Friday 15/04/04 Autokat, Stone Devils, Noonday Sun @ Night & Day Cafe, Manchester

Tonight’s gig is a bit of a weird one as we have to suffer “witty” films in-between all the bands which finally drives us out of the venue before headliners Loose Canon make it to the stage but not to worry. Undiscovered gems are lurking not too far beneath the hidden depths of celluloid Z-Movie-Hell.

Four-piece Noonday Sun are Starsailor’s long lost twin. God no that’s an evil allegation to levy at any band, Noonday perform an almost flawless performance of rock-lite tunesmithery that gets all the mothers in the audience (and I really mean that) virtually weeping. Definitely a talented bunch that deserve to be watched, despite having one of the most distractingly insincere bass players in the world. Their slightly weedy Radiohead/Muse-y goodstuff is paired excitingly with some thrilling keyboard magickry and is only really let down by a horrible spacey wig out towards the end of the set.

Where Noonday Sun perhaps lacked balls Stone Devils frontman the woolly hatted Nick Brockenshire has them in bags (hmph!) and is amiably backed by a lanky hairy bass player who isn’t a million miles from Blur’s Alex James and a drummer who could crack coconuts in the crook of his arm. The Devils’ brand of growly widdly widdly rock is a sight to behold and serves to wake up the sleepy crowd. Jeez we even get the ol’ dancing grunge chick windmilling wildly down the front. Stone Devils’ are a real crowd pleaser and effortlessly knock out tune after tune, please stand well back though they’re a satanic cult not a fabric cleaner.

Last up (for Gigwise at least) are Autokat who serve up meat and potato pie with their pub lunch brand of rock ‘n’ roll. These guys look like they might have been round the block at least once and have been treading the boards of Manchester’s finest venues for a while now. That probably explains why they’re a bit of a crowd puller, but despite their steaming hot plateful I can’t help thinking that this is all a little safe and they could do with some extra surprises to keep the crowd guessing.