The Coldplay-Keane-Snow Patrol axis of earnest, crafted songwriting is the most lucrative in British rock, and Athlete are the latest to get involved. When the Deptford four-piece emerged with 2003's Vehicles and Animals debut they were idiosyncratic enough to be compared to the Flaming Lips and dubbed the "Deptford Steely Dan." Two years on, their imminent new album, Tourist, sticks so rigidly to the Coldplay formula at times that if Chris Martin tries to buy a copy, the shop assistant might wonder why he has to pay for his own records.

But tonight's crowd are here for Athlete's old songs. Tunes such as minor hit Westside (about bands desperate to be part of a certain scene - oh the irony) and Beautiful delight an audience who are up for a singalong, with hands and beer bottles in the air.

Melancholy-voiced singer Joel Pott has traded his former causticity for showbiz tricks like pointing the microphone towards his audience of backing vocalists, while the band have the Keane/Snow Patrol look spot on: painstakingly casual clothing, well-fed cheeks, and hairstyles donated by 1970s soft-rockers.

However, some new tunes, such as the orchestral/dull Twenty Four Hours, disappear in the audience chatter. The exception is their new single, Wires - familiar to most after blanket radio play. Written about the struggle for life of Pott's new baby, it's impossible not to be moved by the surging chorus and alarmed hospital scenes conjured up by lines such as "running through corridors, through automatic doors". But just to be certain of the impact, a record company man issues every audience member with stickers promoting its release.

· At the Electric Ballroom, London (020-7485 9006), tonight, then touring.