The xx @ O2 Apollo, Manchester, 6 Mar

Seeing a band in the middle of an extensive tour schedule, and on the second date of the same city, one might expect a somewhat robotic performance, especially from a group for who playing live has never come naturally. But The xx deliver not only a show, but also speeches full of emotion – they seem to love Manchester as much as their fans here love them.

From Romy Madley Croft’s vulnerable solo rendition of Performance from new album I See You, to the mash-up of Shanks & Bigfoot’s Sweet Like Chocolate with the band’s own Chained, there are surprises aplenty – not least the set design, which in its use of mirrors, colour and smoke manages to evoke scenes from films as divergent as 70s classic Saturday Night Fever and Danny Boyle’s sci-fi thriller Sunshine.

Croft and bassist Oliver Sim never fail to work the stage when a moment gives them the opportunity, and while much of the physical intimacy between them seems choreographed, it's no less touching. The most dramatic point of the evening seems to arrive when the band perform Loud Place from Jamie xx’s solo album In Colour, and while that would have more than sufficed as a glorious finale it turns out to be a premature ending. When the trio return to play On Hold, Intro and Angels they show that they are not only a band of equally accomplished musicians, but that as a group they are currently at their most attuned in a way that only a band on the road can be.