Hidden in a dark recess of Belfast’s University Street, the Menagerie is always an intimate venue for live gigs. Tonight’s performance from local krautrock wizards Blue Whale and post-punk favourites Logikparty serves only to reinforce the feeling of being at one of the city’s most tucked away venues, as does the unusual entrance fee of £4.99 – there is surely no-where else you could go to see a gig like this.  And on a particularly cold and dreary Friday night in Belfast, that is a comforting feeling indeed.

Blue Whale are first to take to the stage and they do so with confidence, and why not; they may be a relatively small name in the local music scene, but they are well thought of (a fellow gig-goer in the gents was full of praise) and they know their way around a fretboard. Which is just as well – spontaneous instrumental jams are tough to get a crowd going, let alone transfixed; particularly with a crowd that at their most raucous resort to intense toe-tapping.  It’s a lukewarm start, and it’s hard to see how improvisational krautrock would work on record, but the four piece gradually warm to the task and by the time ‘Jigsaw Fixer’ plays out the Menagerie faithful are in the mood. The track is a stand-out – such structure as displayed here may be just what this freeform quartet need.

Logikparty are up next, and there seems to be a real sense of anticipation from those who have seen the energetic Dublin band before.  They needn’t have fretted, as the band hardly put a foot wrong all set, and frantic single ‘Anti-Omerta’ proves a real highlight in a set that pinches from the likes of Joy Division, Talking Heads and The Slits. But whilst Benni Johnston’s squawking vocals suit the band’s sound, it does begin to wear thin as the set goes on, particularly as the majority of the songs are such high-tempo numbers. It doesn’t take away from the set overall though, and the Menagerie’s punters are now of a mood to continue the party well into the early hours. Andrew Lemon