The last heat of the Fibbers/ Evening Press Battle of the Bands saw A Dog Named Hero book their place in the semi-finals.

The Federals came in second, and will now have all their fingers and toes crossed that they earned enough points to squeak through to complete the final nine.

Being of the belief that good music moves its audience, the bands did their best with a crowd that were good at internalising their feelings.

Events kicked off with Delta Volts. The lead singer gave a performance to rival U2's Bono at his most heartfelt.

Their second song, with the lyrics "get out tonight and live", clearly moved the band, but failed to visibly move the masses.

However, they did get the biggest opening reaction, and their thumping bass and drums impressed.

At times, the lead singer looked as if he'd forgotten where to come in. Maybe it was an attempt to keep the audience's attention, although it was unnecessary.

It's always tough to come on first, and Delta Volts, if anything, whetted the crowd's appetite for more.

Out of the three bands, The Federals were the most unique.

Their first song was reminiscent of 1970s angry punk, with the drummer trying to crack as many sternums on the front row as possible.

Their second song had a touch of ska group Madness about it, which managed to stir a slight reaction in the crowd.

A distraction from the music was that the singers kept swapping microphones, probably to check that the ear-splitting guitars were having the right effect.

They played easy tunes, with clear lyrics. The only real down side was that they finished ahead of the time limit.

Every other person in Fibbers seemed to rate A Dog Named Hero, who's sound is a nu punk-Slipknot hybrid.

The entire band was energetic in their performance, which came through in their music, and was appreciated by the audience.

The drummer had his work cut out in their second song, rattling the skins to make the room feel like it was under machine gun fire.

It was difficult to find a range in their work, with nothing really separating the sound of the first song from their last.

All of them had promising openings, with a pleasing, flowing quality before the stereotypical, disjointedness of the nu punk sound.

They got the biggest reaction and stepped into a secure semi-final place.