Belle and Sebastian @ Troon Concert Hall, 20 Feb

It has been 30 years since Belle and Sebastian released their two first albums, Tigermilk and If You’re Feeling Sinister, and they’re kicking off their celebratory world tour with two intimate shows not far from home, at the Troon Concert Hall. The concept of the tour, which encompasses the UK, Europe and North America, is as follows: they perform two shows in each city, a Tigermilk show and a Sinister show. They play the album in question in full, followed by a second set of selected favourite songs. Tonight, we have come along to the Sinister show, the second of two warm-up gigs that the band are playing on the Ayrshire coast.

Supported by The Parsonage, a Glasgow-based choir who warm us up with some beautiful covers from the likes of Joy Division and Lou Reed, Belle and Sebastian soon take the stage to thunderous applause. Re-enacting the recording of the record we are here to celebrate, the band launch straight into its first song, The Stars of Track and Field. The tracklist is no secret, the songs flow flawlessly from one to the other, and it quickly becomes clear that this is a loyal audience, singing along faithfully to the album so many of us have grown up with. The songs are familiar, but the energy is everything but tired: the band of multi-instrumentalists brings as much enthusiasm and devotion to the music as could possibly be expected and makes it seem like no time has passed since they first performed it.

Image: Belle and Sebastian by Marisa Privitera Murdoch

The visuals projected behind them, lovingly tailored to each song, seem like a visual love letter to the city where Belle and Sebastian were created, the city that many of us will return to on the night's last train: Glasgow. The choice of venue, however, seems intentional. While putting on the gig in Glasgow might, at first glance, seem the more obvious choice, the windy seaside town that welcomes us tonight feels like a proper return to the band’s roots.

Ayrshire-born frontman Stuart Murdoch confirms this by regaling us with stories of his upbringing between sets, having spotted his old school teacher's daughter in the crowd. He tells of his football team, Ayr United, to bouts of laughter: while this band of international fame are about to embark on a global tour, their unpretentious stage patter reminds us that there are really more things that connect than divide the band from the rest of us.

After ending the If You’re Feeling Sinister part of the evening with beautiful Judy and the Dream of Horses, the band launch almost immediately into their second set. Indulging us with crowd pleasers such as Piazza, New York Catcher, the gig culminates in The Boy with the Arab Strap, seeing a stream of audience members being invited onto the stage to dance alongside the band. While Belle and Sebastian are known for straddling the line between melancholy and joy, tonight, the exultation in the air is palpable, making the night a full success and a brilliant start to this landmark tour.