Matthew Caws, singer and guitarist of college-rock stalwarts Nada Surf, is a very patient man. Eager to get on with the job at hand, not only does he have to fend off good-natured heckling from the excitable crowd and non-stop wisecracks from drummer Ira Elliot, but his microphone is emitting the pops and bangs of a cheap firework. "It's pretty cold for the Fourth of July, don't you think?" Caws says with a sigh.

His equanimity has been hard-earned. Having formed Nada Surf with schoolfriend and bass player Daniel Lorca in 1992, the band hit it big four years later with their prophetic first single, Popular. Three years of protracted legal wrangling followed their second album until the band's acclaimed comeback with Let Go in 2002. Since then, they have been quietly consolidating their reputation as reliable purveyors of soft-centered, progressive, power pop, and their latest album, Lucky, is another sparky effort that celebrates life while picking at its scabs.

Caws dives into Whose Authority with zest. He has a Richie Cunningham niceness to him, flashing smiles at every corner of the room as his rich, melodic voice wrestles with possibility and heartache. Nada Surf's songs are just as genuine and likeable as their frontman.

From the urgent, brooding refrain of Do It Again to the fratboy chants in Blankest Year, the band keep their words fuss-free. But their risk-taking music is dense with harmonies, heavy bass and chiming guitars that make for a heady feelgood factor, even when Caws is singing an apologetic lullaby to a fruitfly. It is grown-up pop that is not afraid to stare disappointment in the face and smile. After two encores, they depart, having turned adversity to triumph once again.

· At Scala, London on February 21. Box office: 020-7833 2022. Then touring.