Lucky Number Nine Showcase @ Captain's Rest, 26 Jun

Glasgow's Peter Parker (****), supergroup by name as well as nature, are picking up rave reviews before their debut 7-inch has even hit the shelves; as they open Clydeside label Lucky Number Nine’s West End Festival showcase, it’s clear why. The four-piece, fronted by Miss The Occupier’s Roz Davies and Jane McKeown of Lungleg, fire off an energising round of rough’n’ready punk-pop gems. They’re dripping in star quality, and it’s a near-dazzling performance, albeit in front of a crowd which remains for the most part jarringly static to the end.

With limbs comprehensively loosened, there's an eagerness to discover how Lucky Number Nine can top our newfound heroes. The answer: with Rags & Feathers (**), a folk-pop troupe with little of the sweat and dynamism required of, oh, you know, any half-decent band. Nevertheless, the audience gets down to a group who, live, are boringly retro in a way that only beard-poppers The Magic Numbers could replicate, and it's hard not to wonder when pleasant tunes and forcedly quirky lyrics replaced good art at the cutting edge. Disappointing, but inevitably so - like following a Nick Nairn starter with a haggis supper out the Blue Lagoon.

Making up for such a disappointment would be a tall order for much better bands than headliners Wake The President (***), but they make a good fist of it, taking a while to win us over, but managing eventually. The quartet have an awkwardly attractive anti-stage presence, and their Postcard-y noise displays the kind of ragged potential that forces you to sit up and take notice. Obama may not be having sleepless nights over this lot quite yet, but kudos to them for rousing us from our dejected slumber anyhow, and, moreover, for rescuing this little label’s big night. Maybe they're the real heroes after all.