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Athlete's Joel was in a chatty mood between songs

If nice guys are bound to finish last, then there must be a secret dark side to Athlete.

For given indie music's appetite for edge, you wouldn't think a band of comically well-mannered, God-fearing Deptford family-men would stand a chance.

But, last month, Athlete's third album, Beyond The Neighbourhood, quietly lodged itself in the top five of the album charts.

Another impressive achievement for a band whose previous work has received a Mercury nomination and scooped an Ivor Novello award.

This month the band embarked on another intensive tour. It's a long, nationwide slog, which has been punctuated with a series of sellout venues – one of which being Norwich's UEA.

Polite as ever, Athlete step onto stage and launch into the first song – their upcoming single Tokyo. And with its rocky backbone and genteel, uplifting chorus, it soon has the crowd swaying.

Paradox

But while Athlete might be engaging and pleasant enough without screamed refrains or jutting bursts of distortion, you can't help thinking some of their song titles don't fit with their sedate manner.

See more photos in our gig gallery

Take recent single Hurricane, whose cheery melody tonight feels more like an amiable summer breeze.

Or Tourist, a song which, ironically, never so much as considers straying from the band's epic-pop comfort zone.

But the evening's strongest moment comes with a rendition of hit single Wires, a song written by vocalist Joel Pott to mark the traumatic first few hours of his daughter's life.

Stirring rendition

Admittedly, most of the rock fraternity would be more likely to dangle their firstborn from a balcony than pen a song for them, but it really is a stirring effort.

And with the unsophisticated, knuckle-scraping sludge of bands like The Enemy getting ever more radio airplay, it's refreshing to find an indie band willing to share more than their angsty anecdotes with their audience.

After a warm and impassioned encore, there’s no doubt that Athlete have given a worthy performance, yet there are still no hints of that hidden dark side.

Perhaps indie rock has a soft side after all. And if it does, then Athlete are undoubtedly the band to bring it out.

Athlete played the University Of East Anglia on Wednesday, 17 October, 2007.