Gig review: Twin Atlantic

IT'S a no-brainer, really. Young Glaswegian rock outfit Twin Atlantic's debut mini-album is named Vivarium, so where better to launch it than in Glasgow's very own vivarium? With a cordoned performance space set up through the centre of the caf, the quartet played with the striking image of the Winter Gardens' massive Victorian greenhouse and lush, towering evergreen trees behind them. The gig was worth it just to see a performance in such a space.

For the hundred-odd young fans in attendance, however – some of whom had apparently queued since morning for this early evening show – the scenery was the last thing on their minds. As befits a group who have supported the likes of Smashing Pumpkins and their own spiritual predecessors Biffy Clyro, Twin Atlantic inspire a particularly devotional kind of follower. As Queen's I Want to Break Free accompanied them onstage, the crowd squealed and cheered. From the start they vigorously slam-danced into one another, with one security man rather oddly dressed in a green boiler suit and a decorator's mask making to weed out troublemakers who might be getting a bit overexcited, before relenting and letting them rejoin the melee.

The music itself is not quite epic enough to follow Biffy onto arena stages yet, but tracks like Time is the Enemy, Better Weather and Audience & Audio are polished and precise alternative rockers that demand a larger forum. Not, mind you, that they are ever likely to play a venue more striking than this.