The Front Bottoms @ O2 Ritz, Manchester, 22 Nov

Glancing over the O2 Ritz’s crowd of teen scene kids (dressed top to toe in black band merch) gives you a good idea of what The Front Bottoms are about. They’re a band who speak the universal language of ‘misunderstood adolescent’ – a language that they’ve become slowly fluent in over the years. Think Blink-182, with acoustic guitars, synths and trumpets.

The stage is decked out like a cosy living room, complete with lampshades, sofa and working TV, and lead singer Brian Sella certainly seems at home there. His casual demeanour and powerful vocals are well suited to the unpolished style the band adopt live – although rowdy set opener Skeleton shows the crowd are not in the mood for a relaxed evening.

Despite interludes of frantic moshing, there's an unmistakeable air of playfulness to the performance. After almost being hit by an airborne loo roll, Sella promises the audience ten more songs if anyone manages to hit him on the head. Game on – but unfortunately, no one’s aim is good enough. Instead, the band wrap up on a low-key note, as bassist Tom Warren returns to the stage for an encore, delivering an eccentric monologue about a snake and a house party before finishing on the upbeat Maps.

There’s something endearing about the giddy, youthful message The Front Bottoms stand for, which their fans believe in so whole-heartedly – as the anthemic verse of Twin Sized Mattress screams out: 'This is for the lions living in the wiry broke-down frames of my friends' bodies.' There’s little doubt that this rousing, defiant roar has spoken to one or two lions in the audience tonight.