First on stage tonight, The Blackwater Fever, fill The Zoo with their bluesy rock, the two-piece relying only on an electric guitar, drum kit and one vocalist. Reminiscent of other two-piece acts such as The Black Keys and The Fumes, it’s no surprise to discover that The Blackwater Fever have scored a tour support with The Fumes next month.

Next come Black Mustang, an old-school garage rock band. Musically, they follow the formula – play the 12 bar blues in E and watch me for the changes. Lyrically though, they leave a lot to be hoped for. After all, there are only so many times the human ear can handle hearing ‘C’mon’ during a 40 minute set. These guys have potential, but they need to move beyond the lyrical restrictions of Rock n Roll Woman and also discover that there are more than 3 chords in the musical spectrum.

Grand Atlantic provide some relief from the heat, with their set of sweet guitar sugar-pop. You can hear The Beach Boys influence clearly in several of their songs. Musically solid, the band come across a little lackluster in their stage performance. While their music doesn’t necessitate jumping around or dancing, some stage movement assures us that the band is alive, and not a jukebox.

Tonight’s headliner, Ace, take to the stage post-midnight, to a room of happy, sweaty punters who are ready to dance. They don’t disappoint, providing plenty of up-tempo saccharine acid pop tunes for the crowd. Ace have great harmonies, providing their songs with more than just a cursory nod to The Beatles and The Beach Boys. In fact, they played 2 Beatles songs during their set, and for the younger kids in the crowd, the covers were fairly indistinguishable from their original material. As well as the overt inclusion of covers, One Drunk Eye has some uncanny moments of sounding just like Roy Orbison’s Sweet Dreams Baby. I can’t place it, but I’m sure I’ve heard Girl With The Diamond Eyes before, buried somewhere in my parent’s vinyl collection.