The Sunshine Underground @ Hoxton Bar & Grill, London

In case you’ve missed it, there’s a major football tournament going on at the moment. To bring you up to speed: we’re not doing so well and everyone’s surprised by this, even though they probably shouldn’t be. Frankly, we’re a little bored of it.

But for one glorious hour on Friday night, Artrocker was granted a brief reprieve where all talk of the World Cup, freakishly round footballs and those weird horn things was suspended and replaced with hip-swerving rhythms and a lot of cowbells.

Well, almost.

“We’re just trying to get through these songs quickly so you don’t miss any of the football!” joked The Sunshine Underground’s Craig Wellington midway through a set which caused infinitely more joy than the following England match could ever muster.

The up-tempo show saw the band rattle through the likes of ‘We’ve Always Been Your Friends’, ‘Commercial Breakdown’ and ‘Nobody’s Coming To Save You’, reminding Artrocker how puzzling it is that TSU aren’t bigger than they actually are. The set’s only lull – and it was a welcome one – was a stirring version of ‘Borders’ which inspired a mass sing-a-long, before the always pleasing ‘Put You In Your Place’ closed the night in an eruption of bouncing bodies.

There’s a tremendous energy to TSU that should make them mandatory listening for everyone everywhere, and it surely can’t be long before this is the case. With the backing of a major label now in place, you’d be wise to hop on TSU’s bandwagon as soon as possible. If you don’t, there’s a very real threat that there won’t be any space left on it.