Either the Maccabees had put their own punch behind the bar or the Brighton-based band have a secret weapon only certain young men can see.

How else to explain the frenzy that ensued on the dancefloor only 30 seconds into the opening song, Sore Throat ? Pints went flying, there was mass pogoing, photographers fled and security struggled to stop a stage invasion.

Sore Throat was a decent enough number — spiky, melodic, but relatively tame indie-rock so familiar that it could belong to any one of a dozen new bands. Throw in the fact that the frontman Orlando Weeks’s sole incitement was leisurely bending one leg up behind him and it was hard not to sense a conspiracy.

The second song, Latchmere , was a marked improvement and had the audacity to poach its lyrics from a list of swimming pool rules — the title refers to a South London leisure centre Weeks frequented as a child — which alone made it worthy of applause, although not exactly thunderous. What the Maccabees have that perhaps their peers do not is 18 months on the tour circuit, a handful of catchy singles and lyrics that relate to the lives of their student-age audience. Musically, there were some of the art-school edges of Franz Ferdinand and their name is a nod to biblical rebels, but bar a glittery bit on the singer’s beige jacket their casual clothes were far from stylish and their songs more likely to deal with TV cricket coverage than historical events.

What the quintet lacked in originality, however, they soon made up with effort. Hugo White, one of a pair of sibling guitarists, pogoed in a hoodie, the drummer Robert Dylan Thomas played with elastic arms and Weeks displayed some dreadful dancing that ranged from kicking knee-locked legs forwards while leaning back to attempting Ian Curtis’s jittery twitch.

In the highlights, Precious Time and the current single About Your Dress , the Maccabees have two surefire summer festival anthems that should send their debut album, released in May, to the top of the charts. In half an hour they charged through 15 frantic tunes that were fun, if not exactly fresh.

The Maccabees’ UK tour begins on April 13

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