The Hours, led by singer Antony Genn, kicked off with their shouty new single Love You More. Apparently they "love you more than Adidas trainers". Which is a lot.

The crowd -seeming older than is usual for an average Brighton gig - were perhaps drawn by Genn's previous work with Pulp and pianist Martin Slattery's experience with Black Grape and Joe Strummer's Mescaleros.

They had a full, rich sound, Genn's mellow voice, lush melodies and the use of the upright piano first reminding me of Keane and then the Nineties band, Gene. The music was well crafted and performed with intensity and passion - but they didn't really "rock" as such. For me, the stand-out song was Back When You Were Good, which had a powerful anthemic quality.

At times I could easily imagine them as stadium fillers, with thousands of mobile phones held aloft. Some of the crowd were already singing back the choruses.

Before the final encore of stomper Ali in the Jungle, Genn asked us to be quiet for the number he dedicated to his dead father, Miss You, accompanied only by acoustic guitar and piano. It was a brave move, and we respectfully fell silent - so I feel bad saying it was a rather cloying, unremarkable song. But hey.

The band's music may not be as striking as their Damien Hirst designed album cover but if bands such as Keane and Snow Patrol can conquer the charts, then so could these black-clad indie thirtysomethings.