Black Rebel Motorcycle Club June 29, Albert Hall

Back in Manchester promoting a new live album before hitting the European festival circuit, the live arena is where Black Rebel Motorcycle Club are at their best.

The power trio, led by Robert Levon Been and Peter Hayes, have always remained on the fringes of the indie scene but still pull in a sell out crowd at the ornate Albert Hall.

Setting their scene prior to BRMC's heroes like welcome is Carl Barat with his band The Jackals — all adhering to the seemingly compulsory all black dress code for the baking hot evening — fresh from The Libertines' sub-headline slot at Glastonbury.

And with the sun still pouring in through the stained glass windows and illuminating this former chapel, BRMC take to the stage to open a two hour set with the title track from their 2010 album Beat the Devil's Tattoo.

Touring that album was tinged with sadness when Levon Been's father and the band's soundman Michael Been died backstage at the Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium.

The band then rip into Let The Day Begin, a track recorded by Michael Been's band The Call, recorded in tribute to his late father on most recent album Specter at the Feast.

Then the three piece, completed by Leah Shapiro, former drummer with The Raveonettes, take the sell out crowd on a well received tour of their expansive back catalogue.

Mixing fan favourites such as Awake from their 2001 self titled debut, with Weapon of Choice from 2007's Baby 81 and Ain't No Easy Way from their acoustic third album Howl, the crowd are in raptures.

As well as delivering punchy three minute radio friendly bursts of California tinged rock, BRMC are known for their epic album tracks, with songs such as American X and Heart + Soul demonstrating this.

The band — named after the outlaw motorcycle gang in Marlon Brando's influential 1953 film The Wild One — command the stage with Levon Been and Hayes frequently swapping between bass, acoustic and electric guitar.

They say little to the crowd, well little that is audible, but the appreciation of the fans is evident when Levon Been breaks rank and makes the steep jump off stage to the front barrier, with one reliable fan holding his microphone up and acting as a human mic stand.

It the band's breakthrough hit Spread Your Love that tops the night off, before closer Whatever Happened to My Rock N Roll proves BRMC's sense of rock and roll has never left them.