Wednesday at In The City 2010

For this year's In The City, five Manchester music writers come together to give an overview of the event. This was their Wednesday:

Chris Long Producer, BBC Introducing in Manchester

Seerauber Jenny at Band On The Wall

In The City started, as always, with a panel - this year, I was on it, discussing the fiery issue of Pay-To-Play.

It had just started to kick off when time was called - though the arguments continued into the bustling lobby.

Post panels, I was shackled to BBC Introducing at Band On The Wall, recording for BBC Radio Manchester and BBC 6 Music.

That did mean I got to revel in the splendour of The Steals , the magic of Seerauber Jenny and the toe-tap of Ruth Theodore , and drink in the punch of Vinyl Jacket , the melody of Tim and Sam and the folk power of Dry The River .

A slow beginning in terms of numbers, but certainly not in quality.

Tip of the day: Seerauber Jenny

Molly Jones Writer, The Fly / Manchester blogger, The Unsigned Guide

T3ETH at Mint Lounge

The sparky debate that springs from the 'Pay To Play' panel gets my ITC experience off to a spirited start (conclusion: Pay to Play = sometimes okay).

Then bands - lots of them. Homegrown Christopher Eatough and Young British Artists more than prove their worth, and D/R/U/G/S show it's never too early to party down with their 8.40pm slot of bone-shaking beats.

Male Bonding grunge it up, Oh No Ono mellow it out and No Age attract a huge audience keen to see if they live up to the hype - for me? Not so much.

I drop by in time to catch T3ETH screech through an absolutely pummelling gig, rounding things off nicely with a bit of Top 20 action with Chiddy Bang .

Tinnitus, chips, bus home - day one done.

Tip of the day: T3ETH

Joe Sparrow Editor, A New Band A Day

D/R/U/G/S at The Ruby Lounge

A day that began amidst frustration, jostling angrily with a recalcitrant laptop, ended entirely satisfactorily, jostling good naturedly over a drinks bill with Ryan, founder of Pitchfork . Such is the unexpected nature of In The City.

Delays to daytime panel schedules were forgotten the moment the music started, and having reluctantly sloped away from Young British Artists ' packed show at the Castle, D/R/U/G/S proved to be the antidote to any worries anyone cared to mention.

Brilliant, boisterous and deft, their remix of Egyptian Hip Hop 's Rad Pitt launched the assorted members of EHH standing beside me into swoons of teen pleasure.

No Age were superlatively good, but you knew that anyway.

Tip Of The Day: D/R/U/G/S

Miz DeShannon Reviewer, Skiddle / Blogger

Carla Fake at Dry Bar

After a restrained panel on Pay-To-Play, a pointless one on blogging and a very useful one on brands, I tried to see bands that weren't 'buzz bands' as judged by friends, local musos, bloggers and the rest.

I might have been wrong to do so.

Carla Fake at Dry Bar had the telecaster and drum sounds of Hot Club De Paris with melodic rock inserts and vocals a la Billy Corgan, while up the road, The Kill Van Kulls played an over-emotional recreation of 80s pop at Mint Lounge.

A brace at The Castle brought Richard Dutton 's loveable indie pop (shame about the poor sound) and Stealing Sheep 's all-girl inventive and exciting folk experiments.

Finally to the Roadhouse, and Chiddy Bang , who was a great MC and brilliant freestyler and Shake Aletti , who were like Hot Chip all-round, but bass heavy - although that could have been the PA.

Tip of the day: Stealing Sheep

Danni Skerritt Editor, Quenched Unsigned

Chiddy Bang at the Roadhouse

The opening day started with a relaxed and friendly atmosphere for the screening of Mogwai 's 'Burning' video, which was dark, yet beautifully delicious.

I spied a random music video being made by Dog Is Dead in The Corner Barber shop and, after enjoying it, stumbled onto Matt and Phreds near the end of the night.

It housed a inter-continental plethora of musical talent - Canada's Brasstonaut , Leeds' Trio VD and London's Paul Latham - very different from each other, but they all possessed an ad lib style that added to their charm.

Finally, I entered the euphoric Roadhouse for Contort Yourself and amongst the spent mesh of bodies, I found myself wondering what was in store for me in the following two days.

Tip of the Day: Brasstonaut ,