M83 has suddenly become huge. Tonight’s sold out show, perhaps encouraged by last year’s single ‘Midnight City’, which was somehow everywhere and yet didn’t manage to chart, sees every last inch of the Arches occupied, and thanks to an unusually tall crowd, about two thirds of ticket holders probably can’t see a thing.

That doesn’t really seem to matter, though; necks craning as the lights go down. But when Anthony Gonzales (Mr M83, complete with a swiftly discarded alien mask) and his band launch into ‘Intro’ from most recent album ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’, good view or not, the crowd loses itself in celebration. 2006’s ‘Teen Angst’ follows, a sighing sugar rush of a song with a chorus it’s impossible to tire of, then the dreamy ‘Kim & Jessie’; and as opening sequences go, this trio is hard to beat. ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’ really shouldn’t have worked. Awash with saxophones and slap bass, it should have been the stuff of naff 80s nightmares, but somehow, it was one of the best albums of 2011. And live, its appeal is amplified; ‘Reunion’ becoming a huge singalong and ‘Claudia Lewis’ eliciting some shameful dancing and copious use of a cowbell.

Throughout their set, the band’s playing is near faultless, with a fantastic command of dynamics, from a beautifully stripped back ‘Wait’ to crescendos which create almost unbearable anticipation. Predictably, it’s the helium brilliance of ‘Midnight City’ that provokes hysteria, and justifiably so, with its infectious sample, its soaring vocals, and a saxophonist who actually runs onstage for his solo. And as the line, “city is my church” echoes through the Arches, the crowd responds with what can only be described as worship.

Heather Crumley