Tonight reminded me of those halcyon days when I first started attending local gigs, with my then-regular gig-buddies. Evenings where York bands would headline a bill of three or four bands, some of which we might have come across in the past, others that were brand new to us and, inevitably, some that weren’t up to the standard of the rest. But we didn’t care because it had only cost us a few pounds, a bargain, to get in. Even better, given the apparent decline of those sort of evenings in recent years, was the fact that tonight was at Fibbers and that it was well-attended.

I’m kind of a “shadow fan” of Minster Conspiracy, who opened proceedings tonight. By that I mean that I’ve only actually seen them twice before but that I can’t help but be impressed both by the amount of talent for their ages and by their work ethic. They seem to pop up everywhere, having played, amongst others, in Parliament Street and Gibsons, at Haxby Carnival and even opened at Fibbers for the mighty RSJ, and there’s bigger and better coming up, with appearances at the Grand Opera House and York’s Apollo Festival already scheduled for later in the year. Tonight they opened with a rocking instrumental introduction to a song that, throughout, felt achingly familiar and yet which I couldn’t identify. Later we were told that it was Rollercoaster, an original and the fact that it felt like I should have known it goes some way to showing how good it was. Musically, anyway. Unfortunately Ellie’s vocals were mostly swamped, in particular by Morgan’s drums, which were way too loud in the mix (just like those of many other bands). It was only during the chorus, when she really let rip, perhaps losing tone slightly, that we could hear them properly. The rest of the set comprised of covers, most of which I wasn’t familiar with so can’t comment on how their interpretations compare. Catfish and the Bottlemen’s Kathleen was followed by One Republic’s Counting Stars, and Ellie’s quieter acoustic guitar opening, along with my familiarity of the song, meant that the vocals came across much more clearly. As the song finished, Blind Eye’s Harley Daniels rushed on stage to drum up support for the band. Not that the venue was empty, but most people were hanging back and the front of stage was empty. Harley encouraged the crowd to move forward, which many did. I can’t imagine how it must feel on stage when you are performing to people who are not only up close (many acts do that) but many of whom you will know and recognise. Still the band seemed to be growing in confidence and what I, personally, saw as the sound issues were being overcome. The next track was a return to more of a rock style but musically less overpowering and then came the slower, deeper guitar sound of 30 Seconds To Mars’ The Kill before the set finished with the much livelier Don’t Stop, originally by Five Seconds Of Summer. Tonight Minster Conspiracy may have shown their influences to be bands typically favoured by people their own age (my daughter would have loved it) rather than mine, but I’ve also seen them cover Bon Jovi and Guns ‘n’ Roses and the fact that I only (vaguely) knew one song from tonight’s set definitely won’t put me off seeing them again.

Next on stage were The Blinders, a rock trio from Doncaster whose fast and furious opening soon calmed down. Facebook only lists the trio’s names, not what their roles are so I’m guessing that it was Thomas Haywood providing guitar and angry vocals, with Matt Neale at the back on drums and Charlie McGough on bass owning the front of stage while managing to look both casually disinterested and yet still fully engaged. Their next two tracks got increasingly darker, the first musically interesting with sparse vocals while the more-spoken-than-sung vocals of the next gave the impression of a protest song before it morphed into a faster, rockier in-your-face instrumental section before fading back to a slow, dark ending. The fourth track had a Black Sabbath-esque opening and, by now, it was becoming apparent that this set should have come with one of those “Parental Advisory” stickers that (in my opinion) too many CDs come adorned with these days. I’ve nothing against any level of swearing, except that if it’s overused it loses potency, and that’s the impression I was getting from this set. Not that that was going to spoil my enjoyment of the music. The end of this track saw Haywood practically leaping across stage to twiddle with amplifier controls, perhaps searching for that mythical “11”. Up until now there hadn’t been too much to distinguish one song from another but that hadn’t stopped the crowd from bouncing along to an energetic and competent performance. That was to change with what I think was the epic final song of the set, although I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that it was three or four songs segued together. It was a much longer, sustained performance with loads of variation. I hesitate to say that it had a “prog-gy” feel about it as I doubt that’s a label that this band would be happy with but, whether it was one track or four, for me it was a hugely impressive end to the set and didn’t need Haywood’s “sorry for taking so long” apology as the band left the stage.

