Brixton Academy, SW9

They fought off Lily Allen, Corinne Bailey Rae and James Morrison to win the British Breakthrough Act Award at the Brits. Their first album, Costello Music, has sold more than 600,000 copies. They are the band du jour . But despite all this sudden glory, the Fratellis remain three rather ordinary looking guys from Glasgow, even if their album artwork and current billboard campaign might suggest that the group is comprised of a trio of cartoon glamour babes in vintage underwear.

The babes were not forgotten as the band swept through a swift, compact set. Quite the reverse. During every number a different montage of stills appeared on a screen at the back of the stage in which the same three girls appeared draped around the Fratellis logo in a variety of gently provocative poses — a visual style combining the graphics of 1960s James Bond movies with a bygone era of saucy seaside postcards.

The music conveyed a similarly reassuring sense of British pop tradition. Joined by a three-man horn section for the opening number, Henrietta, they took off like a rocket on the first of many insanely catchy choruses, delivered with a jaunty strut that was part 1990s Britpop, part 1970s New Wave and part old-fashioned music hall. Flathead belted past in a blur of tom-tom beats and quirkily syncopated chants, while Vince the Loveable Stoner married country guitar to a melody steeped in vaudeville mannerisms.

The singer and guitarist, Jon Fratelli, introduced the songs in a Glaswegian mumble, but sang in a way that sounded more like Damon Albarn in his Blur period. Meanwhile the bass player, Barry Fratelli, and drummer, Mince Fratelli (not their real names, sadly), proved an able rhythm section. But for all the slick energy and imported glamour, the Fratellis lacked the distinctive personality of the great Britpop groups.

For the encores Jon appeared on his own with an acoustic guitar for a version of For The Girl , before the band launched into a cover of Goldfrapp’s generic techno-boogie groove Ooh La La, cleverly incorporating quotes from several T. Rex songs. A feel-good finale to a deft, yet somehow rather functional, show.

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