Birmingham indie quintet The Twang burst onto the music scene in 2007 showing much promise. However despite strong support from NME, who called them the best upcoming British band, and a steady stream of gigs, they have never managed to replicate their early acclaim.

Lead singer Phil Etheridge bounced onto the stage at the Concorde 2 with fellow vocalist Martin Saunders to an appreciative – if small – crowd. Guitarist Stu Hardland, bassist Jon Watkins and Ash Sheehan on drums made a strongly cohesive backing band and there were some flashes of brilliance.

But the band’s reputation for attracting a thuggish crowd was not hard to fathom. I can’t have been the only member of the audience who found the laddish swagger of Etheridge and the incessantly grinning Saunders a tad irritating.

By the end of the set, the mostly male fans were singing along raucously to old favourites from the third album 10:20 such as Mainline, We’re A Crowd, Take This On and Paradise. The Twang undeniably have a raft of decent tunes and one new track from the band’s forthcoming fourth album gave a taste of a more mature, thoughtful flavour. But the football-style chanting from the crowd does them no favours.