It's their latest visit to the Northern capital in Ae Mak’s short career. It can be hard for travelling bands in Belfast so the Dublin/Dundalk duo have brought some local support; dreamy pop trio Beauty Sleep are opening tonight. The Metropolitan Arts Centre is thoroughly modern. It only opened five years ago but its varied theatres and exhibition space have already made it a hub of creativity for the whole Island. The brightly upholstered seating is a welcoming sight for those of us who have been wandering the city on this grey Saturday evening

Ugly Ducklings’ ‘Opening Act’ introduces the opening act. Rather than a traditional drummer the bass, guitar and keyboard are backed by electronic beats. It's a setup that complements their ‘80s alternative pop songs, as well as their attire. It's takes a song or two for the mix to settle but after that we get a sumptuous blend of Tom Tom Club, B -52s, The Primitives and even The Pixies’ more consonant moments. They've a new single coming out on Friday and ‘All In’ features irresistible harmonies from both lead singers, Ryan and Cheylene, while bassist Aimee plus it cool a la Tina Weymouth. It's an amiable, accomplished, and unpretentious performance of smooth pop with zero cheese. Excellent stuff.

The five piece backing band start things moving before the hypnotic duo of Ellie McMahon and Aoife McCann appear in high concept, asymmetric white outfits. Their simple but effective movements work in concert with their astonishing voices. The combined effect is one you feel in your gut as well as in your cerebrum. They use their voices as Instruments, playing syncopated rhythms and toying with time, tone, and timbre with an easy virtuosity. Like a pair of early Bjorks, they play music that is intellectually engaging, and technically impressive while making you want to dance. And dancing is what we do. Last years ‘I Can Feel It In My Bones’ sees a substantial portion of the audience abandon their seats to join Ae Mak at the front of the stage.

The sound never stops. From drones and tribal beats to minimalist electro and funky rhythms, the music draws from a diverse well and it's the immaculate and inventively utilised voices of McMahon  and McCann that focus everything like a masterfully started lens. The progressive rhythms and the world music influence bring Peter Gabriel to mind. Tuneyards is a big influence on the pair too, and they wear it proudly.

Ae Mak are the most visually striking band working in Ireland right now, thankfully the audio aspect is no less arresting. Their arty pop is without peer. It's like they are dryads who grew up in the forest without human contact and they’ve only deigned to join our civilisation after hearing music drift in on the wind from the local village. It hurts a little when McCann announces that its their last song. They had established a fervent fan base in Belfast before tonight and this performance has secured them further devotees. The merch table is doing a brisk trade too; you could expect as much from a band as design- and image-conscious as Ae Mak.

It is testament to a great album that almost 2000 people can gather in a city long untouched by its writers to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of its release. The room feels filled with sentimental sensations of nostalgia, as the three Jarman brothers and an unnoticed extra guitarist take to the stage prepared to break the walls down in memory of Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever.

God Damn and Sløtface warm up the mixed age crowd, the former an angry three-piece happy to rip off your face in the name of thick riffs and socialist politics, while the latter calm the waves before an inevitable storm, the Norwegian punk-pop quartet curating an early-noughties escape to enjoy. The wait is almost over.

Faithful to the album, the room erupts as The Cribs kick into the ever-explosive, ‘Our Bovine Public’, leading a rollercoasting handful of openers, and exploring side A with verve and vigour. The track is a slap round the face and a kick up the backside to initiate any encounter, the perfect broken handshake, and an introduction like no other, as a string of pop-rock hits cast the old and young in sing-along to Ryan Jarman’s (guitar and vocals) punked up spits.  

The trio are a unit of bundled aggression, operating as one, with the alternative and unpredictable charisma of Ryan rendering unmissable moments infinite, held down by the shots and strikes of brother Ross (drums), and storytelling shouts of Gary (bass and vocals).

A brief look around tells 2000 stories, every silent watchman, crowd-surfer, pint-thrower, and lyric-knower sharing their connection with the band, as the pretty tale of ‘I’ve Tried Everything’ is told, and ‘Be Safe’ opens all the boxes to the crowd’s chorus cries of “I know a place we can go where you’ll fall in/Love so hard that you wish you were 10.”

As the band squeeze all they have left of the album through a refreshing ‘Ancient History’, ‘Shoot The Poets’ summons a necessary break of acoustic artistry from Ryan, exposing more deeply the perhaps under-appreciated musicality at the band’s core.

Cutting off their track-listed chains, The Cribs then tear through a secondary set of smash-hits and rarities, occasionally challenging the encyclopaedic memories of hardcores I tip my non-existent hat to.

Pounding grunge number, ‘Come On, Be A No-One’, resets the clock for a drag back to the present, via the unchartered b-sided worlds of ‘Kind Words For The Broken Hearted’ and more, as the brothers time travel through their discography, still with as much energy as the sound they shape.

The band hereby exhibit the quintessential pop sensibility under their punk rock playing with recent single (in the context of the album commemorated), ‘Different Angle’ the stand-out track of the night, portraying the same twee simplicity as debut single, ‘Another Number’, the performance of which provided a late insight into the band’s incredible rise to becoming “Britain’s biggest cult band”, all the while keeping true to their DIY principles and pop eloquence.

An anthemic closing rout of ‘Pink Snow’ releases all that remains, unleashing furies and celebrating successes, before the loyal Midlands fanbase leave with a smile on every face.

As someone who spent three hours of Record Store Day, April 22, looping Manchester’s Northern Quarter, queuing for the vinyl release of Cabbage’s first LP, Young, Dumb And Full Of…, and having happened upon the band in a radio interview one year ago, it was a stirring prospect to see the city’s latest flagship success on one of its most prestigious stages.

