The five Glaswegian boys from Mogwai surely know how to rock. Following their hugely successful first gig at the Esplanade, their second showing at the venue may be more subtle (there were less histronics compared to their first gig when the played mostly old stuff and greats from 2006’s Mr. Beast), but their latest concert certainly had more depth. Cueing a substantial amount of “post-rock, alt-rock, art-rock, whatever-you-call-it” tunes from last year’s The Hawk is Howling, it was a grandiose performance for both the initiated and uninitiated. Rumor has it that the sound system in KL, where the band gigged following Singapore, was less than desirable; so part of the band’s highly-charged concert here was due in part to Esplanade’s robust and reliable sound-system. Thus, the group’s quieter moments in the middle were just as brilliant as those transcendental head-banging moments at the end--where they fiddled with their basses and amps before a furious encore that was testament to their showgazing tendencies that we absolutely dig. So what if the concert wasn’t full--this is already frontrunner for one of the best gigs in 2009.