Gig #14: The Citrus Club, Edinburgh 25 April 2014

Paul Vickers and The Leg are an odd bunch. The band (The Leg) are a three-piece consisting of acoustic guitar, cello and drums, though you’d be mistaken if you thought that an evening of gentle, classical music was in store. These may be acoustic instruments, but not a note or beat escapes without first being tortured by a battery of effects pedals, amplifiers and electrical kitchen implements. Over this jagged, jittery backdrop frontman Paul Vickers delivers a blizzard of erudite, witty and surreal lyrics whilst capering about the stage like a man wearing spring-healed loafers. His voice is a cross between Family’s Roger Chapman and Scotland’s favourite musical son Alex Harvey. Vickers’ between-songs banter is genuinely hilarious – the man is a born raconteur – and the crowd are obviously already fans.

After such an opening act, Edward ‘Ted’ Chippington’s task is made considerably easier, and within minutes of beginning his set the crowd are mesmerised, chanting along to the choruses of his curious acapella rap numbers. “They always assume you’re a Blues fan,” snarls Chippington as he performs his most political number of the set; a devastating critique of big city small-mindedness, and a timely one given that urban life across the UK is constantly disrupted by violent mobs of crazed, drunken UKIPS supporters. “Blues fan. Blues fan,” chant the audience, completely swayed by Chippington’s terse, argumentative lyrics.

Chippington leaves the stage to tremendous applause but there is no time for an encore, for the Nightingales are onstage before the audience can get to the bar, or to the toilet. As the opening notes of viral hit “Bullet For Gove” ring out, the audience erupts, and neither the band’s pace nor the audiences’ enthusiasm let up for the next hour. The tumultuous applause that follows the set earns that rare bonus – an encore – and the band launch into “Don’tcha Rock.” As the number ends in a chaos of howling feedback and exploding drums, a clearly-moved Robert ‘The Chief’ Lloyd returns to the microphone, looks the crowd squarely in their eyes and says “Cheers, Edinburgh. You’ve been fantastic. And Scotland, stay with us, yeah?”