Like the actual Pyramids, the Pyramids Centre in Portsmouth could arguably be considered a wonder of the world; to fill such a large venue to near capacity on a Thursday night, especially in these times of austerity, not to mention consistently playing host to high calibre bands such as The Stranglers, Alkaline Trio, and indeed Reel Big Fish couldn’t be thought of as much less than spectacular. Tonight it’s the turn of California favourites and fisherman’s platitude Reel Big Fish to tantalise our ears with their brand of ska-rock. But, as I imagine they did with the actual pyramids, let’s look at the support first.

Guildford-based The JB Conspiracy are a strange bunch; they lack the more common facets of modern bands, such as a Wikipedia entry or even a band website, but, in an act of either arrogance or foresight, have made guitar tablature for their Clash-esque hit, The Patriot available online. Well, since these young skapunkrockers have managed to bag a worldwide tour with headlining act Reel Big Fish without a website etc, I’m inclined to think it’s the latter.

Their first track sets the tone for the evening; a torrent of two-tone with an agenda; an abrasive union of politically-charged UK punk lyrics, with unrelenting US punk guitar work, all accompanied by a rich brass segues. The band’s sound is a well-crafted, if predictable, Specials-meets-Bad Manners affair; the warm horn section juxtaposing fizzy, brittle guitars. All songs are well performed – all notes; whether sung, twanged or parped, were right on the money.

Orange are no strangers to touring – signed to Tim Armstrong’s Hellcat Records at the tender (average) age of sixteen, they have toured the world with the likes of Misfits, The Addicts, UK Subs, Rancid and Zebrahead – unfortunately, this doesn’t reflect in their style, which is saccharine-sweet pop punk at its most mundane; these not-so-rudeboys list their influences as Sex Pistols and Thin Lizzy, but their sans-attitude approach leaves them sounding like more McFly, without the hooks.

Entering to a ska’d up version of The Who’s Baba O’Riley, their proceeding set has a few glimmers of potential like No Rest for the Wicked, a chirpy number, which draws a more than a few influences from Rancid, but their overall sound is very bland. If their sugary-sweet style was an ice cream flavour – it would be vanilla. Mockney Vocalist/Bassist Joe Dexter, looking like a cross between Russell Brand and Sgt Pepper, performs admirably enough, but his predictable phrasing and delivery leaves no lasting impact. They end their set with arguably their catchiest song, Revolution; an upbeat effort halfway between Foo Fighters and Busted. Cartoon Network seem to agree, as it has become the theme tune for one of their newer shows, Generator Rex.

Reel Big Fish sound more Bad Company than Bad Manners tonight, as they lean more towards the ‘rock’ side of the ska-rock spectrum with songs like their NSFW anthem, Another F.U song, complete with brash guitars and insolent vocals.

There are a few ska’d-up covers tonight, like the Maytal’s Monkey Man, Van Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl, and as their encore song, A-Ha’s Take on Me. You could presume that the abundance of cover versions insinuates that the band are simply bad songwriters, but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Stand out tracks like Beer, She Has A Girlfriend Now, and super-hit Sellout prove that they are just as capable crafting their own songs, as they are re-vamping others. The set list reads more or less follows the track list of their greatest hits album, which feels a little contrived, but draws no complaint from the crowd; it’s clear that’s what they’ve paid to hear, and the band knows it.

Reel Big Fish have been together since 1992 so it comes as no surprise that they know these songs inside and out – they don’t miss a beat (or technically, an off-beat). Each song features pitch-perfect vocal harmonies, which are wonderfully punctuated by rich brass sections, and front man Aaron Barrett does a good job of entertaining the crowd in a predictably juvenile fashion. What separates Reel Big Fish from their Californian peers Sublime or No Doubt is their vivacious stage presence – something that was strangely lacking in tonight’s performance. I can only presume this was an issue relating to the size of the stage, but coupled with the predictable song choices, it left the performance feeling a little stoic overall.

As Reel Big Fish leave the stage to the audible disappointment of the crowd, it’s clear that they have done what they set out to do. As the final strains of their offerings fade into the night, they show that Ska is still very much alive and kicking – it’s just not moving around very much.

I photographed these guys last time they played in Portsmouth and to be honest, I wasn’t overly impressed. Their vocals were a disappointment and the timing was quite off at various points throughout their set, but credit where credit’s due. Since then, they’ve played endless amounts of sold out shows around the world.

The first band to take to the stage were With One Last Breath from York. I had never heard of these so really wasn’t sure what to expect. They opened up the night so well with their heavy breakdowns, powerful guitar tones and catchy chorus sing alongs. Being the newest band on the tour, they had a few pranks played on them during their set including one of the guys from the other bands stopping their set for ‘security reasons’. Then laughing at them hysterically before letting them continue playing. I listened to them when I got home from the show to see if their recordings matched their live performance, and it was spot on. While listening to them I realised how much they remind me of Glamour Of The Kill who are another up and coming band from York. Then the next track came on and it had the vocalist of GOTK doing special guest vocals. I felt like a genius! But anyway, enough rambling, check them out!

