The Hedrons LIVE

As I sit here writing this I am suffering the effects of a rather bloody altercation with a broken Cadbury's Roses glass jar but I'm nothing if not resiliant and so we must press on with the show.

A day off meant an earlier than usual departure and an arrival in Manchester in plenty of time for a rather wonderful Chinese "all you can eat" buffet,with the added classy touch of the food being served to you. None of this getting up and serving yourself nonsense. Lovely.

Anyway, a few pints in the Wetherspoon's followed (with the sad sight of a realationship breaking up in front of our very eyes) before we made our way to the venue. Not having tickets we went a bit earlier than we would have done otherwise only to be met with the Night and Day having about 50 people in. Roughly 30 of whom,it turned out, were friends and family of the support acts.

Support Act 1 was Strategic Intent, who we missed most of so I couldn't really offer up much of an opinion. Support Act 2 was Three Mile High, who shrugged off me criticising them in front of their lady friends to put on a show that was nothing if not ambitious. Sadly my lasting impression was that it was like watching a Depeche Mode show where Martin Gore sung all the songs...and that's not meant as a compliament.

So it was finally onto The Hedrons. Before their show Chi once again walked amongst the crowd and sent Gee into mute-mode whilst he was also mortified when Tippi didn't recognise him, although he later claimed she did.

Anyway, I know you might be sick of me saying this by now, but this proved once again that The Hedrons are a force to be reckoned with. Loud they might be, but they also have the tunes to back up the power. Singles Be My Friend and I Need You are by no means their best either; B-Side Bad Charm was a delight live and future single Heatseeker is a top-quality slice of rock too. The absolute highlight may well have been I Couldn't Leave Her Alone but all bodes well for the album One More Won't Kill Me,due in early 2007.

Tippi did her usual foray into the crowd (no mean feat in itself given the stage set up at Night & Day) and even battled past her microphone cables coming apart. Sure there may have not been a lot of people there but on a night like this it's hardly the point. The Hedrons, quite simply, have "it" and if there's any justice in the world (thanks once again Lemarr) then soon the rest of the world will find that out too.

After the show we hung about a bit and got to meet the girls again. I cornered Soup first and she was as delightful as ever, (even if she wouldn't sign my newly procured Hedrons poster without me buying something ;-D) and in a terrible affront to Gee recognised me as having been to see them before. We even had a delightful discussion about Wigan Pier. Tippi then signed my poster before trusting me with her marker pen to go and find Chi and Rosie to get them to sign it as well. Gee actually had a conversation with Chi, much to my astonishment; sems like poor Chi was having trouble with blisters and I left Gee to it ;-D. Not least because I had to return the marker pen to it's rightful owner! Gee then had some pictures taken and then that was it.

So yeah. They're lovely, but they're also bloody good too. This was the third time I've seen them live and they just get better and better. Roll on 2007!