Prides / Flyte @ The Liquid Room, 7 February

Glasgow continues to prove an unexpected incubator for radio-friendly synth and although Prides might be the most bearded of the crop they’re no less pop. After signing to Island, changing moniker and concreting their line-up, the trio look a band with steely-eyed focus.

In Edinburgh, Londoners Flyte fill the support slot with nonchalant, grooved disco all dressed up in indie. Testing out fresh material on a rowdy Saturday night crowd is the act of a band secure in their ability to start a party, and their confidence is well placed. It’s a happily sweaty, boozy audience which welcomes Prides to the stage. Stewart Brock and Callum Wiseman are now sharing piano/vocals front-man duties, with Lewis Gardiner’s larger-than-life drumming filling out the sound. Artistically scruffy checkered shirts and a heavy dose of facial hair keep the trio looking more rugged than their hooks: Prides are a pop band - straight up and unabashed.

It’s a sold-out show of surprisingly massive proportions; The Liquid Room is blasted by dry ice and strobe as Prides slam down huge chorus after huge chorus to an eager, emotional crowd. The three-piece have a certain if-it-ain’t-broke attitude, but when your songwriting formula creates tracks as radio-ready and floor-filling as these, who gives a toss? Latest single Higher Love receives a rapturous sing-along, and Out Of The Blue is a sugary, anthemic finish to a fiercely charismatic set.

The mandatory encore that follows (“We were having a piss break,” they giggle. “A tea break.”) screws the lid on their poptastic formula. Recreating a mixtape they filmed last year, the band fly through an exuberant ten-minute mash-up covering the popular music they love. Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Nick Jonas all get an airing, and, obviously, the crowd goes nuts. Wrapping up with their own Messiah, Prides prove that they’re aiming for the same heady heights.