Pale Angels, The Banshee Labyrinth, Edinburgh

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Gigs where you feel you're amongst a privileged few to have witnessed something special, rather than part of a well entertained mass, are few and far between. Seeing Pale Angels play to a criminally small audience earlier this week was though one of those times.

As power trio performances go this was surely up there with the best that Bob Mould et al have pulled off in their time. Racing through a set of tunes from current album Daydreaming Blues as well as its predecessors Imaginary People & Primal Play, this was a tight and visceral show from a band clearly happy to be on the road whether filling halls or playing to a man and his dog.

The trio barely drew breath between numbers, other than to thank folk for turning out on a Sunday in December, battering along as if their lives depended on it (or at least because some heat was needed on stage). In the meaner margins of the indie scene it's the likes of Pale Angels who're slogging away so that you can get the buzz of a life-affirming show in your veins - keep an eye peeled for when they return and get your fix.

In support tonight there was the opportunity to see Lachance play a more compact space than afforded them when in Dundee on the BYAF bills. Not that they don't do the Buskers' stage justice but seeing them in a smaller & more intimate space, allowing for roaming amongst the crowd, along with the bonus of a longer set time, seemed to show them in their most natural light. Tight as ever you'd not have thought they were easing in a temporary drummer.

Having missed new act Bright Notes at the very start of the night things had been kicked off for me by a third viewing of the Joyce Delaney show in 2016. This year's been a bad one in many ways but the Glasgow trio certainly let you know all about how they personally have been messed about by the passing of the last 12 months, all the time laughing it off and being certain that 2017 will be better as they'll make it so. Yet again it proved impossible to disagree with them.