A GIG so raucous that the lead singer likened it to a ‘rock and roll Pompeii’, LCD Soundsystem left nobody in doubt that they were back as they returned to the UK for the first time since their reunion.

Playing their first full gigs in the country since 2010, having announced their retirement from music in 2011 before reforming four years later, the New York dance rockers were tasked with opening four months of top acts as part of the Warehouse Project 2017.

A former air raid shelter under Piccadilly Station might not have seemed like the obvious choice for their grand return, but an electric energy bounces around the claustrophobic brick walls of Store Street from the very first drum loops of set opener Get Innocuous.

If you’re fortunate to have secured a place near to front, you could mistake it for a 200-capacity venue as a disco ball spews streams of light across the cavernous industrial space.

LCD ramp things up a gear when a trilogy of Tribulations, Movement and Yeah sparks carnage among the tightly-packed crowd – leading brainchild James Murphy to compare the scenes to the aforementioned volcanic disaster (only with more guitars).

The thumping bass of Tonite, one of only three tracks from new album American Dream to feature in the two-hour set, quite literally shakes you to your core and leaves your hairs standing on end.

A euphoric Dance Yrself Clean announces the encore (or ‘toilet break’ as Murphy labels it, breaking the mystique) before closer All My Friends sees you embracing a sweaty stranger while belting out its anthemic refrain.

Make no mistake – LCD Soundsystem are back, and they’re back to their best.