Friday 23/01/04, The Holiday Plan, Jackson, Matchbox Romance @ Cockpit, Leeds

Tonight at the cockpit is emo night. “Oh God” I hear you cry, “not another bunch of wet-as-a-haddock’s-bathing-costume teenagers whingeing about how girls have broken their fragile, complicated little hearts". Fear not though, for tonight selection of bands proves that such preconceptions of emo can be done away with through the medium of rock.

This is illustrated not least by floppy-fringed openers The Holiday Plan who plunge into a set laden with heavy riffs and near-perfect lead parts. Such is the ferocity of their music that it’s refreshing to notice how tight they are. They lean towards a distinctly hardcore sound, recalling the now defunct The Movielife. Undoubtedly worthy openers, its all slightly let down by their bassist frontman screaming to compensate for his inability to sing. They are, however, well-received and could go places, just as long as there is always a pack of strepsils in their rider.

Next up are less heavy rockers Jackson who begin well enough and rock only just hard enough to hold my attention. Coming from the Weezer school of emo, following The Holiday Plan was never going to be easy. Their grungy riffs, repetitive choruses and poor stage presence leave me decidedly unenthused. Moreover, onstage banter reveals that Jackson have a penchant for acid and prostitution, which, judging by the mediocrity of their music, I just don’t believe. Next!

The final band of the evening appear as if out of nowhere prompting everyone to look towards the stage like startled gazelle before politely rushing forward to greet Matchbook Romance. The majority of their set comprises of songs from their 2003 album ‘Stories and Alibis’ which admittedly sounds fairly similar to the work of every emo band from The Get-up Kids to Funeral for a Friend. Even with this in mind, their musical integrity should not be disputed, as Matchbook Romance not only know how to put on a rock show, they have written one of the best pop-rock albums since Jimmy Eat World’s eponymous third offering. The set highlight comes when they treat us to two of the best songs from ‘Stories and Alibis’ back to back. ‘Playing for Keeps’ followed by the anthemnic ‘The Greatest Fall (of all time)’ are met with the loudest cheers of the evening and leave their ecstatic audience baying for more. Closing a triumphant set with forthcoming single ‘Promise’, Matchbook Romance can go away content in the knowledge that their priceless talent for song-writing has been done justice tonight.

What sets Matchbook Romance apart from the scores of emo or ‘college rock’ bands, to which they will undoubtedly be compared, is that they boast all the technical expertise of hard rock acts such as Metallica, throwing in thundering bass-drum fills and powerful chords in all the right places. In other words, this is not boring, melodramatic soft-rock, you understand. Oh no…this is hardcore.