Well, this is cool. I don't make a habit of following bands around the globe, but work has brought me here, so I get to experience two of the UK's most popular bands outside of their UK scene comfort zone.

As Young Guns tear into opener In The Night, it's amazing to think about how far they have come in a year. This time last year, they were completely unknown, and while there is still a long way to go, it's incredible to see a few kids here singing their songs back at them. As usual they put in a powerful performance, Gus commands the audience these days with a confidence that has come from nowhere. The vocals are a little flat tonight, but otherwise this is a great introduction from them to the people of Amsterdam.

The Blackout have been here before, a few times, and the leg work has clearly paid off as the room is rammed by the time they hit the stage. The Blackout have had an incredible year also. Dismissed by some as be all style and little else, they dropped a bomb of an album in Best In Town that laid waste to any such claims. They have also spent the year sharing stages with the likes of N.E.R.D and Linkin Park which has clearly done them well. Their live show was never in question- Gavin and Sean are hugely entertaining frontmen with endless banter to give between songs. The rest of the band are like a unit these days as well, seemingly able to nail down their songs with faultless precision without even breaking a sweat. Another album like the last one and The Blackout could be contending a certain other Welsh led group for their throne as the kings of the UK Alternative scene. Watch this space.
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Biffy Clyro @ Brixton Academy

Wow! Biffy overload on the blog today. Sorry, but there was no way this show wasn't getting a mention- it blew my mind. Looking at the stage set up as I walked in, it was obvious the band are out to impress, and impress they did. A towering light show and a truly deafening PA create a monolithic size to tonight's set. Like Muse, this is made all the more exciting by the fact that Biffy Clyro are just 3 men, yet create such an incredible cacophony of noise. But a beuatiful noise it is. As is usual with them, the set takes heavily from last album Puzzle and newie Only Revolutions. This is fine of course, as it means we are treated to a slew of monster tracks that could read like a greatest hits for most other bands- Bubbles, Captain, That Golden Rule, Mountains, Born On A Horse, Saturday Night Superhouse, Get Fucked Stud, Love Has A Diameter... I could go on. Realistically, with that many incredible songs to pick from, this band are never going to be anything short of great. Tonight though they are truly awe-inspiring. And as the huge throng of people pile out into the cold Brixton night, everyone knows they have seen something truly special.

Biffy Clyro- Only Revolutions Album Review.

It's no secret that I adore this band, and so the likelihood of me hating this album was slim, especially as all three singles so far have been belters. All that said, the stakes are high. Previous album was as close to aperfect album as any band in the past 10 years have created, so this one was going to have to be a brain melter, to not fall into the shadow of it's predescessor.

Thankfully, and unsurprisingly, it doesn't. From playful opener "Captain" with it's rocking rhythm and jovial vibe right through to a typically rousing closer in "Whorses", there really isn't a weak track on here.

Single "Mountains" is an obvious standout. It's chorus is in fact the size of mountains and it is with just deserve that it has become the bands most recognised track. Recent single "that golden rule" is less obvious, it's awkwards rhythms, but after a few spins you find more and more to love on it.

For me though the standout tracks on the album come when the band step out of their comfort zone a little. Bubbles is a beautifully simple little pop song, Josh Hommes stamp is all over it. The chorus is as simple as any written, but so infectious it will have you grinning from ear to ear. "Born On A Horse" is equally exciting, riding along on a skittering dance beat that grinds it's way into your brain gloriously. It's odd lyrics also standing out.

So does this top Puzzle? Well, I can't quite decide, but what I can say is that put the two together and Only Revolutions would not get lost. Beautiful and exciting in it's own right, it would appear Biffy have done it again.

Bon Jovi secret show?!

Wow! Let's put this in perspective. I have loved Bon Jovi for years. Fuck, who hasn't?! I've seen them at Wembley Stadium and at Twickenham Stadium. Both shows were amazing. I still have 7 of their albums on my Ipod. Their albums were, and remain, the soundtrack to me growing up. From the copy of New Jersey I bought from an online CD mail order company, to making my work colleagues want to kill me when I played Have A Nice Day for a month straight in the record store I worked it. The thing is, I even like shit Bon Jovi (except Bounce- surely no one likes that album?!)

