Disco Ensemble are coming toward the end of their first UK headline tour and, after playing to just four people in Leicester due to the gig-going crowd presumably being in Reading or Leeds, are clearly grateful for a decent crowd in the Barfly tonight.

The wonderful hobo punk of The Scare warms the crowd up – without a home at the moment, the Australian quintet have been stumbling around the country armed only with sleeping bands and intent. It’s an admirable feat, and you can see the wild-eyed desire coming from deep within the wire-framed Kiss Reid, who staggers and splutters his way through the crowd with his confrontational tactics. Does it work or does it just piss some people off? It’s that fine a line that you just can’t tell. Either way, it’s not the last we’ll see of them tonight.

However warm the audience may be at this point, it is clear that once Disco Ensemble take the stage it’s the persuasive energy of Finnish frontman Miikka Koivisto that brings all the required energy to this room. The followers are devoted and rapt, singing the words of many a song straight back at him, including recent single ‘We Might Fall Apart’ during which Koivisto jumps around with such vigour that his Swedish-bought jeans nearly disintegrate.

Jussi Ylikoski wrestles his guitar, posing, screaming, just pulling out emo-filled rock riffs from God only knows where, while we’re treated to an outstanding drumming masterclass from Mikko Hakila – seriously, you won’t have heard drum fills like this for a long time. New songs, such as ‘The Alps’, find new choruses to kill with, and are greeted with the best introductions ever. The aforementioned Mr Reid drags his addled arse on stage to shriek at the amassed onlookers, retelling stories about ghosts and shopping malls. What a treat.

Finishing the set with what is possibly their best song, the synth-laden ‘Black Euro’, makes perfect sense. What makes even more sense is the arrival of The Scare in their entirety onstage to join in during the call-to-arms chorus and generally piss around onstage. It’s a party. It’s a goddamn suicide. It’s a hella lot of good fun.