Somehow tonight just doesn't feel like the 'rock concert' it was claimed to be, with any hope of atmosphere lost in the Skyscape's strange and soulless futuristic surroundings.
The corrugated combination of amphitheatre, circus and cinema tonight plays host to a sparse gathering of children, freeloaders and some shifty looking tout types. A general gathering of ne'er-do-wells if ever there was one. So apt for tonight's line-up of under-achievers.
First up are The Animalhouse, the latest combo from former Ride shoegazers Mark Gardiner and Loz Colbert.
Gardiner may be a balding shadow of his pretty, floppy-fringed self but the band's sound is a vast improvement on previous fey outings. Tonight they dip into their new album 'Ready To Receive', forging darkly atmospheric, psychedelic rock fleshed out with Moog and fluid, rumbling basslines.
The adorable, but peripheral indie-poppers, The Bluetones are next, showing off their mediocre mastery in a pocket-sized set of 'old favourites' and a token slice from their 'poppier' third album, 'Science & Nature'.
Their beautiful melodies and 'la-la' choruses have all the usual zeal and infectious harmonies synonymous with Morriss and Co but still they lack that something wonderful and once the gigantic velveteen balladry of 'If' has faded to silence it's like they were never here.
The nothingness of catchy pop continues with no one's favourite band, Shed 7, playing, as ever, a greatest hits set. Frontman Rick Witter lumbers and leaps through the pick 'n' mix hits, his 'bluurrghhhs' during 'Chasing Rainbows' and general heckling (yes, the band heckling the audience) suggest an inebriated incoherence that actually improves on the band's general performance.
His substance-addled state shoots a previously unseen degree of verve and aggression into the normally workmanlike combo. They are still, after all, Shed 7, but exciting. And as the farewell comes round there's enough energy and enthusiasm from the dwarfish lead singer for all of us.
Lucky really, as the audience are offered a choice of finales, 'Getting Better' or 'Going For Gold' but the indecisiveness of the small crowd narks Rick into choosing for us; 'Going For Gold' rounds it off and the Sheds make way for the main attraction. Roll up, roll up! Here come Space.
The cheeky Scousers take their place and now starts the Rockfest. Well, no, of course it doesn't. Now starts the comic-strip pop, with scamps populating both the songs and the stage.
Tonight we witness a showcasing of new stuff, which is jaw-droppingly abysmal. Like Pulp at this year's Reading/Leeds Festival, they have touched up their usual social commentary with a dance edge, although this is like experimental music therapy of the homemade variety backed up with synthed strings.
It does, however, make the sound of 'Female Of The Species' a welcome relief. More surprising though is when the frontman Tommy Scott leaves the stage and the guitarist croons out an alternative country ballad that swells and stuns.
It's calm, serious, melancholic and reminiscent of Mercury Rev, though less high-pitched. Genius. Unfortunately, Tommy returns to his usual place and Space finish the set as they started it, lightheartedly.
And so the evening ends, with barely one moment of rock the whole evening and only one moment of joy. But hey what do you expect with such indie lightweights as these?
