Melbourne's Temper Trap were so confident success awaited them outside Australia that they decamped to London a year ago. And they were right: one of the most inescapable sounds on British radio in 2009 was Dougy Mandagi's keening voice on the single Sweet Disposition, which hung around the chart for 26 weeks. That song opened enough doors for them to nearly sell out this UK tour, including three nights at the Empire.

The Temper Trap have their eyes on a prize bigger than 2,000-seater venues, and even this early in the game their show felt like something that would work in an arena. They have arena-sized songs in which layer upon layer of guitar builds up to a melancholically anthemic conclusion. During Soldier On, which began with Mandagi singing mournfully and low, all that was missing when drums and guitars finally crashed in was fireworks and a packed stadium singing the chorus. Sweet Disposition slowly ramped up the atmosphere until Mandagi was ecstatically dancing and the song was on the verge of exploding.

Drum Song – practically subtitled "the weird one" – diverged from the template, mixing up psychedelia, strobe lights and the rhythm of a lone drum pounded by Mandagi. As a finale, he poured a bottle of water over it – a moment of madness punctured by a roadie trudging on to mop it up.

What lets Temper Trap down is their resolutely heads-down attitude to showmanship. Mandagi produced soaring, remarkable vocals and danced when it took his fancy, but barely spoke, while the other Trappers were anonymous behind their instruments. They'll need to do something about that if arenas are on the agenda.

At University of East Anglia, Norwich (01603 508 050), tonight. Then touring.