Opener Video Dave is truly living his best, libertine life. In an outfit mostly sewn by hand, he saunters around the stage like The Dude if he also rapped occasionally. His visuals are amazingly tight (the clue’s in the name) and take his laconic rhymes to the next level. He’s a good rapper, but the entire multimedia package is what makes him a God-tier support act. His beats blare and the samples swing; the man in the home-made octopus kimono can do no wrong.

Open Mike Eagle isn’t as downright goofy as Dave, but his irreverent style frequently pokes through in songs about your phone getting run over or deep cut callbacks to Adventure Time characters. However, it’s his ability to mix the light and the heavy, deliver it in doubletime over a raucous beat, cut the power for a quick adlib and then launch back in with a dexterous flow, that makes Mike one of the best at what he does. He has a fairly spartan setup: no visuals, no frills, just a laptop and a midi-pad for a bit of spontaneity. But he keeps the energy up all night with an expertly sequenced set that covers the last decade plus.

Last year’s Neighbourhood Gods Unlimited gets a few cuts, including a memorable encore opener with bonus Video Dave (‘Mirror Pieces in a Leather Bound Briefcase’), but it’s his classic 2017 Brick Body Kids Still Daydream that’s most represented. A faultless trio late on is the high point of the night; ‘Daydreaming in the Projects’ is one of many singalongs as Mike paints a vivid panorama of any given day in the Projects, before ‘(How Could Anybody) Feel At Home’ melts an existential crisis into the catchiest, quickest flow of the night. And then ‘Brick Body Complex’ arrives to crush any naysayers who might doubt that Mike can do insightful social commentary just as well as witty one-liners. ‘Relentless Hands and Feet’ mines a similar level of poignancy, with one of the evening’s best vocal performances really selling the song’s indefatigable strength to keep going in the face of adversity: “I had to fight a rapper’s apathy to get this beat / I’m fighting self-doubt to walk this street.”

The constant references to superheroes and villains obviously brings to mind Mike’s hero, MF DOOM, and after his touching (and banging) tribute, ‘For DOOM’, he indulges in a little lip-sync of ‘That’s That’, which is eaten up by the voracious audience. The whole of Glasgow is buzzing today (that 4-1 victory over Curaçao meant a lot, huh) and those party-starting vibes come through loud and clear tonight at Stereo. Mike feeds off the energy and brings an intensity that isn’t always associated with his music, especially on set-closing ‘The Processional (The Funeral March)’ and ‘Ziggy Starfish (Anxiety Raps)’. On the latter he even manages to get in a reference to the aforementioned football match in his usual freestyle slot; he’s truly dialled in tonight.

He feels comfortable enough to finish with a seemingly impromptu new song that he’s clearly still workshopping, despite being over time already. It’s a lovely parting gift and testament to the reciprocal feelings of respect and encouragement between performer and audience that grows stronger through the set with each singalong (’95 Radios’ during the encore is probably the best). Everyone here tonight knows they’ve seen something special when the house lights do eventually come up. But before you can reach the exit, Video Dave is climbing on a bench to raffle off some of his hand-sewn merch: the fittingly weird cherry on the top of a glorious night.