The Killers, The Futureheads, Bloc Party, Kaiser Chiefs - Brixton Academy, London - Wednesday 9th February 2005

So, a fantastic bill put together for the NME Awards Tour. The Killers, probably the most exciting live band of the moment, as they proved with their landmark gigs at the end of last year. Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs, 2 of the undoubted stars of the year to come. And The Futureheads, with 2 great singles already behind them, and one to come soon. No surprise then that the gig sold out in obscenely quick time, and that the place was rammed from very early in the evening for this one.

Kaiser Chiefs were first on, and, playing to a quiet crowd, many of whom didn't know them that well, acted and played like they owned the stage. For those that knew and liked some of their songs, this went down very well, because they look and sound good enough to headline here one day. But, for the uninitiated, it probably just looked very strange.

Bloc Party were next up, and played a much more understated set, with less posturing, and more just getting on and playing music. I wasn't sure if I'd like them before I went, but their set was my surprise of the evening, in terms of how much I enjoyed it. Not a bad song in there, and some real classics that sound good on CD, but are much, much better live. If you've heard Bloc Party on CD and aren't sure, its quite likely that seeing them live will convince you 100%.

The Futureheads seem to have a wide array of similar-sounding songs - all clocking in at about 2.5 minutes, and with more than one of them on vocals at a time. Their singles, Decent Days And Nights, Meantime, and Hounds Of Love are the real highlights - the rest is passable, but unlikely to set the world on fire - I'd expect The Futureheads to do well, but not as well as the other 3 bands on tonight's bill.

And so to The Killers - who played a set that was triumphant from first minute to last. They had been slaying venues all around the country on this tour for the last 3 weeks, and tonight was no different. There literally wasn't a bad moment, the crowd frequently drowned out the band by screaming the words to the songs, in fact I don't know what could possibly have made this go wrong. For the encore, a massive version of All These Things That I've Done, all the members of all 4 bands came on stage, for a truly spectacular finale.

Stunning gig, stunning bill, all topped off by an amazing headlining set.