Fight Like Apes @ King Tut's, 1 May

The sun is shining, the weather is sweet and there’s a room just itching for some Irish punk hijinks, but before that there’s the NME-weaned stylings of Tanera Heights to hurdle. They aren’t a bad sort, these fellas; those big'n'beefy chords do get the blood pumping, and frontman Colin Tarbat can occasionally evoke genuine emotion with his lyrics but, with the exception of one intriguing synth-heavy burst of pop-infused gold towards the end of their set, they show too much restraint to deliver a show to remember.

Surely Fight Like Apes, with their often baffling lyrics and sterling live reputation won’t fall into that same trap, will they? Well, no; but they do tread a little close for comfort. It’s not down to the players themselves as loud and energised as befits their music, MayKay skipping and screaming with an irreverent mischievousness while Pockets yells well-timed bon-mots, and it’s not the crowd’s fault either as even recent songs like Jennie Kelly get the mass sing-alongs that they so rightly deserve. No, the problem is balance.

There are two paths that FLA choose to follow, and both are walked along with the same confidence. There are slower, shoegaze-oriented gems, as exemplified by Snore Bore Whore, where MayKay et al tone down their hyperactivity and play from a more measured headspace, but then there are moments like Jake Summers. This is when they’re really firing on all cylinders and barriers are broken down; this is when MayKay’s voice is dwarfed by the audience enthusiastically singing along to every word. But in transitioning from one plateau to the next, the energy levels in the room crash and given how frequently they jump to and fro in the space of an hour, it’s simply too much of a rollercoaster to kick back and enjoy.