Vistas
As promised the Edinburgh buzz band of the moment, Vistas, took to the stage with the 4 of them at a combined age under 70. The kids in the crowd about the same vintage were pumped up and before the end of song one were pushing back to start a pit. Perhaps not yet commanding the stage with swagger they at least looked comfortable up there and properly played their instruments to boot. The drummer seemed to be taking his job very seriously and it paid off while the singer was just as good with his electric axe as the mic, chatting Birmingham up a little too. Guitar and bass to the sides diligently did their jobs while everyone ate it up. To be honest, the first half of the set was above average but not necessarily standout, however by the time they hit their groove it got real good. Calm was the highlight for me, both recorded and live now, though Retrospect and closer, Tigerblood, were also done real well. By the time they're done with their autumn headline tour I'm sure they'll be fully set and ready to take on the world.
TNC - The Night Cafe
The four lads had the crowd pushing around from the get go, but it was one of those kind of shows as between sets felt like a club night at Snobs with the chanting along and jumping up and down. I'd be fine with it but the activity didn't match the music. It was fairly straight tempo rock, sang with a decent voice that wasn't as Liverpudlian as their banter. The singer and drummer chatted a little, mostly drumming up sales for their upcoming headline tour and merch. The penultimate song had all the womenfolk singing along "you're addicted to me" while the finale brought the tempo up slightly for people to bop around to again.
Circa Waves
This might be the type of showmanship that the guys from Vista could draw inspiration from. The four members came on stage with swagger - I mean you've got to when you have enough strobe lights to brighten a coal mine and five cannons spewing pyrotechnics meters into the air. Musically I would hope that Vistas will take their strong start and surpass the offerings from these fellas - not that CW are bad with their upbeat indie rock but there are higher heights to hit. Time Won't Change Me went over well with me, while most anything else went down with the hyperactive young crowd. I'll admit that I sheltered just under the overhang to avoid dripping beer and too much of the constant swell that consumed most of the dance floor. That wasn't even when the band tried to split the audience to have them collapse on each other as a singalong hit. The set closer was Fire that Burns, appropriately using orange strobes and a spray of sparks as background. Despite one of the quietest, most lacklustre encore breaks (grumble, grumble, entitled generation..) Circa Waves came back for a couple anyhow, of course. Sticking with the literal they played Goodbye - not sure if it's a normal phenomenon for half the crowd to get on the shoulders of the other half to sway along to this ballad. As true finale they asked the seated upper deck (of a near sellout) to stand up and singalong as they fired up the pyro again.
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