@ Newcastle o2 Academy II, August 4 2010

Heading out on their first ever UK headline tour you would forgive Not Advised for being a bit nervy and not knowing what to expect.

But the Southampton five-some delivered a highly professional performance.

Even more impressive was that they managed to put on such a show without lead singer Jim Thomas who had to sit out the tour after damaging his larynx a week prior.

It meant guitarist Ash Oliver took over lead vocal duties with another session guitarist to play the lead parts.

The Academy was surprisingly busy as fans gathered to see the latest offering from the world of pop punk.  Not Adivsed entered to the strains of classical music before bursting into life and sending their followers into mosh pits and two-stepping.

With Not Advised you are getting a standard pop punk band. But their live performance is far more energetic – while their songs have a real sense of grit and more balls than a lot of their peers.

Oliver looks comfortable in his role of frontman with the entire band seeming flawless and the ‘newbie’ singer  jokingly remarked “this is going great, we may not let Jim back in the band!”.

The energy displayed by both and fans alike was to be admired and culminated in a wall of death during The Winner which Oliver wanted to “rival Birmingham”.  He was suitably satisfied with the response he got as bodies seemed to fly all over the room.

Not Advised brought proceedings to the boil with the single The World’s Not Ready which they’d promoted throughout the evening by giving fans the chance to get an exclusive acoustic version of the track by texting a number.

The final chord rang out and Not Advised’s 40 minute set was done – a highly impressive performance from a band we surely haven’t heard the last of.

Tom Walsh