Heading towards the Birmingham Barfly a little before 6pm this fine Sunday evening, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were heading towards a secondary school on a Thursday afternoon.

Lined along the street, a couple of dozen fifteen year olds sit in clusters, each group with their own supply of speakers, sugary-sweet emo and vast amounts of red bull. Doors aren't for another hour and a half... why here so early?

"We warra get by the front!" comes the reply in numerous Brummy-twinged accents, almost as though it was a stupid question.

Sadly, they needn't have bothered turning up quite so early. Kids in Glass Houses may be headlining in the UK for the second time this year, but this leg of their 16-date tour is a quieter one. As such, the 400-capacity Barfly remains around half-full for the duration of the night.

First up, support from Welsh counterparts SaidMike. It's an odd mixture, with vocals pitched somewhere between My Chem's Gerrard Way and Taking Back Sunday's Adam Lazzara.

As that comparison suggests, it's hard to believe that this lot hail from Pontypridd. But in the grand scheme of things, it's irrelevent.

After a shaky start, the crowd soon warm to this latest scenester-offering, and while they're not providing anything different, it's a solid performance that will earn them a few more MySpace 'friends'.

Next up, Southern boys Tonight is Goodbye. By this point, the crowd have discovered their voices - and their dancing feet - more, and TIG grab themselves a more than acceptable reception from the off.

Still relatively unknown in the world of emo-with-balls, this lot have managed to get good reviews from the likes of Zane Lowe. From tonight’s performance it's easy to see why.

Epic riffs, catchy choruses and just the right amount of shouty-screamo, these guys have got their stuff down to a fine art already. Despite a few technical hitches, the highlight of their modestly-sized set is closing track Black Dress, which sees the crowd really get going for the first time of the night.

A few minutes behind schedule, headliners Kids in Glass Houses finally take to the stage a little after 9.30. For a couple of minutes, lead-singer Aled Phillips is no-where to be seen as the rest of the band knock out a corker of an intro.

When Phillips eventually bursts on stage, the room erupts in a mass of jumping, cheering and screaming. In performer-mode, he's a stark contrast to the quiet twenty-something that was stood at the merch table just minutes earlier, but no-one's complaining.

Throwing in a few new tracks as they blast through their E-Pocalypse EP, Kids in Glass Houses prove themselves as more than talented. Raise Hell gets a phenomenal sing along, with barely a pair of hands in the building able to resist the inevitable clap-along.

Similarly, the epic start of Telenovela results in the most crowd movement seen all night, with fans frantically trying to steal the limelight for the chorus-call of My Poetry/Is better than your poetry...

New track Be Nice (Start Now) - although, as Phillips informs us, the title of this one will probably change - acts as a fine example of what we can expect from their debut album, recording for which begins at the start of November.

Festival-favourite Girls is met with great response despite the track being unreleased. It just goes to show how far a summer on the road will get you...

Somewhat predictably, the show is brought to an end with fan-favourite Me, Me, Me. But, predictable or not, you can't fault them for their choice of closer - there's not a single soul able to leave the room without singing We take three steps forward/And three steps back...

Kids in Glass Houses put on an amazing show. And, as odd as it sounds, it's infuriating. A band with such charisma, talent, and musical panache should be performing to bigger -and, one might suggest, more "mature" - audiences compared to those who made their way to Birmingham.

With a high-profile support slot alongside fellow countrymen Funeral For a Friend, one can't help but feel that maybe, just maybe, there's something big on it's way for these guys. And if that's the case, the few-hundred that turned out this evening should count themselves very lucky to be in on the secret already...