Playing to the Crowd: Spoon Return to Manchester

That might seem like the very definition of playing to the crowd on the part of Spoon's frontman, Britt Daniel, but in his defence, there might have been pangs of guilt behind his comments. After all, when the Austin outfit released their eighth full-length, They Want My Soul, in 2014, they somehow managed to avoid playing any kind of regional UK dates whatsoever, despite the fact that they were entering into it off the back of the lengthiest hiatus of their career so far.

Tonight's sell-out audience underneath the Oxford Road railway arches, then, is one that's been less spoon-fed than Spoon-starved for longer than they'd care to remember: this is Spoon's first appearance in the city since February 2010. It's a nice touch, therefore, that the sort of theatrics that you'd normally associate with a room much bigger than this 600-capacity club are still employed - the incendiary opener "Do I Have to Talk You Into It" only kicks into gear in earnest after a couple of minutes of tantalising synth burbles, provided by the versatile Alex Fischel.

Also striking is the fact that the set list cuts right across the band's back catalogue, rather than focusing too keenly on March's rapturously-received Hot Thoughts. On balance, the truth of the matter is that Spoon have never really experienced anything other than acclaim: by Metacritic's aggregation, they were the most critically-adored outfit of the first post-millennium decade.

What that means is that, along with the nervy synth throwdown of "WhisperI'lllistentohearit" and the sparse-but-fierce "I Ain't the One", we also get classics from 2007's shimmering Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga in the form of a raucous "The Underdog", as well as the smug strut of "Don't You Evah". Plus, there's Gimme Fiction's minimalist funk odyssey, "I Turn My Camera On", and then the set highlight plucked from the same LP, an intense version of the nerve-jangling "My Mathematical Mind".

That there's a second encore speaks volumes of the dedication of this band's fanbase, one that inexplicably remains very cultish. You wonder what it is about this most assured of indie rock groups that's keeping them, in this country at least, from the larger venues you might expect them to frequent. This final straight showcases both sides of their aesthetic, too - there's the measured groove of the slinky "Hot Thoughts", and then the detached cool of bluesy closer "Rent I Pay". It seems like Spoon dance to nobody's tune but their own. Long may it continue.

Spoon's UK tour continues this week, culminating in a show at London's O2 Forum, Kentish Town on Friday 30th.