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When The Back Room was released in 2005, it was hardly noticed. All the excitement surrounded The Kaiser Chiefs.

Then, when songs like Bullets and All Sparks started to get a scrap of airplay, 'They sound a bit like Joy Division' or 'They’re just a British version of Interpol' were the slights levelled against them.Ìý

But unwittingly, Editors' detractors were paying them a massive compliment: if you're going to sound like other bands, make them great ones.Ìý

Having now released their second album, An End Has A Start, they've confirmed themselves as a band apart; unlike the stalled Kaiser Chiefs, they're in the ascendancy.Ìý

Packed with pace

Tonight's set list proves this: it's packed tight with pacey, punchy tunes, the standard never slipping below very good.Ìý

See our gig gallery for more pictures

In fact, Editors' sound is all their own, owed in no small part to guitarist Chris Urbanowicz: as he slinks around the stage, his hands move effortlessly, but the result is measured, distinctive brilliance.Ìý

The effeminate Urbanowicz (he wouldn't look amiss in Elastica) is counterbalanced by the blokish Russell Leetch (who wouldn't look amiss in a pub brawl).

His muscular basslines, along with Ed Lay’s regimental drumming impart a relentless urgency to the music, which can sound samey, but Editors should be commended for eschewing acoustic guitars, and rendering every song with all guns blazing.

Intense performance

Front man Tom Smith's performance is dramatic and intense, but never histrionic.

Arms outstretched in plaintive fashion, he sings with a tone and resonance that belies his sleek frame.

He’s also a man who's not afraid to croon the odd line.

Curiously, he's taken to sporting a natty Shirley Temple/Samurai hairdo, so it's not all po-faced.

Tom reaches out to the crowd

High points include the piano-driven The Racing Rats and the moving Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors, that has an intro redolent of (dare I say it?) Love Will Tear Us Apart.Ìý

Visionary band

Dressed mostly in black, Editors look like a band with vision - even their instruments are stylish.Ìý

They have a presence, physically and musically, most bands would kill for. So what if they're sombre and middle-class?Ìý

This is grown-up, cerebral stuff, and exposes much of what's current as mindless inconsequential sham, peddled by chancers. In years to come, Editors will be the ones other bands are compared to, not the reverse.

Editors opened their European tour at the UEA, Norwich, on Monday, 1 October, 2007.