WHITE HILLS + MUGSTAR + HOOKWORMS @ Leeds Brudenell, March 22nd 2012

Hookworms made some big waves with their debut release but it is small biscuits next to the psychedelic violence of their live set. Imagine a frenzied smash-up of Spacemen 3, Wooden Shjips and At The Drive-In. Bottom of the bill never sounded so good.

Mugstar have the unenviable task of trying to follow that but they manage to keep the pressure up nicely. They play mad and fast psyche, sounding at times like John Barry on speed. It was impossible to stand still as their racing drummer knocked out an octopus beat. Damn, there's another album I've got to buy.

After such dazzling supports, the bar was left very high for White Hills to jump over but they rose to the challenge. It helps, of course, that they rock so damn hard. Dave W and Ego Sensation know how to fill a stage with presence. They move with their guitars as well as they can play them. Basically, they look like fucking legends.

Their set is a good, satisfying length taking in tracks from all the studio albums. The set list really hit the spot with such gems as “Dead”, “Three-Quarters”, “Radiate”, “I Write A Thousand Letters (Pulp On Bone)” and “Electronic Oceans Of Sound”.

I had really high hopes for what White Hills would be like live and was conscious that maybe I had set them a bit too high but they delivered the goods and left my mind blown and my eardrums deafened. What a night and what a line-up