Four bands massively on the rise, one intimate venue highly regarded in Glasgow’s music scene… it had all the trappings of a hell of a night for Oh Romance, Spangled, The Frontiers and Kamora. This Feeling, the promoter behind the gig, are renowned for showcasing the very best emerging indie outfits. They have a clear talent for scheduling event line-ups that totally work, too, as this bunch was a solid fit…  

Even as soundcheck commenced, a buzz started to fill around the green room and downstairs stage area, ahead of the most electric atmosphere that engulfed the space, in line with Kamora assuming the stage. 

The four-piece were fronted by lead vocalist, Max Murphy, who sported an electric-acoustic guitar, with Bubbatrees’ and Majesty Palm’s Cameron Robertson on bass for the evening. They had a superb turnout, testament to their time on the local circuit, and popular recent track, ‘The Answer’, was even better live as well. For me, it was the distinctive main hook on ‘Incomplete’ that really shone.

Kamora’s commanding set warmed the room up impeccably for The Frontiers’ entrance. They’re a lively, dynamic young quad, who are just as much a pleasure to chat to as they are to watch. They had released ‘Life On Stage’, rather appropriately, that same day for maximum impact, too. Among all the singles they had people bopping along to, their ‘Dancing In the Dark’ rendition was spot on and captured the ears of everyone entirely. They’re an excellent example of a hungry band poised for bigger things post-pandemic.

Just when you thought the evening couldn’t get much more inspiring, Spangled tore to the front and were ready to own the joint. It was their tour, after all, and they had travelled up to put on nothing but an immense spectacle. Job done; box ticked.

Their bounding energy, oodles of character and charisma and cosmic indie niche was something else. You couldn’t take your eyes off them — and nor did you want to. With each and every track came fluid dance and movement, and nobody was stationary in the crowd. That’s just how it’s done. ‘Headspace’ and ‘Crossbar Challenge’ were serious favourites of mine, but every song was a ripper. Being in their obit again can’t come soon enough.

If that wasn’t already a gig-and-a-half, the final band, Oh Romance, left jaws on the floor. The Glasgow-based outfit collectively hails from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dunblane, and they enjoyed the 9:30pm headline slot in the by-then, fully-sweaty Broadcast. 

It was only their third gig but you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d been doing this a while. With a duo of Fender Stratocaster and Jazzmaster up front, alongside scuzzy bass and Blair Russell-Simpson’s drumming providing Oh Romance’s backbone, they’re certainly an indie quartet who can put on a rock show. They came almost spring-loaded, while retaining a razor-sharpness, and I got the sense people would’ve gladly outstayed the curfew if they had been given the option.

Bantering, in-crowd engagement suitably stirred the room up even further, and you even had bassist, Kieran Isaac, running round to play in the thick of things. Hearing recently dropped ‘Another Night’ and the original sweetheart of their set list, ‘Are You Satisfied?’ (which features a whopper of a solo from Keir McLennan), had already been a huge treat, yet they even weaved in a surprised Wolf Alice cover. And you know what? Alex Campbell’s deft execution of the somewhat rapped verses of ‘Smile’ was no mean feat. Rest assured, everyone left the building beaming.