Friday 22nd September saw the return of the fabulous "The Family" nights at Howard Gardens, “Tommy’s Bar”. It was great to be back and see so many enthused new and old faces around the joint. The nights have made Howard Gardens a real joy to be at on Friday nights over the last 12 months and are a great way to see really good up and coming bands. As well as being an excellent place to be in the audience, “Tommy’s” provides a quality venue, where bands genuinely enjoy playing.

The night saw The Pondlife MC's and Niko return to grace “Tommy’s” stage. The Pondlife MC's hit the stage with their fun, catchy, hip-hop. At first the crowd seemed a little dazed by their onstage antics, but it didn’t take long before a crowd gathered at the front of the stage dancing and singing along with the excitable front men, who on numerous occasions would jump down to the crowd’s level to dance and sing if people weren’t. These guys are fun and real crowd pleasers. Rumours that this was to be their last gig are really sad, but due to the brilliant response they got, fingers crossed this will not be the last we see of them.

Then stepped on stage Niko, superb musicianship and catchy indie songs make these guys a real pleasure to listen to. They were received warmly, but after the excitement of the Pondlife MC’s, it seemed to be a bit of an anti-climax. They played a really good set with some excellently executed covers in the mix, encouraging people to “shake their bootie.” Personally I think a line-up reversal would have suited both bands and got the crowd more involved at times, but either way it was great to be back in the game and lovely to see cool bands, lovely people, and cheap drinks back down at HG again.

Ceri Mitchell