Almost five years to this exact day I set foot in the o2 Academy for the first time as a clueless teenager in the full throttles of my Brand New obsession. Jesse Lacey was the next Morrissey and Deja Entendu was the third testament, as far as fifteen year old I was concerned. Half a decade on and many musical taste shifts later, I would be eager tonight to re-discover a childhood treasure and familiarise myself with their fourth full-length, Daisy.

Unfortunately missing the support Brand New start silent and strong; backed up by guitarist Derrick Sherman and a second drummer for the opening crunch of 'Welcome To Bangkok.' Instrumental and shifting from tremolo – heavy acoustic dynamics to a searing three-guitar, two drum assault. It gets the young crowd going, observing the moshing and mashing from above like some cynical old hack, I fondly remembered myself back in those shoes, clamouring for eye contact with Jesse Lacey (singer/guitarist). The tone stays abrupt with 'The Archers Bows Have Broken,' a rolling drum assault and the should-have-been-a-single stand-out from third album 'The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me'. Guitarist Vin Accardi (lead guitar/singer) is unusually static during the rowdier numbers, although his backup vocals add that necessary jolt. 'Sowing Season' follows, the loud-quiet formula worn on the band’s sleeve as Lacey’s vocals choke for a millisecond during the eery and quiet bridge. The song’s difficult subject matter, while probably lost on many of the younger crowd hits a note with many.

Another track from 'Devil And God', 'Millstone' leads into two crushing, disjointed tracks from Daisy, opener 'Vices' and 'Sink'. Notably, single 'At The Bottom', is missing from tonight’s set, and these two would be the only tracks played back-to-back from the new album.  They can be forgiven, when Lacey cracks a bit of stage banter, commenting on Glasgow’s distance from Long Island and announcing “more music”/ leads into the conflicted fan-favourite 'Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades'. Many bellowed “DIE YOUNG AND SAVE YOURSELF!!!” at the top of their lungs in 2003, and in there is little rest for the wicked in 2012. Deja classics 'Okay I Believe You…But My Tommy Gun Don’t', and 'The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows' follow, the former being almost completely drowned out by audience participation, and the latter, being arguably their most well-known and beloved song next to 'Sic Transit Gloria', wields a punk-poppy scythe across the auditorium.

Lacey takes the stage solo for 'Me vs. Maradona vs. Elvis', a slower number that crashes into 'Jude Law And A Semester Abroad', their epileptic debut hit from first album 'Your Favourite Weapon', that again has the crowd howling back the sardonic and petulant words. In spite of their current foray into a pseudo-noisy prog storm, their earlier hits are as frenetic and memorable than their wacky song titles. 'Soco Amaretto Lime' sees Lacey flying solo once again, wishing the crowd to kiss someone on Valentine ’s Day and celebrating the song’s youthful vigour. Over 10 years old, Lacey edits the song’s  denouement to “I’m just jealous cos’ you’re young and in love,” surely another poignant moment, tacitly referencing his halcyon youth at the time of the song’s creation to his ultimate progression into an older, wiser and perhaps more cynical frame of mind at 33.

The next song is introduced as about a “tragedy in Long Island 8 years ago,” and Brand New don’t let up emotion in 'Limousine', a 7-minute ballad continuing Brand New’s fascination with alternating dynamics. The haunting and looping classic “Jesus Christ,” veers off somewhat in the bridge as a lyric trips but otherwise seeps into the mood. Against jarring distortion Brand New can balance, pace, melody and feeling, translating into sweetly smooth music even at quieter volumes. The night ends on 'Degausser' and 'You Won’t Know', the latter’s final melody extended and picked out while Lacey thanks the ‘awesome’ crowd and bids adieu.

At 16 songs, little onstage banter and no encore, the set felt a little rushed and the absence of newer tracks was curious. Brand New appear averse to interspersing songs from different albums, plugging through 'The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me', then 'Daisy', then 'Deja Entendu' then 'Your Favourite Weapon' before cycling back to 'Devil And God' in an interesting sequential fashion. Whether this is solely for ease of performing or an attempt to mask their loud-quiet-loud formula that has pervaded their work throughout their career, the triple-guitar, and dual-drum assault and Lacey’s emotive yelp delivered.  This old fan found himself still humming the stupidly catchy chorus to 'Jude Law And A Semester Abroad' well into the night.