With his wide eyes, permanent grin and moves straight from the world of musical theatre Jonathan Donahue was untouchable as a frontman.

He barely needed to say a word to get the audience onside - riding out an initial murky sound which matched the mists of smoke masking his five-piece on the Komedia stage.

Until the band launched into the more dynamic songs from the band’s breakthrough 1998 album Deserter’s Songs his voice felt lost in the swirling soundscape.

The new songs from The Light In You, the band’s first album in seven years, fitted perfectly with the post-1998 set favourites Tonite It Shows, Tides Of The Moon and Diamonds.

Both Are You Ready? and the disco beat of Central Park East – augmented unironically by a bubble machine - staked their claims as Mercury Rev classics of the future.

The set climaxed with an extended outro on Opus 40 before a double whammy of encores: Goddess On A Hiway and The Dark Is Rising.

That last song from All Is Dream saw Donahue deliver one of his most tender lyrics about harsh reality crashing into his dreams of love as orchestral empires rose and crumbled around him.

Four stars