RATHER than follow The Coral's Scouse psychedelic bandwagon, Liverpool's

tipped-for-great-things The Open have their eyes on a different era of

Merseyside art-school rock - the early 1980s, when The Teardrop Explodes and

Echo And The Bunnymen made big tunes and bigger raincoats compulsory.

Their expansive sound also takes a bit of a detour down the road to Wigan

and forward a decade in time, to borrow the swirling guitars of The Verve in

their early days, and maybe a jaunt across the Irish Sea to pay respects to

the young U2.

It's a sound that has brought rave reviews for The Open's debut album, The Silent Hours, and led to a packed house at Fibbers.

A scattering of greying heads among the youngsters in the crowd show it's striking a chord

with those who were there the first time around.

Opener Bring Me Down sets out their formula, pulsing bass and drums, chiming guitars building to an ambitious chorus, then an even vaster instrumental

blow-out at the end.

The highlight is Forgotten, with its impassioned vocals.

However, while singer Stephen Bayley radiates self belief, and the band

can't half play, there's something lacking.

They don't go that extra mile to convince the crowd that they're a great band rather than just a good one,

(apart from a handful of true believers punching the air down the front).

Support band Thirteen Senses meanwhile, are thrown off their stride by

technical gremlins, and their usually impressive Snow Patrol-meet-Coldplay

tunes make little impact.

Updated: 10:15 Wednesday, September 15, 2004