DARLINGTON hotspot, Inside Out played host to indie four-piece The Holloways, right.

Opening their set with ‘f****d up’, from new album No Smoke, No Mirrors, it was difficult to tell this Londonbased band are the second incarnation of the group’s original line up.

With tight guitars and killer drum beats, their energetic and melodic performance was competent, if slightly detached.

Leaning quite heavily on material from their first album, the foursome provided fans with a good mix of bread-andbutter indie pop and several standout tracks got the skinny-jean wearing audience bouncing on the spot.

Jukebox Sunshine, the lead single from the current album, is typical example of this, with its calypso style beats and singalong chorus.

Despite being met with a slightly tentative response from the crowd in general, the band managed to crack even the odd naysayer when they performed their best known single, Generator; a giddy burst of guitar based beats with an infectious chorus.

Toe-tapping offerings aside, The Holloways failed to inject their performance with that magic something that connects a band to its audience and, sadly, I left the venue after what had the potential to be an electric evening, feeling, quite frankly....hollow.

Lisa Herdman