The Proclaimers, Edinburgh Playhouse ****

This was a sit-down show from The Proclaimers – more reserved than others they’ve played in their home city, or than their gigs on Leith Links next summer are likely to be – but it still had the atmosphere of an extended goal celebration in all the right places.

The footballing comparison is relevant here. Much of singer Craig and guitarist Charlie Reid’s music is linked in the mind with nearby Hibs, their own team, and many of their anthems of Scottish pop and folk – the heart-tugging Letter from America, which set the singalongs in motion midway through the set, Sunshine on Leith, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) and the hammering finale Joyful Kilmarnock Blues – were accompanied by chants of “Hibees!”

Yet the Reids don’t just make songs for the home team. This year saw the release of Dentures Out, their 12th studio album. Its presence was felt lightly during the show, notably with the opening title track, which served to set out where their political thoughts are, before the greatest hits began. Despite its light melody, it’s a song about nostalgia for empire and an imagined better past, a biting comment on current UK politics also reflected in another new song, The World That Was. Yet the Reids examine their own harking-back on Sundays by John Calvin, a reflection on childhood Sundays made quiet and reflective by the influence of Presbyterianism, “when they tied up all the swings.”

Our hosts and their four-piece band said little, save for the odd dedication or announcement of a charity collection, although Charlie introduced Make My Heart Fly as “one of our lesser known hits, sorry, misses”. It was the rest of the show in summary. Songs like Let’s Get Married, Streets of Edinburgh, Sky Takes the Soul and Then I Met You weren’t huge hits, but to those who know and love them, they’re important and much-loved parts of this band’s extraordinary canon.

Music review: The Proclaimers, Edinburgh Playhouse