Big break

Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Sting, Norah Jones and ... Stornoway?! Suffice to say that the line-up for last week's Later... With The Evil Ivory-Tinkling Midget gave me quite a shock - though that's no doubt as nothing compared to the surreal experience of the band... And they did themselves justice too, fighting back the nerves and nausea to give good performances of debut single 'Zorbing' and the gently anthemic 'Fuel Up'.

A little bit of poking about online and it's clear that Stornoway have come a long way since last we met, almost exactly a year ago, at the Zodiac. OK, so they may still be unsigned and have only two singles behind them - the aforementioned 'Zorbing' and, more recently, 'Unfaithful' - but in the last twelve months they've supported The Magic Numbers, had features in the Guardian and NME, played no fewer than eight performances at Glastonbury (which they wrote about for the Torygraph) and collaborated with the Oxford Millennium Orchestra for a hometown gig at the Sheldonian Theatre.

While I wouldn't claim to be their biggest fan, it's certainly encouraging to see local favourites breaking out and getting significant wider recognition. Expect to see them on quite a few festival bills next summer, at least.

So, who's next? Jonquil? Tristan & The Troubadours?