NME Awards Tour, Southampton Guildhall

I HAVE a confession to make - I wanted to see The Killers.

Granted I know who the Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party and the Futureheads are. But The Killers were the big attraction at the NME Awards Tour, with the promise this flash band from Las Vegas were going to blow us all away. But it was the other three bands who really stole the show.

Now don't get me wrong, The Killers were superb, but they just seemed lacklustre after the dynamic performances of the other bands.

The Kaiser Chiefs got the audience fired up with their opening set.

Front man Ricky Wilson was pure raw energy as he belted through the band's best tunes including Oh My God and I Predict a Riot, although it looked more like Ricky was trying to incite one.

Next up were Londoners Bloc Party, whose frontman Kele Okereke took the crowd on a rollercoaster of emotions. With song titles which include She's Hearing Voices and Like Eating Glass, you kind of get a feeling of what this group is about.

By the time the Futureheads appeared the crowd was ready to rock and this band delivered the goods. With catchy backing vocals to Hounds of Love that went something like 'oh ah oh ah oh' how could they not get the audience involved and singing along?

The Killers were everything I thought they would be but after three weeks on the road it was this band, more than the others, that looked in need of a rest.

However, they performed an excellent set that could have brought the house down, especially during Mr Brightside, Somebody Told Me and All These Things That I've Done.

It will be interesting to see how NME betters this line up next year.