We arrived in time to have missed Ed Bennett's opening set but in time for Mad Morning the new 4-piece band who were playing their first ever gig. They are the new project of former members of Rob Jarvis & The Mercury Sons which is about all the info I have on them.
So all song titles are guesses as they opened with Running Out Of Time or Money that was tight heavy rock song with decent Soundgarden style energy as the Drummer really let rip on it. So much so he had to re-build part of his kit at the end of the song, before they could play Get Down and the bands friends had certainly got the message to Get Down with them.
To Live For had a good bassline to anchor it down as it seemed the bass and drums were solidly together throughout, while the guitars battled it out. I guess it was Rob Jarvis fronting the band, who then encouraged everyone to join in a sing along with them of oohs and aahs and actually got almost everyone joining in, before they launched into the slightly wonky Midnight Rider that has a good grungy solo in it.
They then played an old song and the bands lighters in the air ballad Forward that was all over the place, as they seem to lose any sense of timing, this song sounded under rehearsed sadly, as the bands friends seem to lap it up. They then closed with Out Till 11am about one of those nights when you get lucky and the party doesn't stop till you do the walk of shame home the next morning, it sounded as messy as the night it depicts. This was a decent first gig, they may well be worth seeing in a year or so's time.
After the break it was time for The Heat Inc. to flex their musical muscles once again, by launching into the bands theme song The Heat Inc. with Marco Simoncelli's White Gretsch Falcon sounding as tasty as ever, Jon Dodd wandered onto the stage to really get to the core of what they are about.
Little Knuckle Charlie has its normal sense of menace and possible hope you'll be offered some in the loos later. Souvenir saw Nicolas Rigot really getting forceful as that bassline really pushed them on. Draw Blood For Proof was nailed down with immense force and swagger as Maurizio Vitale drove things on with his usual powerhouse drumming.
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They then played the first new song of the set, off the bands forthcoming next album. Dead Pony Club had a hard as nails riff for them to fire off, as Jon really explained what the Dead Pony Club was all about.
They brought on special guest Terry Edwards on sax for Polaroids that was as snappy as ever, with Jon threatening to take all our pics while Terry's dark magisterial solo blew through the Assembly battling with Marco's guitar mangling.
The second new song Alibi was next, as Jon was looking to find a way out of the tight spot he was caught in, that was in need of more hard edged rock to get him out of that place. It was then time to Let's Get Wild that sounded just as wild and rambunctious as it needed to with great rumbling bass. Now they were truly wild it was of course time for some True Romance that would keep everyone as hot and sweaty as a band like The Heat Inc. should make you.
That True Romance turned out to be short lived as it was quickly followed by Your After Love Song that swaggered like they knew they'd just had a great fling and were ready to walk away in search of the next one, as Jon's microphone started to crackle a little bit.
They closed the set with 98 as this dark tale of what happened in that garden got going the Microphone crackles got worse, he should have switched to Nicolas backing vocal microphone but battled onward diving into the audience and trying to keep it all level, as the band really brought it home at the end of another good set by The Heat Inc.
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