Eagulls take a bite out of The Great Escape

The locked gates at the entrance to the pier already look like the set of a zombie film by the time Eagulls take to Horatio’s – launching straight into a galloping ‘Lemontrees’, they provide the ideal soundtrack.

Their visual element stripped back due to scalp-scrapingly low ceilings, it’s back to bleak basics for the Leeds group. Projections be damned, though, as Horatio’s proves to be a surprise blessing - the facsimile of the stereotypical English pub, dodgy carpet and all, playing host to a band who thrive on their dissection of British life. As George laments the “old Woolworths shop” in ‘Aisles’, it’s as perfect a setting as they come.

With new album ‘Ullages’ now let loose, the final throes of Eagulls’ metamorphosis are acted out on-stage this evening. They stitch together their two guises perfectly, the jagged ‘Nerve Endings’ segueing into the silkier likes of ‘Heads Or Tails’ and ‘My Life In Rewind’ like never before. It’s that seamless connection that proves to be their masterstroke. Those ravenous hordes clawing to get up the pier are just the beginning – if Eagulls keep making everyday tragedy so palatable, before long there’ll be thousands more dying to take a bite.