Action Group / Velcro Quartet @ The Mill (Edinburgh) 4 Sep

In its manifesto, The Mill declared it was hoping to promote Scottish bands pulling in directions slightly off the beaten track. Action Group have been ploughing a myriad of disparate musical furrows for many a month now and if it's eclecticism you're after, sticking them on the bill tonight is a step in the right direction. A host of new material is premièred alongside a couple of tracks from last year's excellent debut, Greed. The problem with having such meandering sensibilities is that a live set can seem scattered and incoherent: hardly a damning indictment considering this tactic worked so well on their album, but for the uninitiated, Action Group's set is a baptism of fire tonight.

Glasgow's Velcro Quartet follow up, impressively undaunted, and for a band that have slipped under this one scribe's radar thus far, commendably confident. Their musical approach is less complex than Action Group, which results in a more disciplined set, but one delivered with fervour. The frontman could be Robert Smith if The Cure man had shed 30 years, and he's supported ably by a new wavy trio, boasting an intense rhythm section. By way of introduction, Velcro Quartet do themselves no harm tonight. [Finbarr Bermingham]