Heaven knows what would happen if the Dodos played standing up. Largely seated throughout their set, on a stage so small that the percussionist frequently appeared to have fallen off the back, the San Francisco trio performed with such energy and intensity that their clothes were soaked in sweat midway through the first song.

Formed three years ago as a duo by the singer and guitarist Meric Long and drummer Logan Kroeber, the Dodos are essentially a folk act that play like a rock'n'roll band. Driven by a mix of tribal beats and recurring guitar lines either frantically strummed or gently plucked and boasting mumbled, lo-fi vocals, their songs are edgy, sprawling, shapeshifting epics.

The opener, It's That Time Again, from the acclaimed current album Visiter, began with Kroeber and the recently recruited percussionist Joe Haener hammering single drums every six or so seconds, while from behind his heavy fringe Long moaned melodically. The song then burst into a throbbing, percussive, clattering racket and climaxed with what sounded like Hendrix at a hoedown, with Haener bouncing up and down, banging a huge cymbal held near his head. As the others reached for towels, Long stood on his chair and smiled at the crowd. He wouldn't get up again.

It was hard to make out where one track ended and the next began, although it didn't much matter. Nor did the fact that most of the Dodos' material relies on a similar template. The three members' ferocious playing recalled kids trying to outdo each other on pots and pans, but their occasionally interlocking rhythms meant that they rarely strayed far from a tune. The night's highlight, the recent single Red and Purple, even came close to starting a singalong thanks to its unusually audible chorus. “Come and join us in the trenches,” invited Long, surprisingly sweetly, through a barrage of glockenspiel beats and pounding drums delivered like bombs dropping. A few fans danced, most stayed rooted to the spot, simply stunned.

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