The Beaks, corto.alto, Floating Points, Lime Garden, Marco Fracasia, Rareș, und The Avalanches

I really like Floating Points but I only happened to go see them live thanks to the ticket exchange we have going on with my friend - she buys the ticket and we go see something she really wants to go see, I buy the tickets and we go see something else.

I expected this to be a 'pressing buttons and loads of lights'sort of thing, however was pleased to find out that Floating Points perform as a full on band - guitar, piano, drums and everything. Really great set up accompanied by a nice light show projected on the circular backdrop - light floating points creating various abstract patterns. Really nice and neat.

The show was great, but I think I'd enjoyed it more if I was sitting down or went to see them in a really small venue (we went to see them in Ritz, Manchester). The crowd was also a bit annoying as people kept talking over the band. Shame.

Overall, a really good experience.

The Sex Pistols are probably the best-known example of a band who made a near-perfect record, thought about trying to top it, and then decided not to bother taking the risk on; by the looks of it, though, Australian electronic duo The Avalanches are heading down that particular path themselves. Their only LP to date, Since I Left You, met with enormous critical acclaim - being called the tenth best record of the decade by Pitchfork, as well as the greatest Australian album of all time by an industry poll organised by the Triple J radio station. Since I Left You is now over ten years old, though, and there’s no sign of the follow-up as yet, even though rumours have swirled particularly aggressively about how close to completion it might be in recent weeks. If and when it does materialise, it might see a return to the live circuit for the pair, who toured with a full band in support of Since I Left You in the early noughties - the instrumentation ranged from keyboard to theremin. They have hit the European festival circuit since, in 2006, but only playing DJ sets; for the real thing, fans should stay tuned, but perhaps not hold their breath just yet.