I’d heard lots of good things about the Barbican as a concert venue so I had high hopes for my first gig there and wasn’t disappointed.

Portico Quartet mesmerised the audience for an hour and a half playing mostly from their second and more experimental album, Isla. I felt hypnotised by their strange and wonderful sound, and my mind wandered into all sorts of bizarre territory during their set.

The gig was also notable for having the most polite and well-behaved audience I’ve ever seen! Everyone in the auditorium sat in complete silence, and barely moved, when a man coughed on the other side of the room, everyone in our row noticed. Was it the quality of the music, or is this just usual Barbican etiquette?

Portico Quartet’s gig was part of East festival, which encourages you to get out and explore the East of London. The Barbican is certainly not in my neck of the (London) woods and I think I earned my East credentials last night: a tube, a cancelled train, two more tubes and an overground train later, I was finally home!