Finally theAbsurd made it to a Gallops gig. This was not from want of trying, but something always seemed to get in the way every time we made attempts to see them, and this is discounting the time that we did actually see Gallops in the Old Swan in Wrexham a year ago, because we’d sunk a few beers by that point and consequently can’t remember much about it except to say that we didn’t drink for weeks afterwards…

This time we actually got to the Gallops gig at Central Station. It says a lot about a city when a band of Gallops calibre are playing in the ‘small’ bar at one side of the venue – but then Wrexham always has been a bit of a dichotomy. On the one had it’s spawned any number of brilliant Welsh bands, the aforementioned Gallops, Camera, The Roseville Band, Mooi, Heal the Last Stand – I could go on… there’s a real wealth of musical talent here. Unfortunately there’s also so many bland, faceless, corporate bars in Wrexham that seem more able to pull a big crowd – people who aren’t interested in actually seeing something fresh, innovative and new being created, people who’ll happily herd into a bar where the usual dance trash is wheeled out to be conveniently used as the background soundtrack to their own talking, to the same people they’ve seen all week, about the same things, and probably to the same music…

But back to the gig in hand; we paid our (reasonably priced £4) climbed the stairs and walked in on a DJ set from Gallops guitarist/keyboard player Birfmarq (or Mark Huckridge as his mum knows him). Dirty, grimy, bass-beats that had our chests vibrating and our knees bouncing launched out of the speakers and into our consciousness – a quality set from a DJ who knows his stuff; he played dark dark music that made the dimly lit bar at Central seem positively sparkly in comparison – brilliant.

Next up the greatly anticipated Gallops took to the stage. From the offset there was no mistaking that these guys are all hugely accomplished musicians. But that’s only to be expected when they’re playing something as complicated as math-rock. Complex rhythmic structures, time-changes, angular melodies and constantly shifting meters can only be achieved to great effect by a bunch of music nerds – artists whose entire lives must be dedicated to producing music that absolutely blows you away.

After 10 minutes of tuning and waving at the sound engineer (which you get the feeling is also part of the show) the band kicked off an hour long set that carried the audience through some of the most technically brilliant, yet fiery, animated and energetic music we’ve witnessed live in a very long time. The build-up within each piece of work could be more closely compared to classical music, with jazz influenced time-shifts, rock-based drums and dance synths – yes all of that in one tune. This band are tight – even with so much going on there’s complete control of the sound as the music seamlessly shifts from one pattern to another without even the slightest hint of disharmony. Moz, on drums, is a complete force of nature; he plays as if his life depends upon it (many drumsticks died throughout the gig), with Paul, Brad and Mark jumping around him to add a real element of showmanship to the performance.

Time possibly stood still, or rewound, or shot past us. We’re not sure. All we do know is that when the set finished we thought at first that we’d been cheated; that they’d only played for 20 minutes. Then we checked the time and realised that Gallops had played for best part of an hour. This was one of those gigs that we left feeling elated, because if musical talent, plus passion for your work, equals stratospheric success the next time we see Gallops play we’ll be paying £30 to see them at a packed-out arena of thousands.