First onstage, Encyclopaedia bounce through a set rippling with the kind of punk-pop clichés you might expect to hear at a high school music extravaganza. If that were the case, and if they were 14, they’d be quite promising. But as their lyrics so proudly profess, their singer/songwriter was born in ‘83. Tongue-in-cheek or not, frankly this is embarrassing.

The juxtaposition when The Xcerts come to the stage is spine-snappingly brittle. A brash full stop is set to the previous act and the stage sparks up with a presence that instantly commands you to stand up tall and take serious note.

Hailing from a Scottish heritage, these three will be plagued by the Biffy typecast. Whilst it’s true that there are echoes of the successful trio in their sound, The Xcerts’ material swells with more rhythmic panache and an equal respect for delicious pop sensibilities and heart-swelling harmonies.

As their set reaches a crescendo with frontman Murray MacLeod amidst the crowd, pounding a snare drum with a rabid and purposefully intense ferocity, this performance should not be taken as an expression of desire to live in their counterparts’ shadow but more as a bold and challenging statement of intent.

The real heroes of tonight’s show, though, have clearly been decided by their fans ahead of their set. Chants of “Tellison! Tellison!” shake the room and a somewhat stunned band scramble bashfully to the stage. An unsigned act with just one album under their belt they may be, but tonight the Barfly is charged with an ecstatic energy rarely seen for even the most established of bands. Every syllable of every song is drowned out by the sound of 200 people singing, screaming and shouting along as though they’ve been allowed to do so for the first time in their lives.

Technical problems bear no reality upon a crowd whose only concern is rumbling around to the upbeat and emotionally reckless punch-heavy anthems that have evidently captured their souls. Lyrics to identify with and melodies to sing along to; this is unpretentious, heart-felt fun from a band who seem endearingly ignorant to their own infectious mass appeal.

Tonight witnesses excellent sets from two aspiring young live bands who might not be about to rewrite the musical history books, but who remind us what it is to take music on face value and enjoy it simply because it feels damn good. Here’s to that!