On the day they learned their new single is no longer number one, but their new album is, Kaiser Chiefs completed a hat-trick of mid-scale London shows that served to whet the appetite for a big year ahead.

Existing fans of the Brit-winning Leeds quintet could justifiably be concerned about the glum faces gazing forlornly from the cover of second album Yours Truly, Angry Mob.

After the soaraway success of their 2005 debut, they should have been pictured drenching each other in champagne while a gaggle of supermodels looked on.

But as this comeback show proved, the cheeky chappies' mature makeover consists of little more than keyboard player Peanut ditching his silly hat and growing a beard.

Far from alienating those just after a simple singalong, this was still a band with energy and great melodies to spare. New songs such as Heat Dies Down and Ruby provoked enthusiastic audience reactions.

"The world famous Kaiser Chiefs" as singer Ricky Wilson introduced them, remain brimming with ambition.

The crowd of 2,000 risked permanent retina damage from a fizzing light show clearly designed to make Wembley Stadium look as if it is taking off.

Wilson was given a set of fluorescent steps from which to make his trademark leaps, and the large-scale choruses of tracks such as Thank You Very Much were obviously designed to be bellowed by thousands.

Wilson may have sounded slightly hoarse and mildly bored between songs, but during a set that maintained a relentless pace he whizzed about like a shopping centre child with wheels in his shoes.

During I Predict A Riot he threw himself into the audience, a riot predictably ensued and when he eventually resurfaced his T-shirt had become an off-the-shoulder number.

Everything Is Average Nowadays almost matched that big hit for vibrant vigour, while Highroyds brought a touch of punk to the mix, although it did carry on a career-long tradition of owing an awful lot to Blur.

Keyboard-led ballad Try Your Best provided a rare lull but was not memorable enough for lighter-waving.

When the band returned for their encore and Wilson inquired, "Are you ready for a sing-song?" he summed up the simple appeal of his band - big tunes and an even bigger chorus, pretensions be damned.

They may wish to mean more to the world, but they would be foolish to let new beards get in the way of a good time.