Judge a band on its live performance, I say, because the best groups always take their recordings to another world in the concert hall and studio albums are to be devoured at home where the lyrics and music can be loved individually, whether via Spotify or a bust-up old gramophone.

Not that Angus and Julia Stone have anything to worry about. Beautiful on record and even better on stage, their UK tour in support of Australian number one album, Down The Way, is virtually sold out.

Hirsute folk rock is once again judged as a serious pursuit by tastemakers, and, with Fleet Foxes away writing album number two, the Australian brother-sister duo, backed on Monday by a deep-voiced bearded bassist and equally hairy ambidextrous drummer, have filled the void.

As soon as Julia shared her palpable delight at playing “this beautiful, spirited city” the love-in began, and with every song – tracks from A Book Like This, covers including, bizarrely, The One That I Want, plus a heavy serving of newbies – an enchanted hush hung beneath the ancient Duke Of York’s walls.

There was a silky, groove-laden trumpet-led warm-up before Julia threw herself into I’m Not Yours, her heart pounding on every note, her knees desperately shuffling below her keyboard, her vocal chords batting to reel in the torment, like a modern Marie Antoinette or Kate Bush, then flowering out her incredible range.

Angus appeared like an extra from Castaway – bedraggled beard, long hair curled round cheeks, clothes hanging off – and soon took lead on The Devil’s Tears, switching from piano to guitar and back again as they each sang their own numbers.

More beautifully crafted tales of love and loss followed – For You, written by Julia for a boy who missed the point and replied with some heavy metal – then, finally, two lullabies as soft and gentle as the siblings themselves, which you wished you could hear before bed every night.