AFTER last months interview with Cahir O’Doherty, lead vocalist and guitarist of Atlantic Records USA’s hottest new property, Fighting With Wire, I went along as a guest to check out their show at The Adelphi in Hull.

This rock-based escapade had some eye-opening moments that took my understanding of the music world to a whole new level.

Let me set the scene. It’s a wet Friday evening, and it’s into the car to head south east in the general direction of Hull to find The Adelphi, which I had previously been unable to find any information on at all other than Franz Ferdinand did a special show their the night before they played to a sold-out Hull Arena, and that people said it was small and had been around for ages.

Now, it seems every city has this sort of venue. You know the ones I mean, the one that everyone says is legendary, yet until you get there you really don’t know what to expect.

Will you be overawed by icons’ signatures dotted around the place as they’ve passed through on their way to the big time? Or will you be treated to that wonderful feeling of being stuck to the floor by some invisible goo, much like that found at the back of the cinema making each step like walking in syrup?

If you were looking for a local comparison you would have to go for York’s Fibbers (before the recent renovation).

So, anyway, back to the Adelphi... the map advised us to head down a seemingly peaceful residential street with terraced housing on either side, until, hold on, there’s a neon sign stuck to a house.

That might sound like an exaggeration, but it really isn’t. You head down the street, and on your left there is a break in the housing, and a building around the size of two terraced houses side by side stands, and well, it’s the venue. Trust me, you will never see anything like this anywhere else. It’s essentially a square, holds 100 people (at a complete push), has the smallest bar in the world, hasn’t got any wallpaper, very little paint, a few posters, no doors on the toilets (a useful curtain though) and looks like (and probably hasn’t) been cleaned since the 1970s.

After having to sit down due to the shock of this bizarre music cave, it was off for food with the band, then back in time for the crowd to start arriving.

As we re-entered the venue, who should be stood there but Mr Motivator (in a music sense rather than an exercise sense) of Ryedale Rock, Steward ‘Babylon’ Ashton. The venue started filling up as the opening support played their set. It was a wall of noise, a sort of ‘hit and play everything as loudly as you can in no particular order and see what it sounds like’ effort, and it went down to polite applause and nothing more.

The main support for the night were called The New 1920s, who I’d heard good things about and was looking forward to seeing play, however, a family member of the lead singer was taken seriously ill prior to the show, so they had to return to Wales and pull out of the rest of the tour.

Enter Fighting With Wire. If you remember, a couple of months back we saw them play the support slows when The Vibe went to Dublin to see Biffy Clyro? Well, this time there was even more energy and a real sense that they had polished their set, with clever instrumental interludes, and great band-audience banter.

The Derry-based three-piece played to a packed room, who sung and clapped along enthusiastically throughout the entire set. They played their singles All For Nothing, Everyone Needs A Nemesis and Sugar, as well as an array of new songs and songs from their debut album ‘Man Vs Monster’. The set went down well, the merchandise was flowing, and the legend that is Steward Ashton was even able to have his picture taken with each member of the band. For those of you who know Stew, he is a six-foot plus policeman, and for the first time ever I saw him dwarfed by Fighting With Wire’s drummer, Craig McKean who stands at six feet six inches tall.

The night ended with around five minutes of chanting and cheering of the band’s name as Fighting With Wire left the stage for the last time.

If you would like to hear some Fighting With Wire tunes you can go on www.myspace.com/FightingWithWire or log onto www.YouTube.com/FightingWithWireTV to check out some of their tour antics.