Kurt Vile and the Violators @ SWG3, Glasgow, 13 Nov

Lost in his own hazy fog, Kurt Vile emerges from the dank nether regions of SWG3, backed by his band The Violators, gives a few woops (something he does constantly) while tuning up and breaks into Loading Zones. Using the old trick of gazing six inches above the audience's heads – though it appears to be more absent-minded than learned – Vile doesn't seem concerned whether there are five or 5,000 people in front of him. He just noodles away, ad-libbing on a whim, working through his hits on an auto-pilot that comes when you're really feeling the music, man.

Jesus Fever, I'm an Outlaw and Peeping Tomboy (performed solo on an acoustic) should be big singalongs in the first half of the set, but Vile dials up his Dylanesque delivery – he's never met a syllable he couldn't turn into three – providing a fascinating glimpse into the way he interacts with his songs in a live setting. As the band return for a tight, rollicking Yeah Bones he starts warbling out the first verse of deep cut Heart Attack, just because it seemingly popped into his head.

Wakin on a Pretty Day shows the best of what Vile can do with a guitar, building through the light and chirpy lyrics into a shredding solo and back again. It stands in stark contrast to newer long songs, which have a tendency to hit with an immediate energy, but start to meander and lull after four or five minutes (Bassackwards and Check Baby, for example). Cold Was the Wind is another new song that gives the set a somewhat stilted feel, its diaristic bent failing to build to any particular revelation, as opposed to main closer Wild Imagination, which brings out a wealth of joy and intrigue in its veneer of banality.

A short encore of much-loved Pretty Pimpin and relative deep cut He's Alright finish off the night in perfectly Vilian style – a crowd pleaser that we knew was coming and a song that he clearly has a lot of love for and just fancied playing. Vile's performance demands patience from his audience, but once you give yourself over to his idiosyncrasies and trust he'll eventually get you to the destination, it's a hell of a journey.