Summer Cannibals @ Gullivers, Manchester, 11 Oct

Jessica Boudreaux eyes an expectant room. "We've never been here before," she muses. A lone whoop does little to shift her unease. "We're a long way from home..." Just a couple of songs into their first Manchester show, and with the Summer Cannibals leader wrestling with a suddenly unnecessary heavy sweater (removed, impressively, mid-song through guitar strap) and the unenviable indignity of playing minus support act, it's a real 'keep off the moors' moment. But no fear: the Portland outfit, touring career-best third album Full Of It, are a real 'we came, we plugged in, we conquered' live act. And as they set about warming up their own (thin but hugely receptive) crowd, Boudreaux's wry observations help cement these international relations.

"It's kinda like home here, anyway," she offers later on. "Everyone sat on their laptops in coffee shops. Do you guys have jobs to go to in the morning?" She laughs. "You're all 'freelancers', right?" Asides aside, there's the more immediate business of delivering their developing back catalogue in head-splitting, paint-blistering mode. The Summer Cannibals live experience is a punishing experience, and a joyous one, too. Whereas the records are perhaps the best way to connect with Boudreaux's fiery manifesto (a lyric sheet built on agit feminism and cerebral torching of much of society's most tiresome bullshit), the stage is where they give colour and life to the likes of Say My Name and a blitzkreig Go Home.

For nearly an hour, they play with breathless vigour and with no little road-earned skill. That their new home Kill Rock Stars saw something of the label's original spirit in them should surprise no one. The proto-grunge anthem Fallen is (slight) respite from the barrage but this is a set that is testament to their songcraft as well as their energy. It's barely an event – this low-key gathering takes place in a pub's upstairs room – but the performance is as convincing an argument for the transformative power of upfront, in-your-face rock'n'roll as you could hope to witness in 2016. Summer Cannibals give tradition the kicking it needs, and they do it in style and they do it with love.