It’s been a while, best part of a decade, since I last clapped eyes on the brothers Reid in Cardiff across town in the second room of the Uni, and the time before that it was this very same venue but tonight was a one-off and not part of a tour, but something of a warm-up for the band’s appearance in Milton Keynes the following night at the Forever Now festival (at the time of writing I believe the stage at MK was beset with tech difficulties so its something of a relief to get this one in). The dry ice rolls across the stage like only a few other bands, such as the sisters of Mercy or the Bunnymen, engulfing the room to that of a post apocalyptic wasteland with just a dimly lit red mist as the band stride on stage to begin what was to amount to a pretty epic and mightily impressive set from Kilbride’s finest.

‘JAMCOD’ kicked off proceedings and Jim proceeded to remove his customary leather jacket due to it being one of the hottest days of the year and in a venue that seemed bereft of oxygen and even the gentlest of breezes but this didn’t stop the band smashing through songs like there was no tomorrow with merely silhoueted shadows on the stage with William swaying in front of his customary Orange wall of amplifiers as Jim holds onto his mic and stand like he’d fall over if it wasn’t there. The sound is clear and throbbing to the huge chords in the break before the second verse. Superb start as we were all hoping to OD on JAMC.

Like a fine wine, The Brothers Reid have matured and aged well sure they’re not the same band who kicked off all those years ago with a fire in their bellies and without a care in the world just a love of Garage rock n roll, art and creating some dark, bleak yet light and warm music that has most defiantly stood the test of time ably assisted currently by Mark, Scott and Justin. If anything, songs off the first album and EP (‘Psycho Candy’) have aged superbly well, but that’s for later in the set. The band’s most recent offering, ‘Glasgow Eyes’, is well represented, as is my personal favourite album, ‘Darklands’. To be fair, the set list is well designed and delivered impeccably, building to a glorious crescendo on the encore.

I’m presuming Jim is enjoying himself because he’s loosened up by removing the jacket, and the rest of the band sound amazing and right on it. ‘Head On’ was like a rabid barking dog, and from the awesome ‘Sidewalking’, it was glorious and possibly the best I’ve ever heard them. Connie from the support band Borrowed Atlas joined the band on stage for ‘Sometimes Always’ and a majestic ‘Just Like Honey’.

For the encore, it was a hat-trick of the impeccable guitar pop of ‘Darklands’, followed by ‘Taste Of Cindy’, and to bring a halt to proceedings and leave nobody in any doubt that they are still the masters of their craft and nobody has done the shoegazing pop noise better. Even when they left the field for hiatuses, their shoes couldn’t be filled and ‘Reverence’ was the perfect full stop to a pretty spectacular warm-up. It seems mad to think on this evidence, they even need to warm up. This was a blazing show of noisy guitar pop perfection. They can be as arrogant as they like, they always maintained how damn good they are and on this evidence it seems time has proven them right. Stunning performance. So until next time gents, nos da.