How apt that the hype train should make a stop at Rotondes, located just next to Luxemboug City's central train station. There's certainly a lot of momentum to Manchester's latest promising rock progeny, Westside Cowboy, especially with their debut album It Goes On (due 21 August) just around the corner.
But peek at some of their most recent performances online and you'll find relatively short, rapidfire shows – half-hour affairs packed with punchy tunes. That's because WSCB don't actually have that many songs out: with two EPs and a smattering of singles, their entire public discography comprises something like a dozen songs.
So when they rocked up at Rotondes on Monday, 3 August and promptly announced that they would be playing numerous new tunes, it came as a very welcome surprise.
The reason, as explained by the band themselves, was that they simply needed to practice most of the upcoming LP's songs live. The audience most likely didn't mind being msuical guinea pigs, to be fair.
What ensued was an 'extra-long' show that debuted a whole boat load of new tunes from their upcoming album, It Goes On. The audience at Rotondes, in that respect, got a pretty unique experience, getting to hear a huge chunk of a very promising record before its release.
Every member of Westside Cowboy, it should be noted, comes equipped with a microphone – and every member certainly brought great energy to the show. The tempo and power of each song ebbed and flowed, with slow build-ups leading to great, indie-flavoured riff crescendos.
Throughout the set (and despite the band's insistence that they needed practice), each member of the four-piece fired on all cylinders, producing a wildly fun evening of previously unheard tunes delivered with pure verve.
Whilst it was a little hard to tell what each individual new song sounded like (they were presented without titles, and the author didn't manage to get his hands on a setlist), the overall sound was a solid one.
The hosts at RTL Today Radio certainly look forward to the record, with some of us verging on pure, hype-based fanboyism. But WS CB's show at Rotondes only confirmed a certain suspicion of ours: that the Manchester quartet might just be on the verge of indie greatness.
