Tortured spirits cry / fear is in their eyes / ghostly images die

Friday 11 February - and three of us are out tonight at Fibbers to see a band that we know are going to be good. First of all though there was support, apparently garnered at the last minute, from another chap that we've seen before, Marck Whiley aka Marbled (and on MyFace). I last saw Marck supporting Hope & Social at Stereo. His songs didn't latch into my consciousness at the time and on this occasion it took a little while for me to twig as to who he was. Tonight he was using a double mic with echo on one of them which gave an added layer to his singing, and he has a great voice. The problem I have is that his songs tend towards the miserablist, and that can make for a dull set. However, he did leave the stage and come amongst the audience for a couple of songs, including a Valentine's Day number which he used to serenade a young lady. The second unplugged song was The Beat Goes On about comparing songs and bands to those he heard in the sixties.

The headliners tonight were Panic Room (and on MyFace). The current line-up sports a new bass player in the form of the energetic Yatim Halimi who joins top prog vocalist/guitarist Anne-Marie Helder, lead guitarist Paul Davies, keyboard player Jonathan Edwards, and drummer Gavin Griffiths.

Now at this point I have to confess that I only own their first album, the extremely good Visionary Position and a lot of the set was taken from their 2010 album, Satellite. This is by way of excusing my lack of knowledge of the songs that I heard.

They came onto the stage amid smoke and twiddly lights (in the capable hands of Andy "The Crow") and some rather sonorous music from what sounded like a brass band, before crashing into Freedom To Breathe. This was followed by some top prog tracks from Satellite before the first track that I recognised, the robotic Elektra City, followed by Reborn. Apparently the band are writing new songs as they tour and one of these was the outstanding Song For Tomorrow. Towards the end we had Apocalypstick and a cover of Bitches Crystal. Originally from ELP's 1971 album Tarkus, Panic Room had recorded a version that was due to be released as an disc of ELP covers by Classic Rock magazine. Due to copyright publishing problem the disc was never released, which is a shame. The set closed with the intense metal track Dark Star and spaced-out epic ballad Satellite. For an encore we got another just-penned song that the band think might end up being called Promises, it's that new! Very highly recommended.

Panic Room are very much a band waxing so it's unlikely that will we see their likes for a good while in York, unless the new Barbican pull their fingers out and start booking some decent acts. I can but hope.