alt-J @ SEC Armadillo, Glasgow, 21 Oct

Hunched by the Clyde, the SEC Armadillo has something of the Sydney Opera House in its grand, slated armour. The smallest of the three Event Campus venues, the former Clyde Auditorium still boasts a lux interior, with plush seating and high-spec tech facilities. A marked choice then for Leeds trio alt-J, whose gig rap sheet has included sites – like our O2 Academy and the Hydro – with more traditional standing-room spaces.

Tonight’s audience wrestles with this contradiction: from the opening percussion of An Awesome Wave’s Something Good, there's a palpable restlessness. We feel more like dancing than we do sitting to contemplate. Some ten tracks later, we even try jiving in the aisles to the same album’s bassy Intro, only to be ushered back by stewards.

But their latest album RELAXER bears a considered focus in style and cinematics, perhaps moreso than their first two records. This performance – a good three years since their last in Glasgow – has the indie artisans exploiting the venue’s staging to put on a marvel of a show. Dazzling, cage-like bars of light flash, strobe and thrum along with the music, uniting their opus into a coherent but diverse audiovisual showcase. Arguably worth sitting down for.

Joe Newman leads on guitar, parallel to Thom Sunny Green on drums and Gus Unger-Hamilton on keys, also joining Newman on the mic. This flat formation remains static throughout; they’ve never been the most dynamic – or talkative – performers. But their playing is almost unremarkably excellent: coolly statuesque while the glitter and smoke rage around them.

Fresh RELAXER hits like 3WW get an inevitable airing, sounding more epic and hymnal than they do on record. Deadcrush, Adeline and – in the encore – binary-quoting banger In Cold Blood all take compelling left-turns into their REDUXER reimaginings. The latter being last month’s RELAXER remix album, featuring guest rappers (including Danny Brown, Paigey Cakey and HEX, and Pusha T). Tonight their contributions come pre-recorded, while two-tone videos play behind the band. Each is a slick surprise, especially the autotuned HEX and Paigey Cakey who turn Adeline’s thoughtful musings into a wily R'n'B floorfiller.

Reinventions aside, alt-J give plenty of lip service to the hits that made their name; cue venue-wide singalongs to Matilda, Fitzpleasure, Dissolve Me. They even treat us to Intro, Interlude I (Ripe & Ruin) and Tessellate, exactly in their listed order on the Mercury-winning An Awesome Wave. We’re in thrall – so much so that by the time they kick off their encore with Left Hand Free, Unger-Hamilton’s invitation to dance triggers a flood of fans to the stage, while helpless stewards look on. 'Please don’t go, please don’t go / I love you so, I love you so,' we wail to closer Breezeblocks, more to the band than they might think.