Up next were a band called Chelsea Grin who I’d heard a lot about, heard local bands cover, but never actually listened to. A few hours before the show I was just browsing through Facebook and someone had posted a video from YouTube of a live performance by them, and I literally thought ‘my poor ears’. But kept an open mind in the hope they wouldn’t be like that when you’re in the actual room. And they weren’t. The only downside to their set was the amount of strobe lighting they used, thank God I’m not epileptic! They’re one of few bands who can actually pull off having three guitarists. Their tones all worked so well together and the harmonizing, sweeping patterns stood out so well in the mix.

Bless The Fallwere next to take the stage, another band that I’d heard a lot about but had never actually listened to, so I spent some time searching their songs on YouTube to see what they were like and listened to their most recent album ‘Awakening’ which is really good and I suggest you all go check it out! To top off it all off, their stage presence was electric. The amount of crowd surfers being lifted off the barrier was phenomenal and definitely gave security a run for their money.

Finally, headliners Asking Alexandria’s set time had come. Instead of the usual, stereotypical, atomospherical intro with the fading lights and all that jazz, they just cut the room to complete darkness which added drama and gave an instant buzz. Opening to the intro to their most recent album ‘Reckless And Relentless’ then pounding straight into ‘Closure’  The band were incredibly tight with the samples and effects all in the right places. The vocals had improved a lot since I had last seen them, which made me change my opinion on them slightly until a clean section came which he ended up singing out of key. But I thought ‘Maybe it’s just a one off’, but then it happened again, and again. But in their favour, this was the last night of their UK tour, so I suppose they’re allowed to be exhausted and worn out.

The only thing I HATED about them was how in between every single song they would be saying how they want to have sex with the audience, including the underage girls. But hey! It’s their reputation they’re ruining! Overall, I was pretty impressed by their performance, crowd participation, crowd movement and just general atmosphere. If you ever get the chance to see them.. Go!

January is a month that has become synonymous with many things; resolutions, quiet weekend nights in, the breaking of aforementioned resolutions and the endless list of artists tipped to shape the sound of the next twelve months. Radio stations and record labels clamour like jesters at court to let YOU know exactly who will be you next favourite band. More often than not, you’ve forgotten who these bright new stars are quicker than you have that you’re still paying the local gym £30 a month for that membership you never use. Every now and then though, a gem is revealed. Yes they are sometimes rough around the edges and little green at the ears but their talent is unable to be hidden by the dross surrounding them. Enter, King Charles.

Having been beating around for a few years – a notable Glastonbury set back in 2009 kept the BBC busy for a few weeks with replays – a strong effort with single Mississippi Isabel has led to him being added to the forefront of new acts for 2012 and, as tonight shows, this is for good reason. Effortlessly marrying influences from Prince to the Beach Boys leaving no prisoners in-between, King Charles is someone to truly get excited about and the Wedgewood Rooms was the setting for his first Portsmouth show since his debut Southsea Fest performance back in 2010.

First on were local act Melodramas who ran through their repertoire with confidence and precision. Angular, pop guitar and keyboard melodies complemented by a strong rhythm section made for a set that was easy on the ears without straying too far from the modern indie blueprint. Lead singer Matt Woolway was not too chatty with the crowd, but for a support slot of this kind, that is not necessarily a bad thing. The majority of the audience tonight were around for King Charles and not Melodramas, so letting the music do the talking as it were was always going to be the best way to work the set and the pockets of dancing club goers in the crowd supported this choice. With new EP Kids being released in early March, they can reasonably be hoping for a few returning audience members.

Next up was the main attraction of the night, King Charles. Straight away, the quality of the headlining man is apparent. To liken him to a cross between the Beach Boys and Prince wouldn’t do justice because he has so much more going on than these influences, notable though they are. Throughout the set, he draws on rhythms reminiscent of Peter Gabriel, bluesy distorted guitars that would do a nineties Metallica proud and manages to draw them together seamlessly with the pop hooks that have garnered him such attention in the last twelve months. Talking is kept to a minimum and, quite frankly not really needed as the performance is flawless – special note at this point to the backing band who are all masters of their instruments – and all released material stands up well in the live environment.

With all this said though, there is a down side in that the audience didn’t really seem to realise how good King Charles was. Throughout the forty five minutes or so of performance, there isn’t a moment where chatter can’t be heard and the crowd didn’t ever seem to truly embrace the energy coming from the stage. This was a real shame as, toward the end of the set, you could see the band lose touch with the crowd and start looking at the clock, knowing that their efforts were falling on deaf ears. By the time the encore came around even a cover of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire fell flat with zero sing along participation from the crowd.

It is sometimes the worst shame of all when a talented musician’s performance is marred by their audience and tonight that was the case. This is not to say that people didn’t enjoy what they heard and saw – many will likely be in attendance again and purchase the music – it is just that they perhaps didn’t appreciate it for what it was worth, a stand out performance from what will surely be one of 2012’s best artists.

Following a quick changeover (and an opportunity for Richard to head off for gas and air) Aesthetic Perfection arrive onstage. It is as rare as hen’s teeth for me to be utterly blown away by a band’s performance but AP were pretty damned close. Despite a few mic issues early on in the set, the show was energetic, frantic, vociferous and relentless with synth player Elliot nearly climbing the walls. It is unknown whether this was due to adrenaline or a botched escape attempt.

