Show features

BBC Introducing Shout About Music gig | every Wednesday | Bar Four | Friar Street | Reading| 8pm | free

See the photos here:

It was only natural that The Session Introducing, BBC Radio Berkshire's show dedicated to the local music scene, would migrate into live gig nights.

So from now on every opening slot at the Shout About Music night, which, incidentally, is free, is reserved for a band that has appeared on The Session's demo panel.

A track from their live set will be recorded and broadcast on the following Session show.

It's a great opportunity for a new band to get gigging experience and be part of the grand BBC Introducing brand.

And it's an opportunity taken with great gusto by The Toniks, whose guitarist even travelled down from Leeds (where he attends university) to be there.

The Bracknell band have only been together for six months and this was only their fourth gig, but The Toniks showed that you can be immediately tight and bombastically melodic from the outset.

Second act Ben Marwood just gets better every time I see him.

His wry and sometimes caustic lyrics juxtaposes with his calm voice to great effect, inspiring the crowd to sing along with him.

He's not your average singer/songwriter. Here is a musician with grit and fire.

Headliners To The Barricades transmit a profound homage to the world of mellifluous melancholy, surging up past Keane, Radiohead and Coldplay to define a sound that is their own.

Their epic ambience whistles past your ears to a stratosphere far, far away; and certainly tracks Sunday Best and Say Who You Are are ready to launch the band onto much greater things.

Listen to live tracks from the night on The Session Introducing this Sunday 18 May 2008 on BBC Radio Berkshire from 7pm to 8pm.

Come and join us every Wednesday at Bar Four, Friar Street in Reading from 8pm. And if you'd like to be a part of it, email me a demo to:

Full details about the gig night here: