OWING to their rapid rise, Cabbage missed out on visiting towns like Barrow.

The whole point of their autumn tour was to get back to basics, and get up close and personal with the fans - mission accomplished at The Drawing Room on Saturday night.

This was no run of the mill, nod your head indie gig; from the opening band to the end of night mosh pit, it was a punk rock show in every respect.

Cabbage's hometown protégés Proletariat kicked off the night, clearly picking up some new followers - almost all of whom will have been seeing them for the first time - with their short, sharp set.

Main support act Queen Zee and the Sasstones held nothing back, launching themselves off speakers, and getting in amongst the audience for their scream-fuelled breakdowns. Fast, heavy and intense, it seems unthinkable that they won't be headlining similar tours before too long.

The sell-out crowd were only there for one thing though; to see one of the most talked about bands in British music right now.

A shrewd decision to move the venue's 'stage' to the opposite end of the room opened up more space for the five-piece band - even if the make-shift barriers moved in on them as the fervent crowd made the security staff work for their money.

Cabbage kicked off with a couple of the best-known songs from their short career so far, with Fraudulent Artist and Necroflat In The Palace both greeted with roars of approval from the 200 or so in attendance.

There was barely a pause between songs as they ran through 11 tracks in around an hour - the only time that frontman Lee Broadbent really addressed the crowd was to big up his favourite Barrow band, The Mooncats.

That's not to say they were disengaged from the audience - how could you be when you're literally being hugged by the front row mid-set, and your only exit from the stage is right through the middle of them all?

With Cabbage unlikely to make a habit of playing venues that they could capably fill a few times over, it felt like a one-off, 'you had to be there' moment that will be difficult to beat for Barrow.

Review by KARL STEEL