Live / Brad, 02 Academy Islington, 10/02/13

That it’s taken Brad some 20 years to make it to the UK is no surprise. While the Seattle band has found time to put out five albums since its inception in 1993, frontman Shawn Smith is kept busy with two other projects and a solo career, while lead guitarist Stone Gossard gets more than his fair share of worldly travels done with that other band of his.

All that said, it’s still a odd to see their belated London debut take place in a room as small as the Islington Academy – you’d think Gossard’s army of faithful fans alone could have bumped this up to a Hammersmith affair. Not that the crowd are about to complain; the band walks on to applause worthy of double the audience’s modest size, reinforced by the rapid launch into one of their defining songs, Buttercup.

The soothing debut track from 93’s Shame is a fitting setup for an evening that leans heavily on that first album. It’s not a sign that the following records pale in comparison, rather that Shame is finally getting the deserved chance to shine on an international scale.

Last year’s United We Stand also takes up a healthy portion of the setlist, with the likes of the sharp, punchy Diamond Blues maintaining an uplifting spirit that carries the band through two thirds of its show. Quick stop offs are made at other back catalogue highlights, including the heavy Secret Girl and Waters Deep, proving the band can contend with the likes of its well-known colleagues back home. Smith even leaves the stage at one point to let Pearl Jammers have their day as Gossard tackles the obscure Desenfando. The omission of a single track from Welcome to Discovery Park is hardly surprising given the record’s overly-indulgent 15 tracks, though it does leave something of a hole in the notion of fitting the band’s career into a two-hour show.

The true highlights of the night undoubtedly lie in the slower ballads. The utterly compelling Screen closes out the first set, with its weighty piano chords and heart-breaking lyrics inviting the audience to match Smith in volume before building to an emotional solo that proves the band has just as much heart in its music right now as it did back then.

When an encore beckons, Smith handles the first three tracks alone, drawing from his solo work and Satchel, his shared project with drummer Regan Hagar. It’s an intermission that confirms there aren’t just Pearl Jam die hards in the room, though a cover of Mother Love Bone epic Crown of Thorns brings both camps together in honour of frontman Andy Wood.

It comes as little surprise that, having exhausted much of Shame, Buttercup returns for the night’s final performance, a deeply satisfied audience pouring even more into than they did earlier. The repetition of the lyric ‘it’s just a matter of time’ seems fitting to close out a band that will hopefully return to these shores soon.