The Acute @ Cabaret Voltaire, 13th January

There is an air of expectation as The Acute take to the stage, among fans and those waiting to be convinced that the buzz around town is justified. The trio may go in for shamelessly recycling the early Manics' shtick (applying lipgloss before a Marilyn mirror, indeed), but then rock 'n' roll has forever been about reinventing the wheel, and there are always kids ready to lap up the kind of glammy, sexy angst the band consciously cultivate. Happily, underpinning the veneer is a set of songs alternatively bruising and delicate which, although sharing the Manics' lyrical obsessions – "alienation, boredom and despair" – owe more musically to the muscular grandiosity and complex dynamics of Muse. Frontman Stephen strikes the self-regarding poses of one convinced he should command attention, as he darkly serenades his audience: "Have something to say and say it clear as you can".