!!! / Stereolad @ Glasgow CCA, 14 Feb

“‘Allo Glasgow! Ve are Stereolad and ve are very ‘appy to support the legends Chkchkchk on their tour!”

Don’t rub your eyes, you read that right. !!! booked a cover band of the French-tongued, experimental legends Stereolab to warm up the waiting Valentine's Day crowd at the CCA. Except, because !!! do whatever they want, they are the cover band. As Stereolad, irrepressible front-man Nic Offer bounces out on stage in his favourite blue gingham dress, conducting the rest of the far more sombrely dressed band through a rapid-fire, wildly energetic “Best of Stereolab” medley. The crowd, rightly so, lose their minds. Why don’t more bands do this?

After an implausibly short break the gang return as !!!, appearing completely unaffected by the 100mph 30-minute set they’ve just played. “HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY GLASGOOOOOW,” Offer bellows, now in just a t-shirt and pants, "and a big thank you to the stunning Stereolad!” The evening started strangely, but once this band get down to their own material their capacity for the absurd knows no bounds.

Rocketing through the highest-energy cuts from recent record, As If, !!! throw out all the stops with ridiculous, gleeful joy. From Freedom! ‘15 via Every Little Bit Counts, the room’s exploded into a sweaty, grinning jumble of shimmys and air-punching in a vain attempt to keep up with the band’s inimitable ring-leading. A choice highlight: Offer slaps his own face, turns it into a heel spin, shoves a mic in his gob to emulate the backing vocals and bursts free from the stage to join the bodies on the floor. It’s a stinking, sticky, wonderful mess.

Haterz have said that !!!’s weird disco is no longer punk. !!! don’t give a fuck. They’re too busy hollering “I feel so freeeee” on top of an amp, drenched in booze and spit and sweat, wearing only their boxers.