They were a support act substituting for Simple Plan who had pulled out. Apart from enjoying the catchy Cash Machine ("There's a hole in my pocket, my pocket, my pocket"), I thought nothing much of them and spent more of my energy on enjoying the 65,000 crowd with a camera in one hand and a beer in the other. They were to release their debut album a month later.

And they've since grown on me to the point that they're currently one of my favourite bands.

They formed in Staines, England (the home of Ali G, aaii) in 2003 and have two studio albums: Stars of CCTV and Once Upon a Time in the West (an interesting read concerning the cover art, or lack thereof, including those for the singles).

Hard-Fi's musical style is a mix of post-punk, indie and a Clash style of punk rock. They also take inspiration from other genres such as ska. On Stars of CCTV, they had a very raw sound, loud guitars, and frequent use of guitar, in contrast to Once Upon A Time In The West, on which there is a lot more orchestration, the use of strings is very apparent, most notably in the song "Watch Me Fall Apart".

And an obligatory YouTube pick from the hardfiband channel - 'Suburban Knights', the first track off their second album:

You might also enjoy fellow Brit bands:

• Kaiser Chiefs
• The Fratellis
  
• Athlete
  
• Razorlight
  
• And NYC's The Bravery (I always thought they were British too...)