set.

I have to be honest and admit that I have no idea what songs were played (apart from ‘Friday Night’), but I did thoroughly enjoy the bands performance and, just like Pegasus Bridge, I will definitely look to catch Zeroscape live again in the future. Fine fellas and a fine band. Catch 'em in Derby on the 6th Oct (again with InMe).

www.myspace.com/zeroscape

Unfortunately, Symphony Cult just couldn’t keep up the momentum built by the two previous bands and I’m afraid they won’t live too long in my memory. The set didn’t start too well when the band members stood on stage with their backs to the audience whilst their intro tape played. A bit too ‘Spinal Tap’ for my liking. Whilst technically very impressive (the song ‘Confess’ being the highlight of the set), and with a very charismatic vocalist in Charlotte Lubbock, the performance just didn’t do it for me.

It felt like a case of the right band being in the wrong place, with the flat audience reaction at the end of the set summing up the mood. I have no doubt that on another night with a different crowd things would be completely different for an obviously very talented band.

www.myspace.com/symphonycult

InMe have been around for a fair few years now, and I must confess to not having followed their career as closely as I should. Their first album ‘Overgrown Eden’ was a regular fixture in the Colson Towers CD player, but the three follow up albums escaped my attention for some reason. It was with a fair degree of nostalgic curiosity that I awaited their set.

Currently touring in support of their new ‘Herald Moth’ album, the four-piece from Essex (although performing as a three-piece due to injuries sustained in a recent car crash by new guitarist Ben Konstantinovic), kicked of there set with a storming version of ‘Myths and Photographs’.

From that point on, the pace didn’t let up.

It would be fair to say that practically everyone (in a criminally one-third full venue) had come to see InMe and the reaction of the punters said it all…. the reprimand for crowd surfing given to one member of the audience (who shall remain nameless) was more than amusing.

InMe’s set came and went in a blur… a sure sign of a fine performance. The fact that the band were playing as a three-piece, having rehearsed as a four-piece for the preceding 6 months was extremely impressive (how Dave McPherson can play that way, whilst singing so well is beyond me) and I would suggest that once Ben has recovered from his injuries, InMe’s live sound will be even more impressive.

A light-hearted moment came close to the end of the set as a birthday cake and balloons were presented on stage to Dave for his birthday.

The highlight of the set for me (being an old school InMe fan) was a barnstorming version of ‘Underdose’. However, with newer songs such as ‘Single of the Weak’ sitting comfortably alongside older material, I sincerely hope that even better things await for an extremely talented and sadly underrated (by some) band.

A great night of crackin’ music, at what might well become my favourite venue in Brum….

www.inmeofficial.co.uk

click here to view all of John's photos from the night...