After bonding in an all-night café in Glasgow in January 1996, Stuart Murdoch and Stuart David teamed up with drummer and percussionist Richard Colburn – a fellow student of the Stow College Music Business course from Perth who used to sell pies on match days at Celtic Park. Just over five years later, the same band have stuffed Belfast’s Mandela Hall for a double bill with The Frames and raised over £10,000STG for the NSPCC’s ‘You’re Kidding’ Appeal to buy needy children Christmas presents.

Often derided as twee namby pamby popsters, the B&S collective stylishly give their sado-indie-schmindie credentials a rocking kick in the nether regions. The set list includes a seasonal dose of B&S classics plus well-executed covers of ‘Here Comes the Sun’, ‘Happy Christmas (War is Over), a riff-heavy ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ featuring a perfect Lynottesque snarl from Stuart Murdoch, plus an hilarious rendition of ‘Cool for Cats’ narrated by Richard Colburn.

Backstage after a very surreal show, Richard is reflecting on how his bandmates eventually persuaded him to do lead vocals.