In 2006, audiences for the NME tour were only talking about one band, the Arctic Monkeys.

It must have been galling if you were a member of second-on-the-bill American trio We Are Scientists, whose hooky, adrenaline-driven pop punk should have propelled them to mainstream glory.

Four years later, they still have the ability to sell out the Academy, but you can’t help but think things could have been different for this band with all the talent but little of the luck.

That’s of no concern to the crowd, however, many of whom don’t look old enough to remember that first tour.

There’s little subtlety, but instead a joyous, surging pack mentality, fed by the scent of teenage pheremones going into overdrive every time singer Keith Murray opens his mouth to make a wisecrack comment in that adorable American accent.

None of the newer tracks can match the heart-soaring urgency of the songs of their first album — Great Escape is a true hands-in-the-air chantalong anthem, while Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt hurtles along like a steam train.

There’s the odd disorganised moment and the sound is fuzzy at best, messy at worst, but it doesn’t seem to matter.

Here is a band who can whip the audience into such a frenzy that they remind you rock and roll isn’t about perfect timing or selling a million records, it’s about looking out into a sweaty crowd and seeing every face break into a grin.