As I entered, slightly disorientated from the combined effects of extremely cheap vodka and a head cold, I am told by 3 different people that the band I just missed (Tel Aviv-based Monotonix) were “fucking insane”. Apparently I missed fire, crowd surfing and a floating, crowd-held drum kit. Not something you’d expect at the average gig, but tonight seems to host a line-up of bands that spend the evening trying out-do each other on the crazy scale.

My first band of the day, Spodni Pradlo, take to the main stage and play some good time smiley girl/boy folk pop that my friend aptly describes as “Beirut meets Madness”. Music to make you jig, grin and clap, but not too memorable, and probably not something I’d listen to on record.

I quickly pop over to the “Red Lounge” stage for my local Halifax boys Hey Panda, and am immediately surprised that there is no spill between the two stages, despite them almost being on top of each other. Although very young (a fact which later got all 4 band members ejected from the club), Hey Panda create quite a racket, and by the end of the set I realise positioning myself inches from the speaker hasn’t done much good for my left ear. They come across like the Rapture if they owned more fuzz pedals, with dancey, pounding drums and jagged, spikey guitar riffs.

Next up came a big section of wandering in and out of various bands sets, eating nasty burgers (no pun intended, they were just gross), drinking stupidly expensive beer and running to the toilet every time I thought I was going to sneeze, before I settle into the pitch black (literally) shoe-gaze of A Place to Bury Strangers. Taking the 60’s psychedelia honed by more recent bands like The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and the noisy elements of 80’s/90’s shoegaze masters like Ride and the Jesus and Mary Chain, combined with the overuse of a smoke machine and strobe made the whole event pretty trippy. I was later informed the singer/guitarist builds his own effects pedals, which would explain the unholy amounts of noise bouncing around the room.

It wasn’t long before I witnessed my first ever live Hip Hop act, but before Cadence Weapon and DJ Weez-l even took the stage I noticed a strange change in the crowd. This became even more evident when the music kicked off, and never in my life did I think I would witness so many skinny white kids trying to be black hip hop fans. It was hard not to get into the music though, and Pemberton’s stage presence and enthusiasm was contagious enough without the party beats being scratched out in the background.

After quite a long delay, LA two piece No Age begin, but only for 2 unintentionally vocal-less songs, before another gap that insures the rest of the set does have vocals. I was a big fan of Wives, and the new No Age album 'Nouns' impressed me greatly, but live it didn’t seem to come across anywhere near as well. The rawness and intensity is lost somewhere between the stage and my ears, though I’m not ready to write them off yet, as it’s highly possible that was the venues fault rather than that of the bands.

After that vague normality, it was on with the insanity as people crammed into the Red Lounge for Pulled Apart by Horses. Having already witnessed them live a few times I knew what to expect, however I didn’t realise how much of a following they already had for such a new band. People shouting for songs and pushing to get to the front as well as the first and last “mosh pit” I witnessed all day. Amongst the madness on stage was the usual sleazy, heavy and fast rock’n roll, as well as crowd surfing guitarists and a set that finished with a poorly executed back flip which resulted in guitarist James Brown being whisked off to hospital for some skull glueing (see below)...

I finish off the long evening with a healthy dosage of the Mae Shi, who fulfil everything I expect them to. Band members in the crowd, band members on the crowd, crowd on the stage, large white sheet on the crowd etcetera. Casio tinged electro punk and sing-along choruses are on the menu, and from the sounds of other reviews from the last couple of the weeks, the whole UK has been infected on this tour.

Tired, drunk and still ill, I abandon ship early, missing Yeasayer, but realising that it wouldn’t matter whether I was in bed or at the gig, I’d have probably fallen asleep either way.