Neil Duncan reviews "one of the best shows all year", the return of Basingstoke's For Those Lost

There were lots of other great shows on at the same time, but none quite had the draw of this one. It started very well with a new band, Dream Smasher which included a member from Artemis and a member from Employed to Serve.

There was no doubt that this duo was going to rip it up a bit and of course they did, very fast, very heavy, very short and very good.

So with the large crowd already warmed up, it was time for a brand new hard-core band from Reading by the name of Petulance. The members were a little young and this was only their second show. They did seem a little nervous, but this did not seem to weaken their performances.

It was heavy and it was passionate, a little too reliant on the fashionable over-use of the beatdown, but all in all it was an impressive Basingstoke debut.

Up next were Still Bust from Gloucester, who I had seen the night before in Maidenhead. These guys play really fast, frantic, thrashy hardcore.

It was truly a sight to behold, as they do not merely play their songs, they projected them in glorious 3D with an insane amount of movement and general leaping around. There was also much banter with the crowd and it was one of the best live musical experiences I have ever hand.

Then it was time to hear from the hometown boys, Artemis - with their particular take on the hard-core genre. I haven't seen them in a while, but they have lost none of their power delivering a seriously heavy selection of songs to the delight of the crowd.

So tight and the delivery seemed almost choreographed, with a lot of movement in a very small space and yet no collisions. Very impressive.

Main support was provided by the ever-awesome Darko from Guildford, a technical-hard-core band every bit as impressive and animated as the previous two bands.

I see these guys as often as I can because watching and enjoying one of their performances is inspiring and rejuvenating. I know their material well and yet they still impress me every time. This was another classic set presented to a very appreciative crowd.

To the many fans of For Those Lost (of which I am one), this was an event we had dared not even dream about. The band, who come from Basingstoke, last played about eight years ago when they were pretty much at the height of their powers, so to have this last chance to see them again was too much to hope.

And yet here we were. The years fell away in the first few seconds of an impressive intro and before you knew it, the venue had erupted to one killer song after another.

The guys joked that, they were "too old for this sort of thing" - but it did not seem that way to the packed crowd.

It was perfect, they could not have done any better to fully satisfy so many people. (With the exception maybe, of the doormen, who looked most alarmed to hear the call for a "wall of death" - whilst the singer chanted "Fight! Fight! Fight!" But these things happen at hard-core and metal shows and never lead to problems.)

A big thanks to all the bands who helped make this such an event, to Ollie and Rockbitch for promoting and the management and staff of the venue for making this one of the best shows all year.

Neil Duncan, ISSUEPUNKZINE