‘This song is about how, despite the fact we don’t get written about in the NME any more, we‘re still doing what we’re doing and someone will have to kill us to stop us” says Turin Brakes’ Olly Knights before debuting a track from the band’s new album Outbursts, their fifth. Normally this kind of rallying call would cause mass cheering, but the reaction is muted, perhaps because what Knights has said is a no brainer. Turin Brakes are second to none in producing summery, hummable songs, driven entirely by acoustic guitars, but it’s a formula they found early in their career and have stuck with. The band’s sound is pure 2001, when they, along with Travis, Starsailor and David Gray, ruled the charts with just six strings and tales of failed relationships. But, needless to say, trends change and a new Turin Brakes’ record is no longer big news and they’re back in the confines of the O2 Academy.

The advantage of the departure of the casual fans is that the band play to a room that knows every nuance of its material and have an understanding of exactly what they want to hear. Consequently, they deliver a set which has nearly the whole of breakthrough album The Optimist LP in it, as well as half of their new album and a fine selection of favourites from their other records including Pain Killer, Dark on Fire and Fishing for a Dream. Every note they play is loved, every lyric sung is yelled back and you can hear coins dropping in the bar tills such is the quiet when Knights talks to the crowd. Things get especially reverential at the show’s climax, with Futureboy and Underdog sound- tracking two lovingly received encores.

Turin Brakes really shouldn’t worry about whether they get written about any more; they still have an army of devoted fans and that’s all that matters.