Music

The xx goes big with sold-out run of small-crowd NYC gigs

The xx has become really big by sounding really small: Rarely has such an intimate band become so popular.

Now the three Londoners are juxtaposing closeness and scale by bringing a daring immersive concept to the Park Avenue ­Armory: From Wednesday through March 29, they’re ­playing 25 shows in the 55,000-square-foot Drill Hall — but to only 45 people at a time.

The entire run sold out in a matter of hours, and the $55 tickets are reaching crazy heights on the secondary market. Craigslist has some bargains at $200 a pop, but deals on Stubhub start around $800, then climb to $3,300.

“But for real, f - - k everyone (all 20 of you) who got tix to the intimate xx concert at Park Avenue Armory,” railed one disappointed fan on Twitter with a slow trigger finger.

Playing to tiny audiences makes sense for the xx: Since their debut album, 2009’s “xx,” producer/beat master Jamie xx (born Smith), singer/guitarist Romy Madley Croft and singer/bassist Oliver Sim have turned melancholia into a force by updating early-’80s goth post-punk with dreamy synths, skeletal guitars and hushed vocals.

Their follow-up in 2012, ­“Coexist,” only confirmed the band’s success and influence. Over the past few years, the xx’s songs have popped up in a commercial for AT&T as well as TV shows ranging from “Suits” to “Grey’s Anatomy” and “90210.”

Since the band regularly covers R&B tunes like Womack & Womack’s “Teardrops,” it didn’t come as a huge surprise when Rihanna sampled the delicately picked guitar line of the xx’s “Intro” for her power ballad “Drunk on Love.” On his own, Jamie xx remixed an entire Gil Scott-Heron album and co-produced the Alicia Keys track “When It’s All Over.”

Naturally, this exposure has led the xx to book such huge festivals as Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, even if they are the worst places possible to experience this inward-sounding music.

At the Armory, though, the xx will get tantalizingly close to their fans — as audience members will surround the musicians as they move about the space.

This booking was inspired by a string of concerts at last year’s Manchester International Festival. The xx performed 18 consecutive gigs for 60 people at a time at a secret location that was revealed at the last minute and involved navigating tunnels underneath a train station.

At least the Armory is a lot easier to find. Unlike tickets for the show.

The xx is at the Park Avenue Armory Wednesday to March 29. Tickets are sold out but you can sign up for a waiting list.