Deer Tick @ The Dulcimer, Manchester, 3 Dec

It would have been a real shame had a hoedown not ensued upstairs in the Dulcimer tonight, for all the ingredients were to hand. Beards, booze, banjos and balls were all on show in abundance, and so, it was no surprise when support band Megafaun threatened to bring the stage down around them towards the end of their set. The North Carolinan grizzlies have been tipped to make a splash in 2010 and on tonight’s evidence; it’s easy to see why. The bewhiskered Goliaths draw from across the hirsute community: they’ve got the harmonies of the Fleet Foxes, the breathy, southern drawl of Iron & Wine, and the barn dance raucousness of the Drive by Truckers. The wellbeing of the dingily carpeted stage is clearly threatened when Megafaun step things up a notch for the last few tracks, but manages to withstand the pressure. An impressive set, on their maiden UK tour.

Deer Tick, too, are making their first assault on these shores. And whilst physically, they couldn’t hope to punch at the same weight as their tour-buddies, frontman John McCauley’s sizeable stage presence easily eats up the handicap. “I’ve been drinking vodka all day,” he announces, proud as punch, before launching into a master class in old-school rock and roll showmanship. Their sound is a lot rawer in the live arena, borrowing as heavily from The Replacements as it does from any of their alt-country contemporaries.

The recruitment of guitarist Ian O’Neil from New Jersey shoegazers Titus Andronicus affords McCauley the freedom to focus on more important matters – like drinking beer, sticking his head in ice-buckets and taking his pants off. The covers, Can’t Hardly Wait by The Replacements, Holidays in the Sun by the ‘Pistols, Johnny B Goode and a Michael Hurley track, are all individual highlights, but it’s tracks from Deer Tick’s debut album, Elephant War, that steal the show. A solo encore, culminating in the impressive Diamond Rings, proves that McCauley can sing as well as he can clown. A hugely entertaining performance.