Flyers for their 1998 Dingwalls gig billed them as The Coldplay, tickets cost a paltry ?4 and only a handful of people showed up.
By contrast, more than 60,000 fans applied for free entry to the band's Radio 2 show at the 500-capacity club last night.
And they proved that size ? and, in this case, concert revenue ? doesn't matter to them as they embarked on an exhilarating set.
Frontman Chris could have solved the UK drought crisis alone if he'd bottled the sweat he shed throughout the gig.
"We're supposed to be a professional band for f***'s sake," he said after several false starts before opening tune Hurts Like Heaven.
He explained it was a struggle for them to "acclimatise" to playing such a tiny place, telling the crowd: "I've got more cousins than this where I come from."
Tracks from their album Mylo Xyloto pack an even bigger punch live, especially recent single Paradise.
But the biggest cheers went to stadium anthems Yellow, In My Place, Viva La Vida and Fix You.
The gig will be broadcast on Radio 2 on Thursday, December 15, from 8pm to 10pm and will be on TV via the red button for a week at 10pm that night.
