I waited at a pub nearby the venue for my friend, who was late but repaid me in beer - which may or may not affect the review. We'll see. I had just came from work so had to forfeit any kind of fancy dress for the halloween shindig that this night was being billed as but it was crazy inside the Forum. Everyone around you was in high spirits and there were some pretty brilliant costumes going on. I had planned on going as '80p' with some friends. Striking for the pun, an' all but due to my now-famous lack of preparation we had to abandon this plan.

That said, I totally missed Fuck Buttons but managed to squeeze right in front of Bradford Cox of Deerhunter for their set. Deerhunter were probably the band I was most looking forward to and, although somewhat underdogs tonight, really lived up to what I had in mind. It was great to be so close to such an enchanting character like Cox, a truly unique frontman who awkwardly dominates the five-piece (with their guitarist who has now re-surfaced, after quite publically leaving the band a few months ago). Songs like 'Dr Glass' and 'Cryptograms' which I had previously not really thought much of really shone tonight, as did their bass player who really tipped his cap to Hookie and ended up totally thrashing at his bass whilst guitarist Lockett Pundt was an ocean of calm. A shame their set was so short but hopefully they'll be back in the UK again soon.

Next on were Black Lips, neighbours of Deerhunter, although in an entirely different boat. The party crowd are all out and totally soaking up Black Lips' bouncy sunshine-punk. Not exactly fresh-sounding but they make great company to tonight's atmosphere.

After that, people begin to get a bit twitchy. I bump into my boss, who was all dressed up in skeleton make up and attire. After confusing him for some really odd stranger he handed me his face paints and I was quickly made into a Zombie, screaming "Blood!" appropriately during Liars' set. I've never seen these guys before and I've been told mixed things. We must've caught them on a good night though. Angus Andrew gives us a great performance and for the large part, the band neglect their current album to instead play more crowd pleasing songs from their 'Drum's Not Dead' and 'They Were Wrong So We Drowned' but thankfully end the set with the fantastic 'Plaster Casts of Everything' which sees a crowd throwing themselves around manically to. Liars leave as heroes.

This makes difficult ground for Deerhoof - the only band to don fancy dress. However the legion of fans that are still around appreciate them and their crazy indie/noise/pop/jazz and to their advantage, Deerhoof have three incredible characters. Lead singer (and performing on Paul McCartney violin bass) is Satomi Matsuzaki, a tiny lady who enthusiastically jumps, makes hand shapes and plays around to the music whenever she can. Four armed guitarist, John Dieterich, who plays complex guitar lines effortlessly and with a style of his own. But it's their drummer, Greg Saunier, who nearly always steals the show by spazzing-out on the drums. I wouldn't be the first one to compare him to Animal of the Muppets but seriously, if ever a lazy comparison were more well fitted than this one... He regularly bends down to Satomi's microphone and says a few words - all of which are totally inaudible and make for a rather confusing fancy dress prize-giving cermony! Deerhoof skirt through their set and personally, the line-up couldn't have been better.

I was smiling for almost all the night and woke up with a massive hang over. Only halfway through my train ride home back to Bedford did I realise that not only was I a complete shaking wreck of a person but that I had also left my zombie make up on... Nice.

Craig Sharp