On the heels of an unforgettable sell out with The Van T’s the night before were indie-blues rock quartet The Dead Settlers, a bunch we had grown fond of lately, who were ready to take their turn in the headline position at King Tuts’ New Year’s Revolution festival.

Up first were Lional, who flurried through a medley of high quality tracks such as Easy Love and Season Of Salt, all of which were notable for articulate riffs and incredibly tight bass-drum combos.

All in all, an enjoyable start to the night courtesy of a worthwhile discovery for us.

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Retro Video Club then stepped up and kicked it into high gear. Utterly captivating stuff, with tonnes of energy radiating off the stage; especially from frontman Liam who displayed an abundance of vitality to a point where he was sweating like mad halfway through.

The herd of family members at the barricade were going bananas, while the rest of the crowd were seemingly invested throughout, with some bobbing and bouncing along with the beats; something we caught ourselves doing a few times.

Highlights ranged from the spirited Heart Brigade and pleasing Recovery, to a track serving as a tribute to all those who suffer in the world of retail and/or hate their boss titled Can I?

We thought they sounded entertaining on record, but they proved to be even more so live. We can only hope that the DF Concerts booking team took notice and will be smart enough to bring them back for a future festival as a headliner, because they deserve to be in that spot.

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The Ranzas from Ayrshire were second to last, and what stood out to us most was the vocalist Lyle, who had an off-kilter charisma and quite a fascinating presence; swaying about without much of a care, and whenever he signaled for the audience to clap, jump or cheer, they would do just that without fail in every instance.

With plenty of slick songs donning decent melodies and choruses, they had made a fine first impression.

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It was now time for The Dead Settlers, and for the most part they did very well, with a mix of strong vocals, solid guitar work and engaging rhythms that had a majority of the crowd hooked; a certain few deafening us with chants for Jonny.

They burst out the gates in fiery fashion, although admittedly the pace did wane a little around the middle, but it was not long before they recovered and built up marvelously to a brilliant climax featuring Burn With Me and Sophia – both from their recent EP – and after an emphatic demand, they got the place going one more time with a riveting encore.

While not without flaws, their performance still done enough to leave a lasting impact and send us home satisfied.