Athlete are four scruffy lads from south London whose feelgood beatbox anthems have this year won them a huge following and a richly-deserved Mercury nomination.

Opening the set with the soaring Beautiful and a bouncy rendition of near-hit El Salvador, they quickly won over the sell-out crowd with a sugary brand of 21st-Century Britpop.

With the audience entranced in minutes, the bassist and drummer left the stage for amiable frontman Joel to play an acoustic rendition of Vehicles And Animals, the title track from their debut album, accompanied only by squelches and bleeps from the keyboard player's Casiotone.

The paean to the innocence of childhood was one of the night's highlights, proving beneath the electronics and experimentation Athlete are no slouches at knocking out a great melody.

Their sound is too sweet for some tastes and they have been cruelly dubbed "the Toploader fan's favourite new band" in some quarters but Athlete's guilelessly cheerful philosophy harks back to simpler times.

On a chilly autumn night, an hour in their company was a welcome last gasp of summer.