CRAMMED to the gunwhales with a seething mass of whooping, "tcheuch!"-ing, hollering lunatics who formed a leaping, lumpen mass - it could only be Skye's Peatbog Faeries, bringing the house down and melting the wallpaper off the Classic Grand's stylishly chic interior on the last Friday of Celtic Connections.

You would never have guessed it was their first gig together for a while; the brass, fiddle, pipes and bass/guitar/drums combo were as tight as ever as they wound up the venue to screaming-point with their ceilidh-rave concoction.

The news that a new album is in the offing mightily pleased the shower of maniacs that they call their devoted following - and when it comes to fans, few Scottish "folk" acts can claim such a loyal, heartfelt and noisy band of supporters.

Having been locked up in the recording studio since their gig last summer at the Raindance Festival in Borneo, the Peatbogs clearly enjoyed the Celtic Connections outing every bit as much as the punters did.

And with the new material set for release in April, it is a safe bet that their next Glasgow show will be as hot - literally, as well as in terms of ticket sales - as their last: t'was truly the stuff of which gigging legends are made.

BERNIE McMANUS