Ethel Cain @ Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 28 Jun

It’s ten past seven on a Sunday evening. The Usher Hall has just opened its doors, and the queue stretches down past the Wetherspoon’s a few hundred metres down the road. Fans have been gathered at the doors to the historic concert hall since 6am, a member of the box office staff tells me, with the line winding all the way down to Princes Street at its peak. The source of this fanfare is the arrival of Ethel Cain, whose young, passionate fanbase make no secret of their admiration for the Floridian alt-pop star.

The day before the gig, Cain took to Instagram with a plea to her followers. “It’s a little disappointing when I’m trying to watch our opener and I have to strain to hear them over the roar of the crowd’s conversation,” wrote the Crush singer, complaining that some of the support slots on her recent shows had been marred by chatty crowds. On support duty this evening is the enchanting, Skye-born small pipes player, Brìghde Chaimbeul. Performing solo against a dimly lit backdrop, Chaimbeul’s pipe playing is entirely engrossing, her gothic strain of neo-trad the perfect warmup for Cain’s melancholic pop. There can be few complaints about the crowd, who largely observe Chaimbeul’s touching performance respectfully, with some gig-goers even breaking out into ceilidh dancing during the more upbeat numbers.

It’s Ethel Cain’s first time in Edinburgh, and she looks genuinely thrilled to be in the capital as she comes bounding on to the stage. “We’ve been to Glasgow a couple of times, but I’ve heard really great things about Edinburgh,” she shouts, beaming out to the screaming masses. After opening with an atmospheric rendition of Sunday Morning from 2019's Golden Age, Cain launches straight into American Teenager. It’s her biggest commercial hit to date and the crowd, stiff though they may be after waiting for her arrival for over 12 hours, bounce up and down frantically – a sea of phones emerging in the air to capture the moment.

A stunning account of Nettles, one of the emerging hits from her latest album, soon follows. It’s an eight-minute Americana epic, laden with banjos and strings, and when contrasted to American Teenager feels like the perfect reflection of Cain as an artist. Though she is more than capable of writing stadium-ready pop hits, Cain is just as comfortable making complex country ballads – both of which sound great live, and are lapped up by her adoring fans. The night continues on an upbeat note. Her staging, made up of metal barriers draped in ivy leaves, provides a fitting rustic setting as Cain extends her body upward to cry into a wooden mic stand.

Cain’s voice sounds hoarse as she addresses the crowd, though there’s no sign of any wear and tear when she sings, as she belts her way through a medley of Punish, Thatorchia and Perverts. Her accompanying band are in fine fettle, too, propping up a headbanging Cain through heavy hitters Ptolemaea and Gibson Girl. The evening starts to take a gothic turn as the stage glows red, and Cain creates a natural reverb as she waves the mic back and forth across her face during the louder numbers.

It’s soon time for an encore, and Cain nearly breaks into a sprint as she ascends on to her raised platform to a chorus of celebration from below. Crush follows, before the evening is capped off with Sun Bleached Flies – each word screamed back towards the stage with twice as much enthusiasm. Tonight was the final evening of the UK leg of the The Willoughby Tucker Forever Tour, and there’s a good chance Cain’s next Scotland date won’t be in a venue as intimate as the Usher hall.