Live Review: Super Wild Horses, The Living Eyes, The Clits

The heavens have well and truly opened tonight, however, it would appear that not even torrential rain and lightning can keep the music-loving masses away from the Tote. With the stage decorated with a multitude of streamers, rainbow-coloured strings of paper palm trees, and other assorted tropical paraphernalia, the miserable weather is soon forgotten.

The Clits kick off the sold-out gig with their take on lo-fi slacker pop and a less-than-enthusiastic attitude. In true slacker style, the vocals occasionally stray off-key and there is more than just the odd bung note, so it's hard to fault their performance from that perspective. Sequoia Harris's drumming is the highlight of their set, however, neither she nor her bandmates seem overly interested in making much of a connection with the audience – overall, they just seem a little bored.

The Living Eyes raise the bar significantly, owning the stage from the second they start to the second they finish their set. Their confidence works completely in their favour, and, of course, it's helped by the fact that they are armed with some choice tunes that are chock full of garage-y goodness.

There's barely room to move in the bandroom by the time Super Wild Horses start the launch of their highly anticipated second album, Crosswords. Unsurprisingly, they kick things off with a track from said album, and go with You Have Two Feet (So Run). It's a choppy little number that gets things off to a very good start, with Amy Franz on guitar and Hayley McKee on drums. Known for their ability to swap instruments seamlessly, it isn't until we're a good few songs into the show that they swap and, indeed, it is done seamlessly. McKee comments that, when decorating the stage, there was a moment when they thought it might be too tropical, but, she states, it's working for her now. She's right – it's pretty humid in here and not very wintery at all.

With the help of a few guests (being Rick Milovanovic, Shags Chamberlain and Rupert Edwards), Franz and McKee charm the audience, with highlights including Ono In A Space Bubble, complete with monotron, Alligator, and their cover of You've Really Got A Hold On Me. We're invited at one point by Franz to sing happy birthday to McKee, who, we're told, is turning “an unnamed age.” The only downside tonight is that their set is so short.