It’s another mixed Bank Holiday weekend with Sunday being a bit of a washout, but a bit of light drizzle never put anyone off. A plume of dry ice fog and generous applause in Cardiff heralds the arrival of the quintet that make up Metronomy: Joseph Mount upfront on vocals and guitar, floppy-haired Michael Lovett on synth and guitar, bouncy bassist Olugbenga Adelekan and Oscar Cash on synth, with Anna Prior on an elevated platform for tub-thumping duties.  

Over 90 minutes and 20 tunes, Metronomy do a cracking job of highlighting their full range, spanning seaside-inspired new wave to nu-rave, across their seven albums to date. Opener Love Factory, one of five this evening from new album Small World, layers C86-sounding jangle with CSNY harmonies and a laidback guitar solo. The guitars return later on the 90s slacker pop of Loneliness On The Run – with Mount on acoustic guitar – and the Nick Lowe-ish Things Will Be Fine.

Right On Time couldn’t be any more summery, with a beach ball-bouncy candyfloss chorus and a whiff of coconut oil and cocktails: the kind of tune Metronomy excel at. Mount exults the crowd to chant the Welsh for ice cream (hufen ia for the record) while the band break into the Prince-esque new wave soul – Funkytown meets U Got The Look – of Salted Caramel Ice Cream, from 2019’s Metronomy Forever.

The rowdiest cheers are reserved for some classics from their most consistent album, 2011’s The English Riviera: The Bay provokes a terrace-chant singalong before Corinne is played as a more Devo gonzoid version. The Look is preceded by a daft performance piece between Oscar and Joe, and nearly blows the roof off the Tramshed – the whole crowd is a thronging, bopping mass from my vantage point on the balcony.

There’s a wiry new wave bassline from the effervescent Adelekan on Insecurity and woo-woo synth lines from Cash and Lovett, with the tune sounding like early Cars. It’s Good To Be Back is a boppy blend of Depeche Mode and Technique-era New Order which you can imagine soundtracking goal of the month montages next season, and Reservoir is a Kraftwerkian aquatic-synthetic pop tune from 2014’s Love Letters. The title tune from that album is played as an Abba-gone-Motown northern soul stomper, with Prior thudding the drums in the encore.

Mount gets busy with the cowbell on LCD breakdancing classic Old Skool and to finish, there’s a look back at his very first album with the fiery Bugman grunge of You Could Have Me. Metronomy’s founder member shreds guitar and eardrums alike, prompting the crowd to go as wild as a kid in a seaside arcade during a sugar rush. 

Tramshed, Cardiff, Sun 1 May 

words CHRIS SEAL photos ARABELLA ITANI

Read our interview with Joe Mount below.