Friday 27/04/07 Give It A Name Festival @ NIA, Birmingham

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One of the first ‘festivals’ of the year (although it’s held in an arena), Give It A Name has entered its third year - the success of the previous two resulted in an extension to three days, boasting arguably the best line-up yet. The weekend is dominated by the cream of American pop-punk, emo, and screamo bands, but it was a local heroes Beat Union that kicked things off. The Birmingham punksters are no strangers to performing with their compatriots from over the pond, as previous support slots with Taking Back Sunday and Alexisonfire shows they have friends in the right places. Their performance is coated with boundless energy and sincerity but the barely quarter full arena didn’t help with the sound or atmosphere. More than likely the missing lads from the crowd were in the gents making sure their expensive hairstyle of ‘I don’t give a fuck’ hadn’t fallen out of place.

The impressive line-up means it is guaranteed to be a great day, no matter what sights you may have to tolerate. Old school pop-punk was on show in the form of MXPX with the three-chord veterans rattled through the best of their decade of tunes, ‘Responsibility’ and the crowd favourite and aptly named ‘Punk Rawk Show’ were the pick. The success of the previous ‘non-London’ Give It A Name in Manchester resulted in a move to the bigger arena in Birmingham but due to the vast majority of the potential audience still being at school or college on the Friday, it left the arena sparse and a little eerie at times - leaving you thinking how much better the atmosphere would be in a smaller venue. That said, ‘Hit The Lights’ managed to ignite what crowd there was with a display of first-class pop-punk taken from their gem of a debut album ‘This Is A Stick Up, Don’t Make It A Murder’. Constantly touted as ‘the next New Found Glory’ they are certainly armed with the killer hooks and mesmerising melodies. ‘Bodybag’ has the most addictive of intros while ‘The Call Out (You Are Dishes)' seems to have three memorable choruses in one. Big things seem destined for these young lads.   

The Audition, are quite a talent, another intelligence-beyond-their-fragile-age band in The Academy Is mould, they certainly know how to perform too. Bounding around the stage to fans favourites ‘Approach The Bench’ and ‘You’ve Made Us Conscious’ while not letting the sound quality slip. In some ways on their own they would have been so much more impressive but due to being spoilt with so many new bands on top of their game they just slotted in perfectly, rather than being the all conquering act their potential hints at.

The most unpredicted highlight of the day was Hellogoodbye, who on record can at times be a bit nauseous and very hit and miss, but seeing them live, you suddenly get what they are all about and you are left marvelling at what looks like Mr Muscle banging away on his keyboard, grinning like the geek that got the girl. Recent single ‘Here (In Your Arms)’ could well be their mainstream break as the most cheesy 80s style chorus unbelievably works a treat. ‘Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn’ is the blueprint of the perfect pop-punk song, as sporadic electronics reminiscent on Motion City Soundtrack weave in an out of a crazy chorus and spiralling verses that could get any room jumping. Recently confirmed to play Leeds/Reading festival they are more than worth a look if only to gawp at their geekish ways.