Live Review: Band Of Horses, Mike Noga & The Gentlemen Of Fortune

Thing with Band Of Horses is – besides being a fearsomely well-wound live band – they know the history of the American music from which they draw. They are variously The Band, The Byrds, a bit of Lynyrd Skynyrd, some Tom Petty's Heartbreakers and even some Eagles harmonies here and there if you look too close.

Meantime Mike Noga conjures a bit of Dylan and some Springsteen – but maybe that's his sports coat – coming in full Gentlemen Of Fortune band mode, who are paid the compliment of use of the headliners' full set-up, notably Stevie Hesketh rippling along the Horses' piano and organ array. Noga's quieter songs like Cold Year gain depth, while the truth-in-titled All My Friends Are Alcoholics has the swing of a walk home from the Townie. And the final Down Like JFK hammers in.

Acts who've been on the festival circuit sometimes have to adjust from the half-hour set limitations to letting themselves run free. Thus, Band Of Horses eased into their work, hitting their straps with the monumental Laredo about fourth song in. Like so many of the best groups, they're playing for themselves as much as the audience – and loving doing so. Notably Ryan Monroe, who, when freed from behind the keyboards, attacked his guitar, bouncing around with the grin and manic energy of an alt. country Tarantino.

Of course it's Ben Bridwell pointing them round the park. He ached through Older, to the Appalachian keen of Come Undone and then the towering Is There A Ghost. They carried you with them. Dumpster World added some Crosby, Stills & Nash harmonies to that list up there, before it went off at loud tangents in the middle. A wired Knock Knock skidded through, while The Funeral's drama was the ideal end to the set proper. The encore allowed Bridwell and Tyler Ramsey to duel beards through a plaintive No One's Gonna Love You, before the band finished it, us and themselves via The General Specific's huge syncopated clatter. You all stood around a bit stunned, everyone confirming it was as outstanding as you thought it was.