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Its a freezing cold afternoon in Nottingham and we are sitting in a bar with Chris and Nik from Three Quarters getting ready for The Starting Line / MxPx gig ate Rock City. The Starting Line are the hero's of Nik so he is particularly looking forward to seeing this sold out gig. We head into the venue before doors open to prepare our stuff, the gig has been moved from the main room to the smaller 400 capacity basement room and walking in you wonder how they will fit four seperate bands and their equipment on that small stage. The doors open and the room soon fills to the back with screaming young fans all waiting to see their idols.

First up on to the stage is Californian punk band I Am The Avalanche and they plough straight into their set with a loud banging tune which really gets the crowd jumping. "Everybody get your hands up" bellows Vinnie Caruana their energetic lead singer "And you at the back", the obeying crowd thrust their fists in the air with great enthusiasm. They move into their second track with the same energy as the first with Vinnie Caruana telling the crowd "come on people sing with us" and the full 400 capacity crowd sing along. He then chats to the crowd saying "I rode through here on a bus the other day, but i did not see much of the city. Its old though, i like it like that. I like em old and dirty" the crowd laugh as they fly into yet another banging track which sees the lead singer don his guitar and play with the band. They dedicate the next song to a friend of theirs from the band Bayside who had recently passed away. The go through the rest of their set with the same energy as the beginning and all to soon its over but not before they thank MxPx and The Starting Line for bringing them on the tour, i think i speak for everybody their when i also thank MxPx and The Starting Line for bringing them on the tour.

After a quick stage re arrangement its the turn of the second Californian pop punk band The Matches to keep the crowd jumping. Their flamboyant front man bears resemblance to Boy george with less make up wearing a slash top hat "What do you mean we're late" he shouts to one of the crew "we're on". They storm into their set with an equal amount of energy as the previous band and you cant help but wonder that if they jump around much more there may be some concussions on the low ceiling. The energetic front man takes a tumble from the monitor and for the rest of the set has blood coming from his mouth but even this does not slow him down. "Nottingham" he shouts "I got a bloody mouth, its dirty too, we got a lot of blood carrying diseases so keep clear of us" "can we get a mosh pit running for this song?", "I will put my sweat on you. You don't believe me?" he promptly leans into the crowd wiping his sweat onto anyone in range. They make the pit jump with their next pumping track with the whole crowd joining in. "This is our last song this evening" he shouts, "we would like to play this for our good friends The Starting Line and of Course MxPx". "you know how privileged you are seeing these two greats bands in such a small room?" oh we all know that already and as they finish up their last track everybody is awaiting The Starting Line, none more that Nik Parkinson of Three Quarters.

The stage goes dark and the speakers blast with The Starting Line's walk on track, everybody in the capacity crowd is cheering as The Starting Line take to the stage and straight into track one of there set which gets a huge cheer. Its great to see such a fantastic and popular band on such a small stage and every note and vocal of their set is perfect. "Hey everybody" yells Kenny "We are The Starting Line from Philadelphia", "This is our second time in Nottingham and its already the best", "We are just gonna keep playing our songs and you can keep moshing, that's what we're here for". "This songs called 'Inspired by the $ sign' ".The whole band are quite obviously enjoying every moment to this gig and that's also coming back from the screaming crowd. "This is a track from our latest album", "You should find it and play it often its called 'Making Love To The Camera' ". The band slide through the next few tracks and each one gets the same cheer from the crowd and they sing along with them all, and the band continue to amaze with their raw talent and stage presence. kenny then chats to the cheering crowd "You guys look like you are enjoying yourselves" he says and somebody in the crowd shouts back "Kenny your fuckin amazing" (and i promise you it was not me, but i have to agree) a quick guitar change follows and a problem seems to have arisen with some of the equipment. "Ok we got to kill some time" says Kenny, "Today is Matts' birthday, He's 24 today and he wants birthday kisses form all the cute boys". The problem is swiftly fixed and the show continues. They play another track and he crowds endless energy sees them jump and sing all the way through, "ok" Kenny exclaims, "this next track is also off of our new CD which is not out over here yet so you need to find someone with an internet connection and download that shit", "or just burn it and listen to it" they scream through the track and then another guitar change and the crowd shout out songs for the band to play. They hammer out another couple of amazing tracks and have another guitar change, This band seem to have an endless supply of guitars with them. They come to the end of their set without any more technical problems and the crowd clearly love every minute of their set. "Thank you so much" shouts kenny "MxPx are gonna rock your balls man!!!!".

The room darkens once again and the speakers blast out the sci fi sound that signals MxPx are coming. The crowd that have been jumping all night seem to have a renewed energy as MxPx jump onto the stage and straight into a chest pounding track, these guys have the look of a true punk band and an amazing sound. "I want you guys out there to make this place seem smaller than it is". "I want you all to jump up and down" Yells Mike, and the crowd duly oblidge. The technical difficulties that had hit earlier in the night seem to have all passed and these guys are showing the small room how to have a good time. Playing what in my opinion are some of the best punk anthems ever written MxPx are showing that they are one of the best punk acts around at this moment in time. The great set continues with the trademark sci fi samples between tracks which really add to the electric atmosphere in this small room. "I wanna hear your voices" Mike shouts, "i want you to repeat after me". "whoa" and 400 voices shout back "whoa" Its an amazing sight to see the whole crowd from front to back jump and punch the air for the whole of this set. The band keep up their outstanding performance right to the very end and you can see from the faces of everybody in the crowd as the lights come up, this is a night that will stay in their memories for a long time and to agree with kenny from The Starting Line, MxPx certainly did rock our balls.