The Dykeenies / Alto Elite / Make Sparks

Unless you've been hiding under a rock somewhere for the past few months, you can't have escaped that it's T time again; and this time with the party extended until Thursday for those who have disregarded all care and concern for their livers. However, not all of us are lucky enough (or healthy enough) to put their bodies through such revelry, and King Tut's with DF concerts have given us a 'warm up to T' gig on that very Thursday to bring the festival weekend all that closer.

Walking into a packed King Tut's gig area, it's like a (very) miniature T in the Park with an audience as diverse as the festival itself. Make Sparks kick off the night with their melodic bouncy indie rock, generally fairly inoffensive and easy to get on with – the perfect band to start the evening. Alto Elite are up next; the audience all seem to be in tune with the Carnoustie based bands and are happily singing along to the energetic indie tunes.



It is all just a pre-cursor, however, for the real crowd pullers of the night. The NME/RADIO 1 stage is where these guys are at on Sunday, and they are well and truly using this gig as a warm up to get themselves ready for the big event. Full of energy, heavier and with a rockier edge than their warm-up acts they have the audience at "hello". At first, anyone who doesn't know The Dykeenies might be surprised to see that lead singer Brian Henderson doesn't play lead guitar as per standard Indie band format, but fronts the band from behind a set of synthesizers, leaving lead guitar to Steven Ramsay, bass to his brother Andrew Henderson and John Kerr holds them together with the drums. But somehow it works; and it's refreshing to see a band who doesn't have a front man who can't stay still for more than two seconds before flexing his guitar skills.

There's a feel of homecoming with this gig; not surprising considering the grass roots the Cumbernauld band came from – winning a King Tut's 'Artist of the Month' competition back in 2005 marking the beginning of a fledging career. And it's clear that this audience, although courteously loving the previous two groups, were here for one reason, and one reason only; The Dykeenies. Brian and the guys wowed their crowd from the moment they ran onstage and played straight through 'The Panic', 'Pick You Up' and 'Are You With Me Now' without stopping for so much as a swig of beer.

As I watch the energetic guys on stage before me, giving their all without holding anything back before their big T performance at the weekend, I get the sense that it's definitely not the last I've seen of this band – NME/RADIO 1 stage this year... who knows what for the next?

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.