First up at the Lexington – home of a fantastic soundsystem and expensive booze – were Les Fauves, featuring complicated disco-ish rhythms played so metronomically well that it somehow sounded overproduced - even though it was a live performance - '80s style heavy synth basslines that sounded like they were written on a program called ‘Microsoft Auto-Cool 2009’, a guitar with about a million preamp effects making noises that a guitar has no right to and a keyboard player who basically twiddled around doing whatever. Unfortunately, the singer was unable to hit a correct note all night, which just made it painful to listen to when it should have been really fun.

The Blueskies even look like they're in a teen drama

Next were The Blueskies, who, on the night, sounded a bit like a much grown-up Busted with a synth, except quite a lot better than that description makes them sound. Every song was powered along by brilliant 100mph pop-rock drumming with power-chords aplenty, all very happy, lush, melodic, pop-tastic, and, well, cheesily American sounding. The “oh look at me, I’m so emotionally deep” lyrics just compound the overall effect of music made to soundtrack one of those god-awful American teen dramas (“I’m afraid I have to leave Yuppie Hill Creek Heights High School... Forever....” “But Tyler, you can’t! I love you!” “I’m sorry Dakota, I have to...” -car engine starts up, cue Blueskies as Tyler drives into the sunset-). They are just the sort of thing you need to forget your troubles and dance along like a moron.

Finally, it was the turn of the headline act, LA trio Gliss. Now the basic recipe for a Gliss song starts with a really simple drumbeat (mostly we’re talking kick-snare-kick-snare the whole way through), add a heavy bassline to carry the weight of the tune (played with effortlessly cool expression), pitch the singer’s voice to swoon/mumble/moan (delete as appropriate based on song content) and top with layers upon layers of reverb-drenched guitar magic over the top to make each song unique. Now I say layers upon layers, but there’s only one guitar playing at any time. It’s just at times it’s so mesmerising that you think “No. That can’t be right. There just has to be another two or three guitarists hidden behind that curtain”. It’s a winning formula but if you stop noticing/caring about all the intricacies and nuances of the guitar play (which can easily happen after a while) then the songs do tend to blend together, and can lull you into a sort of catatonic trance-like state, with your heartbeat synchronised to that of the kick drum as you gently sway back and forth, waiting for the next big exciting moment to bring you back to the waking world. These moments are happily provided, because most of their faster songs are real belters. The highlights including the dirty garage-rock riff of ‘Blue Sky’ and the superb ’29 Acts of Love’.

Gliss is also the name of a range of haircare products

The biggest cheer of the night, however, was reserved for ‘Morning Light’. Having talked in the interview beforehand about the rise in popularity of bands that use a similar heavy reverb style over the two years since Gliss last toured over in Britain, it seemed fitting – albeit slightly unfair – that their most popular song was the one that sounds the most like Glasvegas (but without the thickly accented Scottish wailing, obviously). But it was a genuinely beautiful moment. By now they’ve finished the British leg of their tour and are currently touring through the big cities of continental Europe. Here’s hoping they pay us another visit soon.

Words by Alex MacDonald