Stumbling into Bar 7 at sometime shortly after nine O'clock, I was stunned to find out that the doors to the upstairs venue had only just opened and the first band had only just gone on. I should have paid more attention to the website for the start times I think. At least I'll get to see New York Alcoholic Anxiety Attack (NYAAA).

Or not. Well I actually managed to catch the last two songs because I ran into an old mate, who I hadn't seen for years, who wasn't going to the gig, and sat chatting to him until about 11.00.

NYAAA, from what I heard, sounded quite good. fast-paced, furious and very loud, NYAAA should get any venue rocking. Unfortunately, the Nottingham public hadn't noticed that there was a gig on and the very sparse turnout, myself included, lurked in the shadows at the back, clapping sporadically at the end of each number. It was a shame.

The Bleeding Hearts came on stage at about 11:30, I should think and asked everyone to move forward. The crowd had filled out a little by this stage, but the venue was by no means what you could call packed. The last time the Bleeding Hearts played in Nottingham, J7 was heaving so I am at a loss to explain the sparse turnout this time. Unless it was purely because the students are yet to return to University.

As ever Bleeding Hearts put on a great show. I think they started with a couple of new numbers, because they said after a couple of songs that they'd now got the new ones out of the way and normal service was now resumed.

We were treated to "Promised Land", "Fear Of The Dark", and "Patriotic Crap". All the time the crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves and cheering appreciatively at the end of each number. Even the barmaid was dancing at one point.

The band were their usual energetic selves and I was a little upset for them that the gig didn't seem to have been promoted better. However, this meant plenty of space for those that had made the effort to dance in, and there was quite a bit of movement from the crowd. At one point we were told that it was compulsory to dance. The whole crowd, without exception, obeyed.

The fiddle playing, as ever, was excellent. Why this band don't get more attention I really do not know.

I'd taken the decision to purely enjoy myself at this gig, rather than spend the entire next song trying to work out what the last one they played was and taking photos that don't come out, like I do at most gigs, so please forgive the lack of memory of what the they played.

Others that I do remember, were a great version of "Million Miles Away", "The Queen Of Happiness", "Some Kind Of Love Song" and the crowd favourite "Glad 2 B Alive", which went down a storm.

And then it was all over and time to go home. No encore, but I really wasn't expecting one due to the low attendance. Let's hope for a better showing for The Maze gig on 25 November 2006. I'll be there.