Quashing the myth that being the first band on ruins your life and career, Kudos step up to the challenge. They boast an enormous sound that reverberates around the venue. Although each song is as colourful as a forest in autumn there is space to wander inside and listen. From the Champagne Supernova of when-Oasis-truly-rocked to the tortured wail of soon to be canonised Saint Kurt, the energies and wisdom obtained from those who have gone before merge delightfully in the rocktastic world of Kudos.

Sliding into drive time, Eskimo ease us back with some classic rock/pop. Although it fails to deeply penetrate the senses, it is kind to the ear and gentle on the soul. Excelling at epic and flaunting that groove thang, originality is the missing ingredient here, and Eskimo need to be a bit more adventurous if they want to avoid being left out in the cold.

After sending half of the nuns in Ireland on pilgrimage at the mere sight of their name Dick Boner are going to send the single women on this fair isle running in search of their chastity belts.

Rory Gallagher’s doppelganger is on lead guitar while the gyrating lead singer grooves around the stage. You may not be laughing with them, you may even be dumfounded by them, but for a moment in time you’ll adore their courage and your heart will be right up there with them.

Still slightly shell shocked I fall back to earth as The Fuze calmly coax us back to the safety of good old fashioned three piece guitar rock. A sinister and drawn outlook on life seeps through every chord and moment. Look a little deeper and you will find that there is more lurking beneath. Promising.

A true caricature of a 1970’s New York poet bounds onto the stage with his merry band of mischief-makers in tow. Jive Principle have landed. Whoever it was that decided that white men can’t dance may indeed be proved to be completely wrong as the front man of this five-piece ensemble confounds that proclamation. His vocal harnesses the dirty rawness of Mick Jagger as he stalks the stage like a man possessed. Embarking on a similar road to New York heroes The Strokes, Jive Principal’s songs are inventive and retro but in a modern style. They even reach the planes of the Alabama 3 during an epic stomper driven wild by the infectious rhythm of a digeridoo. Winning the hearts of the crowd and the judges alike, Jive Principle are crowned the kings of Temple Bar tonight.