Super Furry Animals Scala, London***

In the five years since Fuzzy Logic was released, Super Furry Animals have consistently rejected the suggestion that they're weird. They reckon it's just that other bands are conventional. The quintet are right: they're not that strange.

Certainly not at this show. Like most bands would, they tease those listening to the gig's broadcast on Radio 1 by fibbing "We're dressed as giant razorfish and there's an amazing laser show". Ironically, though, these are exactly the things you usually do see when SFA play live. On record, most of their supposed loopiness stems from Cian Ciaran's frolicking with electronic equipment during golden pop numbers. Here his scrawls and squirls are barely audible, coming into their own only when the guitars are toned down during The Doors to This House Remain Open and Gwreiddiau Dwfn/Mawrth Oer Ar Y Blaned Neifion.

Then there's the Welsh question: the fact that their forthcoming album Mwng is sung entirely in their first language will no doubt strike some as barmy, but the new songs are actually some of SFA's simplest and sweetest, and the live versions are blissful. Gruff Rhys's sinewy voice has a startling purity as he clambers over a scale for the reeling chorus of Ymaelodi A'r Ymylon. Pan Ddaw'r Wawr, a gurgling folk tune, sounds deliciously like the closing theme song to Monkey.

There's a lovely story that a New York audience watching Jacques Brel cheered loudest when the staunchly French-speaking singer pointed out that they didn't understand him. Something of the same spirit infuses SFA's devoted fans, who receive the new songs as delightedly as a hilariously disjointed, buzzsaw rendition of Nightvision and a seductive take on The Turning Tide, both from last year's Guerrilla. Whether the songs are in Welsh or English, SFA's exuberant pop melodies and playful electronica are so straightforwardly enjoyable, it's hard to see why people find them bizarre.

***** Unmissable **** Recommended *** Enjoyable ** Mediocre * Terrible