The socialist savages have carved themselves a reputation for their fuelled performances, antics and all, which has overtaken the underground punk culture they’ve exposed; a quality which in recent weeks has backfired on their surge, in light of accusations of mid-performance controversy.

This adjusts expectations for their final tour-extension show at Manchester's Academy 2, layering it with implicit questions and an ever-present elephant, coming off the back of Dingwalls, London, and a homecoming set at The Witchwood, Ashton-Under-Lyne.

Jolting the capacity crowd with opening tracks, ‘Uber Capitalist Death Trade’ and ‘Necroflat In The Palace’, the noisemakers brim the room with their acidic energy, as swathes of the youthful crowd clatter and clamour along to the socio-political protest chants; smiles painted across faces. But something feels awry.

While the set is a broad tour of the band’s catalogue, exploring all four EPs via latest single, ‘Gibraltar Ape’, and a new grunge number (name unknown), the typically manic displays feel somewhat sterilised and conscious. Where they formerly had you claimed their own, submitting to the sonic rhetoric, unable to take your eyes off the uncontrollable circus show they unleashed, they now seem aware of the limit line in the sand, falling victim to recent antics.

With a crowd that could be seen to be jumping upon the latest Mancunian pop cult bandwagon, the five-piece are perhaps (inadvertently or not) adopting the mantle of the image and culture that their early noise arguably fought against, as their socialist declarations of inclusivity ironically attract the very Mancunian stereotypes that they criticise.

Recently questioned on Cabbage’s legitimacy, The Blinders, a punkadelic Manchester three-piece serially supporting Le Chou, commented that the criticism of Cabbage’s radio-friendly pop position misses the point, and that it is the very platform the band need, in order to get their political message across.  

Cabbage, a band whose song titles have unaccountably more artistic merit than most else, may no longer seem the troublesome bunch that embryonic fans fell in love with, cooking their socio-political quiche, and invading Media City in £1 suits ready to tackle Rad Mac. But a closing performance of first single, ‘Kevin’, is enough for me to realise that they’re the same old crazy we just can’t resist. Cabbage; the band I love, but sometimes struggle to like.

Less than a week after a huge Coachella show, playing the second UK date in a seemingly endless world tour, Future Islands are on good form, beaming as they step on stage. Enjoying the hard-earned and richly deserved success of a band who don’t seem to have stopped in over a decade and are coming good after an infamous Letterman performance in 2014.

Future Islands are currently touring The Far Field, their fifth album, released at the start of April. The Far Field builds on the success of its predecessor, Singles, their breakthrough album and doesn’t stray too far from the band’s now signature Synthpop-Disco-Punk sound.  

Opener ‘Back In The Tall Grass’ eases the Bank Holiday crowd into the show with its simple groove of drum and bass with dainty synths which drive Future Island’s sound, affording singer Samuel Herring the freedom to act every word. It’s a narrow venue, famed for The Who’s Live At Leeds show and live record of the same name from 1970, which plays into Herring’s hands. Everyone is close enough to see the whites of his eyes and feel his enthusiasm.

This is the third time I’ve seen Future Islands, but the first time at their own show, not at a festival. Here they create an atmosphere and intimacy, which you’d always expect in a smaller show, but they are particularly intense. This is in no small part down to Herring’s enigmatic and endearing performance.

He's now infamous for his exuberant dancing, punk-style chest beating (his chest must be purple by the end of the tour) and metal grunts. His theatricality and emotion while performing is very refreshing and has clearly struck a chord with fans leading to their growing popularity as the sold out tour indicates. He dances like no one is watching and it’s wonderful to see in such cynical times. The crowd erupts when they go into ‘A Dream Of You And Me’, a song that highlights the poetic lyricism of the band and Herring’s delivery is akin to a soliloquy.

However, it would be a disservice to Future Islands to merely wax lyrical about Herring. The Talking Clock could set its watch by drummer Michael Lowry and bassist William Cashion’s playing. They have the sonic rapport necessary for the rhythm section of any great band. Keyboardist Gerrit Welmers further adds waves of depth and atmosphere with his understated playing.

It’s one of those shows where you realise you’d forgotten how many great songs the band have. They play a Singles and The Far Field-heavy set list with a handful of older tracks that show the band's development. All The Far Fields material is well received, with new singles ‘Ran’ and ‘Cave’ as highlights. Herring’s gyrating to ‘Cave’ whips the crowd up and the soaring, ethereal synth and vocals on ‘North Star‘ are spine tingling.

’Seasons (Waiting On You)’, after its performance on The Late Show with David Letterman and subsequently going viral, arguably launched them to mainstream popularity and is always a fan favourite that prompts the Herring dancing mimicry reaching fever pitch with the eclectic holiday crowd.

With a 20 plus song set list, a lack of variety in style is noticeable, however the passion and enthusiasm of delivery is unsurpassed and very entertaining. As Herring croons in closer, ‘Little Dreamer’, “And as we say goodnight, I hold you close and tight” you can’t help but feel touched and impressed by Future Islands’ energy and sincerity. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Set list

Back in the Tall Grass

Time on Her Side

Sun in the Morning

A Dream of You and Me

North Star

Doves

Walking Through That Door

Ran

Balance

Before the Bridge

Cave

A Song for Our Grandfathers

Aladdin

Through the Roses

Light House

Seasons (Waiting on You)

Long Flight

Tin Man

Spirit

Encore

Black Rose

Vireo's Eye

Little Dreamer