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Editors have headlined the first night of this year's Mencap Little Noise sessions at London's Union Chapel (16 November).

The Birmingham rockers played an hour long stripped-down set in front of an audience of 600 people seated on church pews.

They were joined by support bands The Maccabees, Bombay Bicycle Club and Everything Everything.

Taking place across nine nights the series will see performances from Alexandra Burke, Mika and Florence And The Machine.

Moody headliners

Welcomed to the stage by Gavin & Stacey's Mat Horne, a patron for the charity, and Radio 1's Jo Whiley, Editors played a moody mix of tracks from across their three albums.

The gig also saw a rare outing for their song No Sound But The Wind which appears on the recently released Twilight: New Moon soundtrack.

Speaking backstage before the gig bass player Russell said: "It's very stripped back, people are going to hear all of our errors. Some of our fans like to hear your tunes this way and others don't, you get a bit of flak that people don't like to hear us without the big wall of sound."

It was an ironic setting for the foursome to air material from their latest LP In This Light And On This Evening since much of the album revolves around lyrical themes of religion.

"People who use the canvas of religion to gain power - it's a very scary thing," said lead singer Tom Smith last month.

'Terrifying' gig

Earlier in the evening the crowd were warmed by brief sets from London bands The Maccabees and Bombay Bicycle Club.

The former debuted a cover of Manchester band I Am Kloot's Because.

Guitarist Felix White explained before the show: "We've always loved their band really dearly; they're definitely the most unvalued band in England."

He added: "We've never really done an acoustic gig, this feels like a terrifying thing."

Manchester newcomers Everything Everything opened the evening with a short set where they were joined by a string quintet from the Royal College of Music.

The series continues tonight (17 November) with Alexandra Burke headlining.

The night featuring Taio Cruz, Tinchy Stryder and Chipmunk scheduled for 21 November has been cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances".