Palma Violets: Live at the Voodoo in Belfast

Initially hailed the future of British guitar music, Lambeth quartet Palma Violets haven’t exactly set the world alight thus far. Tonight, in front of a fairly packed house full of boozed up die-hards (and their boss, Rough Trade head honcho Geoff Travis), the band prepare to rectify all that. They are in the middle of a full-scale Irish tour to road test new material and treat everyone to their impressive, face-melting live show.

Opening with ‘Rattlesnake Highway,’ from debut album 180, the faithful at the front are pogo-ing along to the pounding rhythm from the get go the song sounds much more powerful up close and personal than on record. ‘Danger In The Club,’ the first of four new tracks, is next and has a Richard Hell And The Voidoids vibe; another newie, ‘Man Is Asleep,’ is full of fuzzy basslines and new wave sensibilities.

Not ones for talking, the boys mostly keep their focus on kicking out the Iggy, Gun Club and Libertines-style jams. However, co-frontman Chilli Jesson does tell us he’s chuffed with the turn-out tonight as “there were about four people at the gig in Limerick the previous evening”. Bless.

Halfway through, the band lose the crowd a little, due partly to debuting ‘Matador’ and ‘Peter And The Gun’ (both disjointed, slightly schizophrenic numbers that take a few listens to sink in). They’re back on steady ground with the anthemic, organ-led singalong ‘14’, sending the crowd home on a high – and hopeful that PV’s second record will see them at their rabble-rousing best