From the start of the night I knew I was going to miss headliners The Others set, as I had to catch the last bus home. However, this wasn't the only disappointment this night had in-store.

I was really looking forward to the duo of Agent Blue, a band I know well, and The Paddington's, a band I enjoyed hearing in session for the BBC.
I got to Birmingham's Jug Of Ale I to heard that The Paddington's had cancelled due to medical reasons. As Flu season was drawing in I sympathised with the band but it was still a disappointment.

Halloween make-up

This soon passed though as Agent Blue walked to the stage. Thick with Halloween make-up and costume they look like the kids at school who are cool enough to be different among ever present the trendy hair-cuts and fashionable t-shirts of Birmingham.

Agent Blue are a band I've seen a few times before but always playing in front of a partisan audience, so tonight was going to be interesting. How well would their spiky, aggressive punk sound go down with a neutral audience?

Infectious sound

During the first two songs there were a few hard core Agent Blue fans down the front dancing manically. However, before long more and more of the audience were jumping and dancing away. Nobody could resist at least shaking their head about to the infectious sound.

About two thirds of the way into the set they played '341'. By the time the first chorus came around maybe 5 people had their hands in the air holding up the corresponding amount of fingers. By the end 90% of us were waving fingers in the air like a convention of first-time sign language students.

Dangerously captivating

We've all seen the fire safety videos where we're told not to put water on fat fires and there are sparks, flames and intense light and heat pouring out of every frame of the TV. This is what Agent Blue are like on stage. Dangerously captivating and so full of uncontrollable energy it's impossible not to find a place for them in your hearts.

When they leave the stage after what seems like no time at all you could hear an audible gasp of air from the audience that needs to regain its collective breath. Agent Blue seemed to have won everybody over and, like all good teams, can obviously storm it away as well as at home.

Atomic performance

With the atomic performance of Agent Blue still bouncing around my skull, it was with reluctance I left before The Others, but the curse of the last bus had struck once again. That said, it would have been quite a feat to surpass what I'd already seen that night.

There was the vaguest feeling of disappointment in my mind that for one reason or another I'd missed two of this countries most hyped up-and-coming bands tonight. Much more overwhelming though, was the feeling that I'd seen one of this countries best kept secrets pull off another astounding ram-raid of a gig.

Agent Blue seem like the best new band in the UK at the moment and are well worth checking out. As for The Paddington's and The Others, maybe next time.