Deerhunter @ Òran Mór, 28 March

Deerhunter are riding the crest of a wave that hasn't let up since 2005's Cryptograms, both critically and in relative commercial terms. After a quiet start to their sold-out show tonight, it gradually becomes evident why. The Atlanta quartet’s blend of nostalgia-heavy, tripped-out indie is even more convincing live than on record; it simultaneously evokes the more melancholy shades of 80s pop and the blissed-out drone of My Bloody Valentine, while always retaining its own identity.

The crystalline melodies of Memory Boy, a standout track on last year’s Halcyon Digest, take on a psychedelic richness in this context, mesmerising the crowd with interweaving layers of ringing, reverb-soaked guitars. At such moments, Deerhunter manage to conjure an authentically childlike joy, without ever slipping into emotive mawkishness.

Nothing Ever Happened, another highlight, builds to a dizzying, hazy crescendo, over which singer Bradford Cox shouts a few lines from Patti Smith’s Land – a joining of lyrical dots that parallels the masterful use of sonic influences. It’s that ability to chart their musical lineage, while always remaining within their own distinctive parameters, that enables Deerhunter to transcend mere revivalism. On tonight's evidence, they more than warrant the steady stream of attention. [Sam Wiseman]