EMMA LEE UEA LCR, Norwich

EMMA LEE

UEA LCR, Norwich

The current resurgence of guitar bands has been hailed by some music critics as Britpop's second coming.

And the spirit of 1995 was alive and kicking at UEA's LCR last night where the talent of some of the latest bands to get the NME's stamp of approval was showcased in front of a sold-out crowd.

Bottom of the bill was perhaps the most interesting band of the night - The Horrors, a bunch of art-goth rockers from Southend of all places.

They polarised the crowd's opinion - like Marmite you either loved them or hated them.

The Dykeenies and The Maccabees were sandwiched together in the middle of the gig and seemed pretty interchangeable.

The night's star attraction were The Fratellis, a Scottish trio who pretty much tick all the right boxes.

Chunky riffs? Check. Skinny jeans? Check. Rock star poses? Check.

Already having acquired a fan base thanks to energetic tracks from their debut album, Costello Music, such as the singles Chelsea Dagger and Henrietta, they won over the crowd with minimal effort.

As an Indie fan myself, it's great that the scene has been reinvigorated.

But I can't help feeling that, on the strength of last night's show, it might be reaching saturation point.

For every band that made it through the original Britpop era, such as Blur, there was one that soon burned out and faded into memory, such as Menswear. It will be interesting to see how these bands fare.