Five-piece Prospect Studios export, Casino Havana, warmed up Leeds’ Lending Room on a chilly autumn Friday, with their elevated indie rock. The last time I caught the lads was in Bradford in February, and they’ve come on leaps and bounds since then. They were tighter, more immediately engaging, and unapologetically punchy.

The room was packed with student-age pals and family members showing their support for Casino equally, which was especially nice to see, at one of the city’s top venues for emerging artists. And to say it was only lead guitarist Tom’s second gig with the band was quite something. Through his complex solos and the shredding riffs from rhythm guitarist Ethan, the outfit put on a wildly captivating, guitar-first show.

Their set ran through their whole back catalogue so far, faultlessly engineered medley of faster bops and slower numbers for good measure. There was an ode to Fontaines D.C., along with evident fan faves such as ‘All For Nothing’ and ‘CCTV’. Ethan was even down off the stage, playing in the crowd, on the latter. 

For me, the main enjoyment was their particularly clever layering of guitars with bass, drums and vocals (all of which were on-point and sharp as anything!) that I found sensational. And it’s that which will continue to differentiate them between other similar bands, and they’ll come out on top. The scene’s cutthroat these days; the same three chords just won’t do, and Casino showed off how much they knew that. 

They understood the assignment, and so they put on a whopper of a gig. And what better way to draw it to a close than with ‘Talking For Hours’? 

With thanks to the band for guestlist access.