Metronomy, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London

Strength in numbers seems to be the unequivocal mantra to Metronomy’s success. Debut album ‘Pip Paine (Pay the £5000 You Owe)’ and its odd-pop amusements, composed alone by Joseph Mount on a computer in his bedroom, was largely overlooked; seen as ‘a bit of fun’. By the time second album ‘Nights Out’ had been released Mount had been joined by Oscar Cash and Gabriel Stebbing for live performances, however the recordings were only separated from his debut by an upgrade to Mount’s computer soundcard. Stebbing departed in May 2009, with Anna Prior and Gbenga Adelekan joining on drums and bass respectively to form Metronomy’s first full band setup. ‘The English Riviera’ was released last week and has been met with universal acclaim, boasting a fuller and more live sound; which pretty much brings us up to date.

Metronomy open with ‘We Broke Free’, which takes the key elements from their first two records and converts it to widescreen; this can be said for many of the new songs heard tonight as the addition of live bass and drums have significantly upped the spec of Metronomy 2.0. Second song ‘Love Underlined’ gets the crowd jumping about, with its harpsichord breakdowns and sweeping house synths, which feel like new ground for Metronomy as it’s not so much alternative-pop but just… pop. It’s at this point that the lights on the band members’ chests flash on, in synchronisation with the music- adding an amusing yet captivating element to the whole performance. ‘Performing’ being in the most literal sense possible as Mount and Cash freeze frame, fingers outstretched towards Gbenga for his bass solo on ‘Holiday’, and again by Oscar for Joseph’s guitar solo on ‘Corrine’ - I never thought I’d see a guitar solo on a Metronomy track but it somehow fits in perfectly with the song’s muted bass and techno chimes.

When it comes to playing ‘You Could Easily Have Me’ it dawns on both the crowd and band what a massive achievement this is for Joseph Mount. A few months ago Metronomy were still touring toilet venues, unaware of the success their new album would bring, and now they’re playing one of London’s most iconic venues to a sold out crowd - Mount could never have guessed his electronic doodles crafted in a Devonshire bedroom would lead him here.

A lone drummer, Anna Prior, returns to stage for the encore, playing the lounge-friendly drum beat for ‘Some Written’, slowly being joined by each member who guide us up and up before finally reaching the type of euphoric wonky-pop crescendo that Mount has been destined to make since day one. Closer ‘Radio Ladio’ is familiar territory for all with the crowd shouting “R.A.D.I.O.L.A.D.I.O.” at the top of their lungs making for a triumphant end to an evening Joseph should be extremely proud of.

Tonight is a celebration of what Metronomy have achieved over the past few months, with the hype around them never having been so fervent, nods for album of the year lists and a Mercury nomination are already flooding in and frankly it would be a crime for them to be denied either. What it proves is that Joseph Mount has been one of Britain’s best songwriters all along, we knew what he was capable of and all it took to achieve it was to trade in his soundcard for some drums, some bass and an amp turned up to eleven. Oh, and for Joe to pop down to his local B&Q for some push lights.