Iceage @ Summerhall, Edinburgh, 5 Aug

Iceage frontman Elias Rønnenfelt is frequently compared to Nick Cave, and those comparisons are not wrong. The problem is that Rønnenfelt attempts to emulate Cave a little too obviously, and doesn’t quite pull it off. He comes swanning onstage in a blazer and button-down shirt, proceeding to imitate Cave’s hand gestures and stage persona like he’s been studying the body language of the Bad Seeds frontman for years.

When the first chords of The Lord’s Favourite are heard, the front half of the crowd quickly alters from polite, head-nodding observers to moshing, stage-diving punks. This seems to please Rønnenfelt for the first time during the band’s set, and he leans forward into his loyal followers, singing directly into their faces. As soon as they get too close, though, he smacks their hands away with a sour look on his face, as though he detests their adoration. 

This again is another common Cave trait, but one that doesn’t work in Rønnenfelt’s case. Cave can get away with this kind of behaviour because he is an actual Rock God; Iceage's vocalist, however, is still far too early in his career to even hope to reach the same heights. 

Between the frontman's moans about needing a new snare drum (after drummer Dan Kjær Nielsen breaks his own one song in) and looking like he’d rather be anywhere else, Iceage actually prove themselves to be quite a promising live act. Rattling through a selection of old and new tracks, the Copenhagen quartet are actually quite an engaging live band. If only they showed a little more respect to their ticket-paying, album-buying fans, it might be a little easier to give them the credit they deserve.