Live: San Cisco

16th October

The Deaf Institute

6/10

A mixture of of carefully made up teenage girls and boys cluster around the stage alongside what could be their middle aged Mums and Dads in anticipation to see San Cisco at The Deaf Institute tonight as the youthful indie-pop quartet near the end of the UK section of their European tour.

At their best San Cisco play a fun and lively set made up of their quickest, catchiest, and brightest singles such as ‘Golden Revolver’ and ‘Awkward’ which lead singer Jordi Davieson introduces as a song “about stalking” to cries of excitement from many of the word perfect crowd. Bathed in a cherry light, it’s easy to be won over by their cheeky smiles and banter, especially between Jordi and Scarlett. Yet their performance lacks edge and Scarlett’s vocals are occasionally out of tone, especially on opener ‘Lyall’ with its rollicking fun fair melodies.

Before the encore they play ‘Fred Astaire’ which could be an apt, mid-tempo, offhand finale to their coolly delivered set. They come back on to do their rendition of Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’ and despite the excitement, there is an irony in a cover being the best received song of the night. Although, this is tempered slightly by the crowd’s fervour for the energetic riffs of ‘No Friends’ which they finish on.

They thank their support act Furs. Jordi tells the audience that they’ve sold out of merchandise so instead they’ll be hanging around after to meet fans. He leans forward to the crowd but draws back before they can touch him. Jordi praises the crowd “well done”. Like the jumping up and down on the sprung floor it’s all just a little too easy, nevertheless it’s fun.