So if you had told 15 year old that I would get to watch Bon Jovi play infront of roughly 800 people, I would have laughed in your face. This is truly surreal- last time I saw them, they were like ants on a stage with 1,000's of people between us. As brilliant as that spectacle is, tonight is something else. It's like watching a Bon Jovi covers act in a pub, but it's actually them.

Being truthful, the set is pretty dire. Being the promo stunt that it is to push the new album, it's new song heavy, but simply I don't care?! It's Bon Fucking Jovi and they're 10ft away from me. You Give Love A Bad Name sounds massive. An acoustic rundown of Livin On A Prayer is moving, and even recent tracks It's My Life and Lost Highway hit the spot. It really is going to take a lot to top tonight. 15 year old me would be so fucking jealous right now.

3OH!3 @ Electric Ballroom

What can I say about tonight. I went into it with something between utter indifference and straight up contempt for 3oh!3. Their geeky white rap has infuriated me since I first heard them. It's not even what they do or the style of music the play, more that I just don't think they are actually very good at their genre of choice.

Tonight goes someway to proving my previous feelings, but at the same time I find myself entertained and even enjoying the hour set. How?! Well, quite simply, a lot of the charm with this bands comes with the fact that they are not all that good. They are two underwhelming, white guys who in the quaint naffness somehow become charming and a joy to watch. Silly choreographed dance moves and big beats find me laughing and nodding my head. Other people are losing their minds to every song.

So where does it leave me? Well, I don't think I will be putting the record on anytime soon, much less buying it, but given the chance to see them again, I won't be pulling the same faces I did this time around. In fact, I might just go out of my way to be there!

Cancer Bats @ Brixton Academy

I miss the wonderful Canterbury tonight, which I am a little saddened about as their debut album (currently free to download from their myspace- I suggest you do so), is a belter.

Tonight for me is all about Cancer Bats. I love Billy Talent also, but on a Sunday evening I opt for an early one and head after the Bats storm Brixton!

It's an awkward start for the Liam Cormier and co. as guitarist Scobe's guitar fails to kcik in, dragging on their grand entrance. Ever the proffesionals, it is barely noticeable, and as the punishing opening riff of Hail Destroyer spills out, it is all forgotten. What follows is, by any other band sstandards a stormer of a set, but by Cancer Bats', it is merely good. It's by no means their fault as a painfully static audience refuses to respond to Liam's good time baiting banter and the band's monstrous songs. Their loss really as songs such as pneumonia hawk and a massive Lucifers Rocking Chair are undeniably brilliant perfectly combining crushing metal riffs with good time rock and roll vibes. New song Darkness, is a stormer too and bodes well for their iminent third album. It strays little from their tried and tested musical path, but then like AC/DC, why change what is perfect already?!

Fightstar @ Shepherds Bush Empire

Tonight's bill is as eclectic as it comes. It's also nice to see a UK band bringing out and supporting 3 other UK acts (four if you include Deaf Havana that have also been on select dates of this tour).

Prego open the day and go down a treat with a set of empassioned rock that whilst still not perhaps quite holding enough character to see them reach to Fightstar's level of success just yet, but does still display a depth of snogwriting lost on so many other bands around at the moment.

Young Guns need no introductions, as they have spent the last six months building a big name for themselves and tonights showing proves it is deserved, with a almighty wall of death and big songs seeing them warm the crowd up perfectly.

Saving Aimee are just not very good. In fact, maybe that's unfair, they just play music that I can't stand, and judging by the reception they receive, neither can the audience.

Fightstar, however, are on top form. They come out all guns blazing in full halloween garb, and pile through a set of hits that has their adoring crowd in fits. For me it is tracks from their latest album such as "Mercury Summer" and "Englsih Way" that really hit the spot, displaying perfectly where the band should be headed. They've proved their metal cred these days, and so can now just work on creating more songs as achingly brilliant as these.

The set feels short, but only in the best possible way, and as the band leave the stage triumphant after their biggest London show to date, it leaves me feeling very proud of the state of the UK music scene.