I have only been to Satan's Hollow once before and it has never struck me as a good place to put bands on. The stage is circular, in fact it is very like a bandstand. I have never thought a band should have to play whilst being watched from all 360 degrees. The place should be kept as what it was really meant for and that is a nightclub.
Having said that I was looking forward to watching the three bands on offer who were Guns On the Roof, who I had never seen live before, The Dead Pets, who always give a good show and I'd just seen at Wasted Morecambe, and The Briggs, who I had also seen at Wasted Morecambe just weeks before but wasn't too sure about.
First band up were Guns On The Roof, a young Leeds based band with a bit of an American feel to their music. They had the energy that comes with youth but they also looked confident and undaunted by playing on the same bill as two already well established bands. This certainly showed in the set they played which was excellent. They were all good musicians and Aaran their singer was a very good frontman. Although there is a considerable amount of young bands around at the moment these guys definately have the capacity to go far. They were very well received by the crowd there and I look forward to seeing them again.

Guns On The Roof	The Dead Pets	The Briggs

Next up were The Dead Pets who I have seen many times before and I have yet to see them play a bad set.
The Manchester Punk punk scene is a bit stagnant at the moment and I for one can't remember turnouts at gigs ever being worse but The Dead pets always seem to get a good crowd at whichever venue they play. They really are a quality live band and yet again they played a great set. Sweeney their singer was up on tables and mingling with the crowd and generally getting everybody involved as usual. They certainly generate an energy with their music that gets the crowd up dancing. I really enjoyed them as usual as did the rest of the crowd there and I thought the best songs they played were 'Never Never' and 'If It Sells It Sells', but on the whole it was all great.
Next up were the headline band The Briggs who I had reserved judgement on after seeing them at Wasted Morecambe. I was certainly right to reserve judgement on them as after a few songs they didn't progress and it all became a bit boring to say the least. I didn't think there was much variety in their music and for a band of their stature I was expecting a lot better. I know this wasn't just my opinion because I asked some of the crowd what they thought and the word 'Boring' was said several times. Punk is about generating energy in a crowd and I think The Briggs needed their batteries charging up.
The turnout wasn't bad compared to a lot of the gigs I have been to in the Manchester area recently which have been very poorly attended. I just hope that things buck up in general but I have got to say that I am not very hopeful. In general people flock to see the more established bands at inflated prices yet most aren't prepared to pay £5 to watch what could be the bands of the future.

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