Brand New ★★★★★

O2 Academy, Glasgow, 14/02/2012


The Xcerts 7.30 - 8.00
I Am The Avalanche 8.20 - 8.50

Brand New 9.20 - 11.00

Up-and-coming British band The Xcerts were first on stage. Having played T In The Park and Rockness, and selling out their own modest headline slot in King Tuts, they already have a fan base. They performed well at this show, with their rock-pop music going down well with most of the audience.

Next up were I Am The Avalanche. The 5-piece from New York have supported a lot of bands over the past few years including Bleeding Through and Four Years Strong, although they don’t seem to be well known here yet. Even so, it’s a good sign for them that almost all in the audience were bobbing their heads along to the upbeat tunes. They were lively and interacted well with the audience, putting a song out to their fans in the crowd which is always a winner. Definitely one to watch - go check them out.

Brand New were brilliant. Simple as that. Starting the night off with Archer, they slid effortlessly between their anthemic melodies, rock songs and powerful ballads. No song on the list seemed a particular favourite with the audience, with each one getting an uproar of applause at start and finish. Frontman Jesse took to the stage solo mid-set to perform a few songs acoustically, which had the audience captivated. They had no obvious encore, but finishing the night off with Degausser and You Won’t Know left everyone happy. A band to keep an eye on as I can only see them getting bigger with their mixed bag of musical goodness.

The setlist - think they changed 

order onstage though!