Live Review: Alt-J, City Calm Down

There is a time and a place for City Calm Down's urgent synths and strutting electro pop, and 7.30pm in a giant leisure centre just isn't it. The Melburnians opened a spirited set with Sense Of Self, the audience knowing and loving it from triple j airplay – or we assume they would have, if they were there. With attendance at 10% capacity, the four-piece launched their sound into the ether with abandon, constructing a spirited 30-minute set that was more than worthy of their understudy role, and more than deserving of more ears to hear.

As any travel bore will tell you, it's not where you are (man), it's who you're with, and Challenge Stadium only starts to really make sense as a music venue when it's full. As the lights came up between sets, there was an ominous feeling that this was going to be a spectacle with a small 's'. Illumination revealed kids and families making up a lot of the sparse early crowd, giving the venue a parent-evening kind of vibe. We hope The Nicest Blokes In Rock™ won't be too miffed at the observation, but the fact that Alt-J look like two geography teachers jamming with two detained students only exacerbated this.

They didn't win the Mercury prize by conforming to musical stereotype, though. And anyway, if you wanted the sexy side of rock'n'roll badly enough you could find it in Joe Newman's trousers. As the headliners hit the stage those in the front couldn't help but notice they were so tight, you could see his breezeblocks tessellating.

Starting with Intro, followed by (Ripe And Ruin) and Tessellate, we wondered if they'd play the album from start to finish. They didn't, teeing up Something Good for the first big sing-along. Buffalo followed, their contribution to the soundtrack for Silver Linings Playbook and a happy and welcome detour from the expected. Matilda, Ms and Breezeblocks finished the set dependably after 45 minutes. There was an encore, beginning with a recital of 'secret track' Hand-Made. After covering College and Electric Youth's Real Hero from the Drive soundtrack, they finished as they started – sequentially – with Taro, the last (proper) track from the long player.

What could have been An Awesome Wave on shuffle was elevated first by a couple of decent covers, the earlier one being Kylie's Slow spliced with Still D.R.E. Newman dedicated it totTriple j, who hosted them and the mash-up last year on Like A Version. Secondly, Alt-J are the tightest of units and each track was rolled out with passion and precision in equal measure. Cynics might say that's because they've been touring these same 12 songs for the past 18 months, but that wouldn't matter because there weren't any cynics in the audience – just a lot of fans throwing up the A and splashing over the sides of the marked standing area and through the porous 'security'. Please remember guys – dance inside the lines. The aisle is the lava. The venue may have been (was) too big for the event, the band's repertoires (three EPs and an album between them) too small, and a stadium an incongruous stretch for four Mr Sensibles and four promising newcomers. The evening condensed, in time and place, would have been far, far more satisfying. As it was, it was a decent showcase, and we left at half nine looking forward to the next meeting. When the twin axes of product and presentation cross it will be something special.