Pop music of several shades this evening, as the pulling-out of Robots With Souls from the gig leaves three acts for whom terms like ‘fizzy’, ‘jolly’ and ‘sparky’ normally don’t go amiss. Any adjective ending with a ‘y’, in fact, it would seem. Although maybe not ‘moody’. Or ‘stabby-stabby’. Anyway.

Alphabet Backwards is tonight just frontman James, with a pared-back vocal-and-guitar performance. To a certain extent this lacks the fizzy (there we go) nature of Alphabet Backwards as a full band, and without keyboard lines or the sense of relaxed fun that pervades their playing together as a group, what’s left is a rather melancholic and exposed feel to the music. It’s an interesting alternative viewpoint for these songs, and it’s largely successful; perhaps confirming that the full band, whilst wrapping songs with several layers of fluffiness and fun, are still concerned with their having an emotional core and sense of musicianship that’s not overshadowed by light-hearted japery.

It’s japery squared with Norwich’s Hello Bear who, after grabbing our attention with an impressive wall of noise, relax quickly into a set of Johnny Foreigner/Los Campesinos!-style songs that are often interspersed with inter-band banter and the antics of one of the grinning-est drummers ever to take the Wheatsheaf’s stage. They’re good fun, flying through songs with enough skill to suggest that they’re fully in control of what they’re doing. This provides a set that’s entertaining musically and visually; they look as if they’re really enjoying themselves, and keep up the pace with several switches from noise to pop and back again. It doesn’t seem particularly refined or deep – perhaps an Alphabet Backwards-style stripped-back set could be an interesting exercise – but it’s engaged and rambunctious.

Secret Rivals are launching their latest single, ‘Everything I’ve Lost’, tonight. Maybe it’s nerves, maybe it’s some kind of self-imposed pressure, or maybe they’re just having an odd night, but tonight things don’t click for them. Whereas Hello Bear provided a ramshackle set with quality at its core, Secret Rivals seem to settle simply for ramshackle. It can be tough to read a performance with false starts, disinterested leaning against the side of the stage and out-of-tune guitars as anything but slightly insulting to the audience: on record, Secret Rivals can be great, and can put together an excellent tune. Tonight, however, they seem messy, and not in a DIY-slacker-savant kind of way, but in a way that unfortunately just doesn’t sound too good. Buy the single and keep ’em crossed for better future live performances. Let’s gloss over this one.