The NME Awards Tour has finally taken to the road and the hype surrounding it is tremendous. Four great indie bands, playing over 25 days, in 19 cities.

Tonight is the fourth stop on the tour and sees the bands rolling into the North-West to play at Manchester Academy.

The Academy is pretty ramshackle at present, with work underway on a major facelift for the venue. Toilets are in a portakabin. There is no cloakroom. The lights don’t even seem to be working. It’s frankly a bit of a mess and absolutely freezing.

The state of the venue and the ridiculously early start to the proceedings doesn’t appear to have affected the rate that the crowd are packing in to the venue to catch the start of The Ting Tings’ set.

The local band, from Salford to be exact, is one of the hot prospects for 2008 and they don’t fail to impress tonight. The electro-indie-pop duo dominates the large stage and the distinctive and infectious vocals of front woman Katie White engulf the Academy.

The band play soon-to-be crowd favourites with the intensity and passion that is often amiss in many modern bands. There isn’t a dull moment to be had during what is an unfortunately short set.

The final track of the set, “That’s Not My Name”, is set to be released as a single in May and will build strong foundations for The Ting Tings’ debut album later in the year. The Ting Tings are well set for much bigger and better things.

With remixes for Bloc Party and Muse under their belts, Does It Offend You, Yeah? get the crowd jumping with an original and certainly eclectic fusion of rap, electro, punk and indie.

DIOYY frontman, Morgan Quaintance, is all over the stage this evening and even leaps on top of a speaker stack during the frenetic set. DIOYY are all about energy and passion but they don’t substitute that for good musicianship and song writing.

Their performance is captivating and encapsulates everything that is right with modern music. With a strong catalogue of tracks and a penchant for madcap antics DIOYY will be a musical force to be reckoned with in the coming months.

Brixton’s Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong were formed when The Pipettes drummer, Joe Lean, met Rose Pipette’s brother Tom and school friend Panda.

The Jing Jang Jong’s toe-tapping indie rock sounds even better live than recorded, most likely the reason why JLJJJ have decided to record their debut album live rather than in studio.

The buzz surrounding the Jing Jang Jong’s arrival on the scene has grown intensely following a headline tour at the beginning of the year and the inclusion in the NME Tour.

Their performance tonight will have certainly converted a few more to the Jing Jang Jong cause. Joe Lean fronts the band with such energy that it would be impossible not to admire him.

The contagious sound of JLJJJ will be everywhere by the end of the year, if not sooner. If the initial success of JLJJJ continues then this band will be huge.

The Cribs is the band on everyone’s lips at the moment. The Jarman brothers, born and brought up in Wakefield, stride onto the stage with a confidence that comes from knowing that over 1000 people are waiting to simply look at you.

The Cribs fail to disappoint and give the crowd a real treat. Their performance is both visually and aurally perfect. They rip through tracks from their highly rated debut album

A surprisingly early airing of single “Men’s Needs” left the crowd wondering whether The Cribs had played their trump card too soon. They were wrong.

The night reaches its climax with a guest performance from legendary Smiths, The The and Modest Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr, who is reputed to be collaborating with The Cribs with the hope of an EP or even a full length album being released.

Joining the band on stage for their final two tracks, Marr whipped the crowd into a frenzy before the event is finally brought to a close. Any Cribs critics will have been silenced tonight.

In the crush leaving the venue, posters and set times are ripped from the walls as the crowd try to grab a little bit of free memorabilia to remember what will be one of the best nights of their lives.