Ezra were first up and were a little disappointing; the sound wasn't quite right and they weren't able to show their true form.

Credo were far better; they're currently touring their second album 'Rhetoric', which is now on my shopping list. The stand-out piece was 'Too late to say goodbye', about the battle of the Somme.

Magenta took the stage as usual to 'Opus 3' from the 'Broken' EP, then played their little Welsh socks off for nearly two hours. This was their last gig of the year, and they intended to have fun. 'Speechless' is a new piece, to appear on next year's album, but most of the classics were there. Tracks from 'Revolutions', Seven' and the two EPs featured, as did an extended selection from 'Home', this year's album. The arrangements are complex - this is prog-rock, after all - but the performance was faultless. Christina's voice is as excellent live as in the studio and she has great stage presence (as well as being majorly hot). Rob Reed's keyboard playing, though not flashy, is as accomplished as any, and Chris Fry's guitar is virtuosic; as Christina said on their 'Gathering' live DVD, "He is a god!". New bassist Dan Fry (Chris's brother) is well up to the task (although his guitar strap wasn't - it broke while he was playing, necessitating assistance from Christina), as are drummer Allan Mason-Jones and second guitarist Martin Rosser, whose VG8 (synth-access guitar) can often be mistaken for a keyboard.

Prog rock is criticised for being pompous; Magenta are not. OK, the songs are long (the encore 'White Witch' was 20 minutes, as are several others), and they're complex, with seemingly gratuitous tempo changes ("Let's chuck a bar of 5/4 in here."), but musically it all hangs together. Performed by such talented musicians, with such a fun attitude, the result is an excellent evening's entertainment.