After being let down on more than one occasion by thinking how great a certain band is, going into this gig tonight having no expectations for a gig is always a good thing as the only way from there is up... however having turned up at the venue at 6pm to find the queue already around the venue is a good expectation of the evening's proceedings...

Having been told to arrive early as the Newport Centre is renowned for having stupidly early starts, and that Florida's We The Kings were hitting the stage at 7.30pm, I took my place in the queue and was instantly greeted with girls singing....no, not so much rock songs (as one would expect from a rock show) but Avril Lavringe and Lady GaGa ensued... which kind of got my head thinking OMG! Although when the culprits started talking to my mate about his Tux & Firefox tattoos I hung my head in shame! (sorry too much fizzy pop)

Anyhoo once inside the venue I did what any self-respecting rock fan does and goes straight to the front.....of the merch desk! To say it was like walking up to the counter in New Look is underestimating the point...the garish colours that were staring me in the face were hurting my eyes. Having said that I am now the owner of a proud 'Ginger is the new Black' We The Kings shirt!

And on to the reason why we are all gathered into the cesspit that is Newport Centre. Kicking off at the aforementioned early time is We The Kings who are in town promoting their 2nd album 'Smile Kid'. Having reviewed the album for Über Röck, I was pleasantly surprised at how good live the band actually are - the tracks they played were 'She Takes Me High', 'Skyway Avenue', 'Stay Young', an awesome cover of Jimmy Eats World's 'The Middle', 'Secret Valentine', 'Heaven Can Wait' and 'Check Yes Juliet'. This band are like the singer Travis Clark's flame coloured hairdo - on fire...

After a 20-odd minute change over Forever The Sickest Kids came to rock Newport. Although whilst having the crowd eating out of their hands, I just couldn't help but think that they were a band of no substance. The dynamo of a bass player that is Austin Bello is a star in the making as, apart from singer Jonathan Cook (who with his sideway baseball cap looked like a tall version of Lil' Chris), the band are a band of Kens with nice hairdos. FTSK's best song was 'Whoa Oh!' as that's the only one I can remember! Another thing that got to me with this band was the amount of heart-shaped hand gestures - where were the horns? Is this what we, the rock community, have become!?

After another very quick changeover we come to headliners, Surrey's very own YouMeAtSix who, having seen plenty of times as a support band, are finally realising their potential as headliner in their own right. Having last played Newport two and a half years ago their return is no less than spectacular as they just stride on to a blank backdrop which looks very much like a support band backline. Kicking straight into 'Safer to The Her' the band take the intensity level up to a respectable 8. It's only after the third song that the band leave the stage while sirens blaze and bathe the venue in red flashing lights - the crew dismantle the drum kit and then the band kick into life once more with a full-on 80's hair metal style stage set complete with ego ramp and runways! This sends the already fever pitch crowd into a complete frenzy! Me included...

....and for the next hour I revel in the happiest yet emotional show this year! Notable songs of the night were first encore 'Always Attract' and 'Liquid Confidence' from the new album 'Hold Me Down' as well as older classics like 'Jealous Minds Think Alike' and 'The Consequence' complete with Sean Smith of The Blackout. A shame that the now classic 'The Rumour' did not make a showing... but hey they were GREAT! And after the final encore of previous Radio 1 record of the week 'Underdog' the crowd spilled out into the fresh spring air!

If the band can keep this level of professionalism and intensity up for every show then I have witnessed the rebirth of a phenomenon.