Monday 22/10/07 South Central, The Riff Raff, The Moths, Estrella @ In The City, Manchester

And so, another In The City draws to a close. You have to pity the bands and artists who have arrived to play on this, the final night of the conference, knowing that A&Rs could well be on their way back down south with their new signings pencilled in, the hacks are tiredly dragging themselves out for a fourth night of boozy scribbling and the general punters are tied back into the weekly grind. That said, these acts know that there is still time to define ITC 2007, to be the name that gets everyone talking as we go into the new year. They know, in short, that this could still be the most important gig of their careers.

OK, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but try telling that to Granite City-based rockers Estrella, who play to a sparsely populated One Central as if they are Queen and this is Live Aid. Estrella, if you haven’t seen or heard them, really, really like Guns‘n’Roses. It’s rock’n’roll with a hard yet flamboyant edge, in thrall to the likes of Led Zep, Aerosmith and Deep Purple and in threads loaned by Motley Crue. You have to admire the Gunn (really!) brothers for their effort but, in an empty room like this, it’s wasted. What’s more, this whole metal revival thing has been done before countless times in the last decade with more flair and – occasionally – more invention. It’s not Estrella’s night tonight – and we suspect it never will be.

Maybe it’s a sign of the times, tastes, fashion or simply talent that the room begins to fill when West London’s The Moths take to the stage shortly afterwards. The black-clad band have been making a pointlessly punctuated name for themselves even before the release of their debut – the gutter romance ‘Valentine’ – and there’s the unmistakeable whiff of the finished article poring from the pop-noir five-piece. Marrying the trashy glamour of early Suede or Stardust-era Bowie to the mentholated cool pop of Gary Numan and The Killers, The Moths have ‘major label deal’ stamped all over them. Treat them kindly, cruel industry.