Liverpool’s Sugarking were up next and, being honest, I wasn’t sure what to make of them. Frontman Kyle Taylor, with his long leather coat and hair that reminded both me and my gig-buddy of the cover of David Bowie’s debut album, seemed to be trying just a bit too hard to show that he was in a band. His vocal tone was clearer than the lyrics he was singing during their short, sharp opener with its big sound, in particular, once again, from Gregg Scott’s drums. Again there was similarity between tracks, with the second track (Runaway?) sounding very like the opener, although with a nice screaming guitar section in the middle. Sol Murphy’s bass rumbled around the venue during the next song, with both him and Taylor moving energetically around the stage during an instrumental section. Brand new song You’re Not Alone had a more subtle opening  and were there smiles of relief on stage as it ended? The opening to 1967 was brash but the song contained the best vocals of the set, with a slight drawling tone to them. There was a nice riff throughout, although it led to a more bass-driven ending. After Close To You came Count The Stars, with its pounding drum opening. Mid-way through Harley Daniels appeared once more on stage to add tambourine and backing vocals, seemingly very at home in the middle of this band. At times, the vocals during Pleasure Of Being Offended reminded me of Oasis, but over a much heavier sound and then the set was brought to a close with a faster track called, I think, Saturday. The overall impression was of a brash, raw sound that wasn’t wholly unpleasant but didn’t really do much for me. Another reviewer describes Sugarking’s sound as “very much bedded in the high-tempo rock style of the 90’s and early 00’s” and it might be the fact that I never really got into that that meant I couldn’t find a way to easily relate to this band.

Blind Eye now class themselves as a Manchester band but they started out in York and this was very much a hometown gig, with an audience of appreciative fans. If Sugarking gave the impression of trying to hard to look like rock stars, the same couldn’t be said for Blind Eye and yet they have a palpable stage presence, despite the three members having very different personas. Marcin Ellingham is quiet, almost reserved and he plays in a much less in-your-face style than a lot of guitarists. Joey Leyland on drums but sporting a t-shirt which declared that he would rather be playing guitar is all smiles as he beats out rhythms that never overpower, as well as providing backing vocals. And Harley is a confident, quintessential frontman who knows how to engage with his audience. “There’s no place like Yorkshire!” All that from a band that was only founded four years ago. With lasers now added to tonight’s light show the band opened with the most subtle, yet still rocky, sound of the night before moving on to a cover of Stevie Wonder’s Superstition which managed to be rocky and funky at the same time, Marcin’s scratchy guitar line leading into an impressive instrumental ending. If previous bands had been energetic Vultures took it to another level, with both Marcin and Harley literally bouncing across the stage. This song included a change of guitar sound midway through and led into a drum solo from Joey. The tight performance and clear vocals of the next track (We Stare At The Sun?) received a great reception from the crowd. Other differences between this band and the others was the amount of variation between tracks and the fact that, while the music was loud, it seemed more controlled and with more discernable tunes. The next track was an older one that Harley explained hadn’t been in the set for years. It slowed things down but was just a bit too brash to be called a ballad. And I, with its much more anthemic sound, felt like a set-ender but there was still more to come. That track that followed was faster and had a more defined “indie” sound. It had the crowd bouncing in front of the stage and Harley bouncing on it. “I want to see you all jump,” cried Harley as he introduced Blood And Diamonds and the crowd obliged for a track that included the best guitar line of the set – no, actually of the night – and a stunning, powerful instrumental ending to the set. I suspect it was this track that made me declare Marcin’s playing as “Santana-like” the first time I saw Blind Eye. That time they were, like Minster Conspiracy, in a tent in Parliament Street. Tonight they were very much worthy headliners.