Bombay Bicycle Club and Peace, Manchester Apollo

After a mammoth year touring their most recent album So Long, See You Tomorrow, Bombay Bicycle Club have definitely earned their place in UK music history. While many of their peers who emerged in the early noughties have disappeared, floundering after failing to live up to their exciting debuts, the band have gone from strength to strength, finding fans in both young indie-pop lovers and more discerning musos.

Support tonight comes from Peace, who look a little lost on the giant stage with no backdrop behind them, only a huge curtain. They rattle out hits like Lovesick and Wraith, which are still sounding fresh, as well as a couple of new tracks. Money and Gen Strange don’t quite have the same instant catchiness as their previous efforts, but are still danceable enough to get the excited crowd moving.

After a quick 25 minute set from their support, it’s time for the main attraction. Bombay Bicycle Club open with Overdone, which effortlessly blends in to Come To. The four piece have expanded to include keys, backing vocals and even a brass trio, which allows their now more mature and complex sound to fill the rafters of the Apollo. Throughout the show mesmerising visuals from dancing skeletons, rattlesnakes and even the band members themselves dance around on huge projections, tying the performances together and creating a captivating stage show.

Frontman Jack Steadman encourages the crowd to sing along for Shuffle and they gladly oblige. The band now have a fairly extensive back catalogue, meaning each and every song so far is a hit. For Lights Out, Words Gone and Home By Now backing vocalist Liz Lawrence takes centre stage, and the two singers complement each other perfectly. After a rendition of Wherever, Whenever , the group treat the audience to a selection of songs from their acoustic record Flaws, reworked to fit the bigger venues on this tour, as the band members switch their instruments and stage positions  around. The flashy visuals are paused, and theatre lights litter the stage like an unfinished set. For fan favourite The Giantess there are three drummers on stage at once, adding something extra special to an already charming moment.

The whole set really feels like a reward for old fans that have been there from the beginning. As if to cement this, the band perform Evening, Morning and Dust On The Ground with just the original four members. Halfway through the latter song Steadman pauses and lets the rapturous applause last a few seconds before launching into the song’s remaining bars. Tonight’s gig is filled with goosebump-inducing moments like this, and the atmosphere is truly triumphant. After a stunning version of How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep, the horn trio re-emerges to add a touch of funk to the proceedings, and a cover of Robyn’s With Every Heartbeat at first seems an unusual choice but somehow works.

As the show begins to reach a climactic end , Feel, Luna and Always Like This send the audience into a frenzy, fuelled by exploding streamers and even some pyrotechnics; a far cry from those first Bombay gigs of nearly a decade ago. After one last confetti cannon, the band leaves the stage for a few moments before returning for their encore. What If and Carry Me sound anthemic, and are a perfect way to end an amazing night.

Bombay Bicycle Club have clearly put a fantastic amount of effort into linking their aesthetics with their sound, and tonight it has definitely paid off, making what could be described as a slightly disjointed set into a seamless live performance. Hopefully they will continue in this vein and keep creating spectacular live shows as well as outstanding albums.