Brixton Academy is one of the biggest venues in London but as we come in it's quite empty. 'Carpet' are the first band on and play their 'first gig ever' which is one of the most boring gigs I have ever seen. They play some sort of 'rockballads' but with no real catch in it.

Next are the 2 finalist bands, first 'Cinéfilm', to be followed by 'Higher Ground'. Cinéfilm start with their kinda punkish rocksongs and ballads and prove that they've got some interesting tracks, but they look very lost in this big venue. I'm sure this band would go down very well in a small club, but in the half empty Brixton Academy it doesn't really work. It gets better with Higher Ground, the next band. They apparently brought some fans along  who cheer as they enter the stage and they start a powerful set of 'punky pop'. They look much more secure on this big stage than Cinefilm, but even all their enthusiasm doesn't help and all their songs get to sound a bit monotonous after a while.

As they finish the stage gets prepared for Manchild and after 10 minutes the winner of the National Student Music Awards gets announced and its 'Cinéfilm'! (I was almost sure it was going to be 'Higher Ground', but thats how you can be wrong!)

Manchild are getting ready now, but first 'DJ Jaffa', the Manchild DJ, plays a short DJ set, starting with Exterminator by Primal Scream, then Uptown's Dope On Plastic followed by some more Hip Hop tunes. Shortly after 10pm Manchild storm the stage and as at the last gigs they start with all 8 of them on stage with 'Rockin' the place'. All of a sudden people seem to leave the bars and Brixton Academy seems more crowded than before. Next to me is an about 50 year old hippie with white long hair who plays along with his own instruments (you need to have been there to understand!!) and gets completely into it.

click on the pictures to see them full-size

What can be said about Manchild in this big venue (after I've seen them twice at tiny student unions before) ? Well, it looks as if they've never played anything else than venues like this! There's no sign of insecurity and they get the whole venue moving immediately. Kwam, their dancer, climbes the speaker boxes, runs down to the crowd and performs some breakdancing on stage during 'Let Me Tell you Something'. Wicked beats throughout the whole set and the only slowdown is 'Something in my system' in the middle of the set. Bryan Adams is spotted in the audience, but who cares about Bryan Adams when Manchild are on stage! Again there isn't anything negative you can say about the gig of Manchild except that the 40 minutes went over way too fast! I got the feeling that if they continue like this they will soon play their headline gigs in Brixton Academy ..!

Next on the set are the headliners Chicane. I'm probably not the only person who only knows them by their hitsingle 'Don't give up' together with Bryan Adams and I wonder what the rest of their material will sound like. As they come on stage it's 2 guys behind keyboards, some guitar and a female vocalist performing some trancey tracks with a great light show. But what first gets you in a sort of magic atmosphere soon gets boring and everything sounds a bit the same. All we are waiting for now is 'Don't give up'. Suddenly you spot Bryan Adams, grabbing a guitar and coming on stage and we all know whats gonna be the next track. Brixton Academy is almost empty by now and Bryan Adams performs 'Don't Give Up' together with Chicane in front of roughly 400 people now, which is great after having heard the track so many times on the radio! However, as he leaves the stage Chicane continue their set and one tracks sounds like the other and no one is really sad when they finish.

What can I say, no one will argue that Manchild were by far the best band at this awards show, and they didn't need a Bryan Adams to join them on stage!

Check out Manchilds official website for soundfiles and tourdates on www.manchild.co.uk