Amusement Parks On Fire

Fire seems to be a recurring theme in band names these days. For starters we have tonight's headliners, and in a few weeks this very venue plays host to The Little Flames supported by Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames (mad coincidence or promoters with a sense of humour?). If it wasn't for The Arcade Fire, Amusement Parks... might just be able to claim the title of 'best band with fire in their name 2006' but as it is, they settle for tearing Sheffield apart with a heady cocktail of apocalyptic post-rock.

There's an intensity about singer/guitarist Michael Feerick that belies his tender years. Aged just 21, Feerick wrote and recorded last year's self-titled debut album all on his own, and the key performance tonight is undoubtedly his. Practically eating the microphone, waving his guitar in the air and bantering with nobody in particular between songs, the youngster seems lost in his own private world.

For many in tonight's audience, Amusement Parks On Fire's music veers too far from the middle of the road, but those who understand are taken to a place where dissonance is to be treasured, where My Bloody Valentine have LPs other than Loveless and where a sonic battering from Mogwai is a nice way to relax of an evening. Although they perhaps lack the nuance of Burns and the boys, they're treading a similarly ambitious path – and walking a surprisingly accomplished line, considering their youth.

'Venosa' and Out Of The Angeles, title track from the forthcoming LP of the same name, are tonight's stand-out tunes, erupting from the amps with the force of a train crash and sending shards of guitar noise all around the room. Yet somehow, amidst the cacophony, the quintet somehow manage to infuse their noise with a pop sensibility. Taking notes to that end from the poppier side of Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins, this Nottingham outfit are on course to become something quite special. As tonight's performance shows, The Arcade Fire had better watch out because the competition for 2007's title might well be a little more hotly contested...

Photos courtesy of Gary Wolstenholme