The singalongs may have been reserved for headliners Biffy Clyro, but the star of this final show of the Kerrang! 2007 Tour was a slightly overweight balding guy with a dodgy knee.

Matt Caughthran, of LA punk rock grunters The Bronx, transformed a crowd underwhelmed by the first two bands into a maelstrom of flailing limbs and guttural roars.

The show kicked off in late afternoon, and Californian openers I Am Ghost were always going to suffer from the early start. The overblown intensity of frontman Steven Juliano's vocal assault drew attention only to his failure to fill the void.

The Audition suffered a similar fate. The clarity of singer Danny Steven's vocals was lost, his group's canned emo euphoria sounding sterile and flat.

The Bronx were a stark contrast, both in appearance and style. With his expanding belly encased in a white vest, Caughthran looked more Dad-rock than punk rock.

His two principal moves were a lopsided hopping and a school disco shimmy, apparently based on the rolling neck movement employed by protagonists on Jerry Springer.

Visual impact aside, when he opened his mouth, Caughthran was the real thing. His vocal chords endured a shredding that should have drawn blood.

It was left to Scottish headliners Biffy Clyro to tie up a battle they had already won. Such was the strength of crowd support for the trio, frontman Simon Neil would have had to sing backwards to prevent each song becoming an anthemic, all-inclusive free-for-all. The boos when the band failed to return for an encore were proof enough of a successful show.

The night was also a vindication of a brave and varied line-up by Kerrang!

Where The Audition and I Am Ghost may have delivered in the tour's smaller venues, the grit and guts of The Bronx and Biffy Clyro more than lived up to the scale of the Astoria.