Picking a support band is a tough business. If they're poor you've got to face an audience in a bad mood and work hard to get them back. If they're too good it could make your headline show a bit of an anti-climax.

The Maccabees could have faced the latter problem with their excellent support band The Rumble Strips on the first date of their twonight residency in Hove.

A lot was riding on these two gigs for the Brighton-based band, after their last performance at Concorde 2 erupted into a mini-riot which resulted in the band getting a temporary city ban.

The fact they had something to prove in front of a home crowd just gave the Maccabees the edge over their support.

The Rumblestrips are certainly a band to watch though, combining pounding rhythms with a skainfluenced sax and trumpet backing.

The recently-lauded poppy single Alarm Clock, which closed their set, doesn't really show their full strength.

The Maccabees' Wednesday night gig was the first of two launch parties for their eagerly-anticipated debut album Colour It In.

All the old favourites were there; with the band's tribute to Battersea leisure centre Latchmere opening the show, through to early single First Love at the end.

Particular highlights were the magnificent tale of a nightmare first date About Your Dress and single Precious Time, both of which saw fans singing along.

At the centre of the onstage action was black-shirted band frontman Orlando Weeks, who jerked around like a man possessed when not glued to the mic.

His strangled vocals and idiosyncratic delivery provide much of the band's unique sound, which is making them current indie darlings across the scene.

Although his mic seemed a little muted it was still easy to appreciate his range, which mutated from a mumble to a yelp to a pleading yearning often within one line of the same song.

There was no sign of the trouble that blighted the band's last city appearance; the worst the goodnatured audience could offer was a few crowd surfers towards the end of the set.