Mogwai @ Stereo, 29 Aug

There are things in life that you really need to have been there to appreciate; tonight’s low-key Mogwai show is undoubtedly one of those occasions. Opening with a new song may be a risky venture for some but they pull it off, the crowd appreciatively positive yet somewhat restrained at this chance to experience material from their forthcoming seventh studio LP hitherto untested. The same cannot be said of Hunted by a Freak, garnering an explosive response and reminding everyone here why they pulled out the stops to get hold of a ticket.

Their set continues flawlessly, one hand-picked wedge of beautifully crafted post-rock from their considerable career after another, everything performed with the unlikely pairing of a fastidious attention to detail and an overflow of emotion, amplified by anticipation. With set closer Glasgow Mega-Snake, Mogwai should be feeling pretty good about themselves but no, they return to the stage for an otherworldly encore of My Father My King, a mammoth of quiet/loud solemnity and feedback loops, shaking the very earth beneath Stereo and becoming something that can only be described in the same terms as this entire evening: epic. [David Bowes]