The Rural Alberta Advantage @ The Mash House, Edinburgh, 17 Mar

Perennial shaggy-dog upstarts Yukon Blonde open up a show that could almost be taken for a joint headliner given the infectious enthusiasm the crowd have for the British Columbia band. They're chatty and playful as they burn through tracks like Saturday Night, the hard-rocking I Wanna Be Your Man and the crowd-pleasing Favourite People, even finding time to shout out to Brandon's parents who came all the way from Canada to celebrate his birthday tonight (they can be seen throwing shapes in the third row).

The Rural Alberta Advantage arrive with a typical lack of fanfare, though Nils Edenloff quickly belies the band's intensity with a few shouted greetings and thanks before delivering a focused, wide-eyed White Lights. The set is drawn from all over their back catalogue with early cuts like Don't Haunt This Place and Rush Apart gelling perfectly with new songs like Bad Luck Again and Beacon Hill.

Original keyboardist/vocalist Amy Cole is now back with the band (after a two year absence) and she makes for a constantly peppy onstage presence, off-setting the intensity of Edenloff' growls with syrupy backing vocals and subtle dance moves. The strongest moments of the night come when Cole and drummer Paul Banwatt combine their skills to create an imitable wall of percussion, against which Nils can splatter his yelps and really turn up the dial on his ferocious strumming on tracks like Edmonton and Terrified.

It's the last night of the band's European tour and the toll on Edenloff's voice becomes evident as the show goes on and a few cracks come to light, but this does nothing to diminish the power of the performance. By the time we get to The Dethbridge in Lethbridge the crowd is ecstatic, providing backing vocals and handclaps in (almost) perfect unison with the band. The oooooohs and aaaaaaahs are still ringing long after we step out into a snowy St Patrick's Night.