Hung at the back of the Barfly tonight is a banner that reads ‘XFM presents Xposure’ - what it should read is ‘XFM presents Noise’, because the three bands on show tonight provided it in ample quantities.

Introduced by John Kennedy, Johnny Foreigner graced the stage to an unsaid chorus of ‘Who?’ from a large section of the crowd.  The cacophony of sound which followed dominated by screeching guitars, screeching keys and screeching vocals will have brought the band a few more fans to add to their growing army.

At times the Birmingham trio looked and sounded like a full blown temper tantrum with screaming, unreasonable demands and bodies flying around the stage before bringing it all back in to calmly leave as You’re Just Jealous is still making the ears ring.

If Johnny Foreigner displayed all the signs of a temper tantrum, then Cage the Elephant actually had a temper tantrum with lead singer Matt Shultz and guitarist Brad Shultz engaging in a hair pulling and kicking contest - whether or not it was friendly adrenaline is debatable.

The hard rock they provide decorated with bullet-fast lyrics was held back by the poor sound leveling which left the mic so low you couldn’t hear and the guitars so high you could hear nothing else. The energy they provide though certainly proved though that behind the macho posturing something may well be harvested.

Stripping the stage of all excess equipment and a minimal sound check ensured that Ida Maria entered in a timely fashion and thankfully so as the crowd began to bounce expectantly on the souls of their feet for the arrival of what many believe to be the next big thing.

This title doesn’t seem to bother Ida or her band mates though as they completely cock up the introduction to freshly written Lightening whose soaring guitars are met with polite applause before they break into a (growing) list of crowd pleasers.

Ida’s voice and presence on the stage though reign supreme, on current single Stella her guttural voice kept the crowd in captivated attention as she finished the song to a cry of ‘excellent’ from a member of the crowd. Her own embarrassment at the comment was clear as she barged straight into Better When You’re Naked, the crowd’s feet being tested to the limits as it bounced along.