To mosh or not to mosh, that was the question for Spear Of Destiny’s audience of grown-up punks at Concorde 2 on Thursday.

Confident support act Everafta played an energetic and powerful rock set, but were unable to stir the quietly appreciative assembly to break out of their semicircle several metres away from the stage.

More people filled the room for the headliners as, for a slightly Spinal Tap-like introduction, they filled the stage with dry ice and red light and, over a background of industrial noise, a mangled voiceover enquired: “Who are these people?”

From the epic rush of guitars on opening track Rain Maker and Kirk Brandon’s throttled roaring on Young Men, it was clear Spear of Destiny’s sound is as powerful as ever.

Twenty five years on from the release of their album One Eyed Jacks, they are touring again with the concept structure of playing the entire album in order.

This approach had most of the audience mouthing the lyrics and tapping their feet, but the song they were all waiting for was Liberator, which got three laughing audience members lurching around.

But the much slower tracks that followed dissipated the potential mosh pit’s energy.

Brandon, whose 1980s haircut spawned a thousand imitations, finally drew the show to a close after an hour and a half with two encores.

They left the stage as imperial purple light and Barber’s emotional lament Adagio For Strings on synthesisers suffused the room.