Belle & Sebastian and the RSNO @ Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 24 Aug

"It must be great being in this orchestra... I mean, you can say you've played for Scotland! Like Archie Gemmill or Kenny Dalglish!" Quickly, Stuart Murdoch realises the potentially grave implications of what he's just said about the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, given that he's just compared them to one of the most grievously underachieving national teams in modern football history. "We're hoping to avoid disaster tonight, of course," he adds hastily, with a grin. "Victory would be nice."

Right enough, this show does have the feel of a victory lap for Belle & Sebastian. After an intense 2018 on the road in support of their trilogy of EPs, How to Solve Our Human Problems, they're bringing the curtain down tonight with what might be the ultimate prestige hometown show – a Friday night spot at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, with the RSNO providing handsome backing.

Even Mick Cooke, the band's former but long-time trumpeter, has been coaxed out of retirement for a gig that falls on the eve of Murdoch's 50th birthday. Later, the crowd will noisily, and obligatorily, serenade him. Before that, though, the group meet the rarity of the occasion – they aren't usually backed with such grandiosity – with a slew of rarities of their own. Clearly, this setlist has been put together on the basis of which songs would most benefit from the RSNO's accoutrements.

That means we get the freewheeling grandeur of I Want the World to Stop and a particularly jaunty take on Step Into My Office, Baby. Dirty Dream Number Two is even more irresistibly boisterous than usual with the orchestral backdrop of the studio version catered for, and The Fox in the Snow is sumptuous. All of this comes after guitarist Stevie Jackson opens proceedings on harmonica, with the gloriously wistful Fuck This Shit.

Murdoch has been inundated with messages from fans who've traveled from as far as Toronto for this special show, and it emboldens the group to delve deep into the back catalogue; after all, the ultras are out in force. He apologetically prefaces Don't Leave the Light On Baby by saying that it's from "our much-maligned mid-period," but with the orchestra in full flight, it improbably ends up sounding like a Bond theme. 

I Fought in a War and I'm Waking Up to Us are also plucked from that era. The latter is Scottish pop's answer to The Winner Takes It All and confirms that Isobel Campbell won't follow Cooke's lead in making a guest appearance tonight. The lyrics are still stinging seventeen years later. Elsewhere, more deep cuts, with Sarah Martin and Jackson taking the lead on I Can See Your Future and (I Believe In) Travellin' Light respectively, before an epic Sleep the Clock Around closes the orchestral portion of the evening.

The band return without them for what effectively turns into a requests slot – Judy and the Dream of Horses reminds you how neglected the seminal first two LPs have been tonight, which says plenty for the albums that followed. They'll play one of them, Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant in full on their Boaty Weekender cruise next year. As for Murdoch, his foray into the crowd during closer The Party Line suggests he has no intention of slowing down at fifty. Full steam ahead, then.