Anyone who knows me knows the story of how this lot never managed to get rid of me, but I'm going to tell it again anyway. It was Slam Dunk 2015 and, by some sort of miracle, I had walked to the barrier for my beloved Architects (yes, you will have noticed, everyone is my beloved band). They played the absolutely incredible Youth Is Wasted on the Young, Murray came in for his part, and even though I knew the song and knew he was in it already, I stopped dead for a second, thinking to myself that "I really liked this guy's voice" and decided to listen to The Xcerts at home.
The miracle is that I remembered to do so even after smacking my hand on said barrier because the next song was Early Grave and they thought it was a perfectly reasonable idea to have Dani Winter-Bates (Bury Tomorrow) on it. To anyone who was around me, I know it was ages ago but I'm sorry for the scream that may or may not have left my body.

Since then, The Xcerts and I have never really managed to get rid of each other, and on their part, I don't know how or why they haven't thrown me in the sea already, because I just happen to be everywhere. T in the Park, Fender Tour, Butserfest, Mallory Knox tour, Deaf Havana tour - you name it, I was there. Why should I made an exception for Glasgow? It's a mere twelve hour Megabus journey away. Absolutely reasonable.

As soon as I walk into the Broadcast, I understand one thing - this is not a venue for small people like yours truly. I make my way quite close to the stage (the stage being tiny and at ankle level) and yet, I will have trouble seeing the band while they play.
It was okay, in the end.

It was so good that I forgot I look about twelve and am munchkin sized.

I had seen The Xcerts twice on their home soil of Scotland, at T in the Park last July and at the Glasgow stop of Mallory Knox's Homecoming Tour, but nothing quite compared to the Boardwalk gig. I shall use this space to give mad props to the crowd, for they were incredible from start to finish, singing along to every word without stopping. I love crowds like these. I love shows like this.
On stage, very unsurprisingly, The Xcerts are perfect. I am done even trying to be vaguely impartial about them, they are absolutely impeccable and technically flawless. They are one of these bands who sound like a studio recording in the best possible way - as in, when you see them live, you realise they haven't lied to you in the CD, it's all there in real life. The raw emotion (the one that makes me cry at There Is Only You every single time without fail), the vocals, the catchy hooks. It's not just a trick.

Setlist wise, we have reached a certain level of perfection. There was Aberdeen 1987 and its endless singalongs and its perfect lyrics (Erm, "I'm your new best friend, I'm your new haircut, I'm the alcohol that burns down your neck and into your gut", anyone?), there was Crisis in the Slow Lane and my broken heart and my tears, there was Pop Song and its chorus that rings a bit too true at times, and there was even a small encore with Home vs Home. I don't even know what to say about that gig. It was flawless from start to finish and it warmed my emo little heart and made the twelve hours in a bus worth it.

What else can I say. I've rarely seen a band that thrives of being on stage so much. It's incredibly obvious that these three live for this. And it becomes quite impossible not to fall for it, because, well, what more could you want than a band that is delighted to play and, at the same time, is honored that they have people coming to see them?
Oh, I know.
A Taylor Swift cover.
They squeezed a little bit of 1989's Bad Blood just before Home vs Home and I internally exploded. You know how, once, I said that after Ryan Adams did his own version of 1989, I had wanted every band to do it but no one could top his version? I'd like to see The Xcerts try.
Or, at least, I'd like to hear a full, recorded version of that Bad Blood cover. It was Taylor Goes Emo, and it was perfect.


During Aberdeen 1987, I couldn't help but thinking of the girl I'd met at T in the Park who asked me if I knew the song and told me how it was her favourite, and despite seeing The Xcerts eight times, she'd never heard them play it live. Seconds later, Murray had said that "this song is about my hometown, it's called Aberdeen 1987", and I'll never forget how happy the girl was. It seriously is one of my favourite live moments, ever, and every single time I listen to that song, I am thrown back in that muddy tent in Strathallan. I wonder if she was at the Boardwalk show. I bet she would have loved it.


And that is what The Xcerts mean to me and always will mean to me. They are memories, moments shared with friends. They are our little dance at the Cardiff Mallory Knox show during She. They are the girls that screamed they loved Murray's hair at the Norwich Mallory Knox date. They are me being the only idiot singing along to Slackerpop at Butserfest, hearing myself sing and then hearing my voice break down instantly, provoking laughs on stage. They are our phones raised in the air during There Is Only You. They are Murray's jokes - all of them. They are meeting one of my now best friends at their Dingwalls show. They are being reunited with one of my best friends at their Fleece show. They are my friends asking me if I was going to cry to There is Only You, probably not being aware that I'd spent the best part of the set hiding behind the guy in front of me so that the band wouldn't see me cry. They are all these memories and so much more. And I'm sure that, at my next Xcerts gig, I'll think about the Broadcast. I'll remember Murray asking his mum to come sing with them, I'll remember the guy crowdsurfing, I'll remember the two guys holding each other and shouting every word to every song, I'll remember the happiness that filled the room, I'll remember the big smile on my face from start to finish, I'll remember the shout out to the two Italian girls. And I'll make new memories.


I suppose that more than a review, this is a love letter to The Xcerts, the band who took my life by storm one hot May day, the band who cannot get rid of me, the band who means the world and beyond to me.
I'm not going anywhere.

I had 17% of battery left during the show, I didn't really try to do anything fancy.