Hinds @ Manchester Academy 2, 26 Nov

If we could join any band, it’d be Hinds: these Madrileñas are the coolest garage pop girls in town. Dreams come true, then, during their Manchester show: the four-piece dance to the support groups in the audience with us, then get up on stage to bring us all into the world they inhabit, and the room pulses with the brilliant, youthful energy of it all.

Technically speaking, they’re not perfect, but they admit it and it adds to their appeal. Hinds aren’t about pop perfection, they’re about authenticity of sentiment. They’re also about first-rate song writing. These rickety, raucous tunes offer a blissful euphoria: Bamboo and Garden are triumphant, When It Comes To You is sweetly and shyly devoted, and Holograma is a nod to friends and fellow musicians Los Nastys and the city that made them. Their entire set is an homage to the trials and tribulations of youth, and the power that comes with expressing it.

Their energy is contagious, they are fierce and funny on stage and their interaction with the audience feels spontaneous. The camaraderie between the four is wonderful, and while they're unapologetic about their enjoyment, their performance has a sense of urgency about it, too. Powerful, overlapping vocals, basslines that pulse under your skin, all riffs and screams and squeals, Hinds’ bubblegum intensity is charming and inspiring.

Thanks to their imperfectly perfect brand of girl power, we leave the gig feeling a little more powerful than before. “You guys are the reason rock and roll is still alive!” Ana tell us, and despite the improbability of this statement, in the euphoria of their chaotic chords, we kind of believe her. Viva Hinds.