Despite some early heartaches, it's a great night with The Heartbreaks!

Advanced sales had left the gig teetering perilously on the edge of a sell out... but as The Lead took to the stage (slightly late) at 9.10, it was clear that the weather was taking it's toll on the numbers… it was always going to though wasn't it, especially when you've looked forward to a gig as much as this…

The evening had started badly with Super almost getting stuck in Scotland, thankfully he managed to get a flight… but was delayed enough to miss the soundcheck, it made that part of a rollercoaster night surreal to say the least… next unwanted circumstance was the premature demise of the live Recharged Radio Stream of the Friday Forum show (and much publicised live broadcast of The Scratch's performance!)… it had started ok, Jordan had managed to interview Andy, setting the scene for what promised to be an exciting night of up and coming indie and new wave… but alas, within half an hour and despite the umpteenth reboot of the server the broadband gave up the ghost and the show had to be cancelled… :-(…

Soon it was time for the music to get under way. The lead put in a solid performance, even with the bizarre occurrence of their lead singer leaving the stage after the first song for "A dump"… only returning at song 4 as their guitarist struggled to be heard beneath walls of guitar.

Next, Dirty Thursday bowled in like the cloud of dust thrown up by the Tasmanian Devil cartoon and delighted their equally rowdy followers in the process… the evening was by the end of their set running a good 15 minutes late, but it was time for The Scratch…

With all the ups and downs of the evening, it was anyones guess what sort of show would be on offer, as it turned out the beaming and gorgeous faces of a deliciously 'lady heavy' crowd ensured that ultimate professionalism would be the order of the day… that and more than a dash of pathos, attitude and of course slapstick…

Kicking off with the newly revived Texture to the Flava the band were in their stride from the first chord… great reactions, followed great reaction as the assembled throng made the previous bands fans sound like nuns on a sponsored silence! Four newies ; Desire to be Thin, Biting on my lip, Weirder than we are and 88th day of rain were then rocketed one by one into the ether, with only a pause for a shout out for Lucy 'Fakers' Davies and her newly beloved Against the Grain… then it was a 'classic' hat-trick to finish…

An ecstatic Dear Maniac, smashed headlong into a punishing Teen Idol and then all too quickly it was time for the final number… with two of tonights celebrity guest Heartbreaks standing to the left front of the stage… Gas Taps saw probably it's finest hour to date… (If you can call utter chaos and stage destruction a finest hour?…) by the end of the 2 mins 20, all the monitors had been upended, mic stands lay like discarded swords on a battle field and Andy's once white jacket, was now at the very least a yellow, black and brown camouflage colour, at worst, an extreme dirty protest!… what a release, what a relief!

Illness and the weather had unfortunately deterred a few from making the trip, but those who did make it, I think will agree, they saw The Scratch finish 2010 with a great performance. There are two many of you as ever to thank individually, a special mention has to go to Hug(e)h Davenport, Tracy and girls for ignoring the weather warnings and making the long journey from Northampton, thanks too, to all of you amazing regulars who are there at every gig and also to all the virgins, (so great to see so many new faces again)… Final thanks to Luke and Rach from Juicebox for putting together a top bill.

And so it was left to The Heartbreaks to finish the night, take it from us, based on this performance, you can believe the hype and they were top blokes too.

That was almost it, but as they came to their last song, lead singer Matthew dedicated it to Juicebox and to The Scratch, "If their lead singer will come and do a stage dive for us"… well, what do you think happened next?

Red rag to a bull eh… if you want to see it for your own eyes… check out this link!… http://blog.thescratch.co.uk/

Have a great Christmas one and all and we'll see you again in 2011, listen out for us on 7th Jan when the Recharged Radio gremlins will be hung drawn and quartered live at The Church of Steve Honest!