Aesthetic Perfection may not be the most innovative of bands but, by Jeebus they put on a show. Fans of lo-fi, easy listening should steer well clear but those of a stompier persuasion will be impressed by Daniel Graves’ gutteral vocals (would “Gravel” be a more appropriate surname?) and the pulverising tunes. The presence of a live drummer grants them many extra Brownie points and gives them a dynamism sometimes lacking in other industrial bands and I conclude by stating that the future is bright, the future is aggrotech…

Mr B is your alter-ego, is it hard to stay in character and what helps (if anything)?
Character? Alter-ego? I’m sure I have no idea what you’re on about my dear!
 
As a chap about town, do you have any recommendations for those interested in becoming a gentleman?
Tweed for the colder seasons, a nice irish linen for the warmer. A pipe, when carried with the correct amount of je ne sais quoi can add a tad of gravitas. A decent pair of high-waisted trousers (corduroy for the autumn and winter), a tie (or cravat if one is feeling a little dandy, so to speak). All of these things help.
 
You are well known for your parodies of particular genres, is there a style you have yet to cover that is on your “to-do” list?
I have just started performing a ‘madchester’ medley, it seems to be going down well. At the moment though, I am concentrating largely on original songs.
 
Do you identify with the term “chap-hop”? Or do you feel it is an attempt to categorise you?
I certainly do, as it was a term invented by yours truly, so to deny it would be to deny my very self!
 
“Straight out of Surrey” became a bit of a cult hit, did this surprise you and how will you better this?
It was an unexpected pleasure, but when I thought about it, I realised that of COURSE it should be a huge cult smash! As far as bettering it, to be quite frank I think I have far stronger material than that these days. That was the second Mr.B number ever penned. 
 
What have been the high points of your career so far? 
Crikey, it has been such a splendid wheeze altogether it’s hard to pick out a winner. I was rather delighted when the ex-editor of US Vibe magazine told me ‘The only interesting thing happening in Hip-Hop now is you’. That was rather nice. Apart from that, my appearances at Glastonbury and Latitude festivals this year were rather raucous and splendid I must say. 400 people unable to get into the tent for be-tweeded chap-hoppers. Certainly an ‘I was there’ type of moment.
 
When can we expect the next album and will you be taking a new musical direction or sticking to the tried and tested formula?
‘The Tweed Album’ shall be available early next year. There will be familiar sounds and a few oddities. One has to keep things fresh, but I’m not about to go all dubstep or what have you.
 
Have you had any involvement with The Chap Olympiad? What would be your event of choice?
I’ve missed the last couple, unfortunately. ‘Tis always an important date in a chap’s calendar though. The last time I was there I competed in a spot of orange fencing.
 
What does a typical day look like in the life of Mr B?
Breakfast, elevenses, brunch, lunch, a spot of nympholepsy, tea, some music-making, dinner, after-dinner-sherry, supper, single malt, midnight feast, brandy, bed. That’s when I’m not performing, in which case ‘showtime’ comes in between after-dinner sherry and supper.
 
What bands/artists do you listen to? Any recommendations?
The Correspondents are good chums of mine, Busdriver, Ronald Frankau, Tommy Dorsey, Noel Cowerd, Jack Buchanan, Public Enemy…

Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer plays at Waster on Friday 9th December. For more information, please see the Facebook Event https://www.facebook.com/events/175972322488111/?ref=ts or visit http://www.gentlemanrhymer.com

For such a long standing club night whose modus operandi is to debut next year’s greatest bands and DJs, it is always interesting to see how a new city and venue will take up the mantle when it comes to the aspect. With this in mind, Saturday was a chance to see how the Wedgewood Rooms will be adding to the NME’s club night with its second outing as host. With the usual mix of local and established acts, the line up consisted of Lucky One Dies First (LODF), The Planes, Cerebral Ballzy and Jumping Ships. Rotating between smaller side room, The Edge Of The Wedge, and the aforementioned main room, the evening was already displaying a growth since its debut night.

Starting with local hardcore punk act LODF, the Edge was in fine shape. A close to capacity crowd really showed the perfect example what a local music scene can be. With their already strong reputation as a tight three piece outfit, the performance of the evening was never going to be in question. The main note of the set was witnessing the growth of the band with every song receiving a stronger reaction than the last. After seeing many performances from LODF, this is a point of notable development. The big question, come close of set, was when would these boys be making the jump to full U.K band from their current position of city wide favourites?

Following on in The Wedgewood Rooms were The Planes, who find themselves ever so slightly behind LODF on the musical journey but not without a great deal of potential. The first notable point of the set is the relative comfort which the youngsters enjoy on the stage. With more of a swagger than the known indie self-consciousness, it’s clear that influences are changing with the times. With song titles like “See You Next Tuesday”, you get the feeling that Luke Pritchard spent a considerably greater amount of time on their stereo than Ian Curtis. Where this is not a problem for the younger, like minded people in the crowd, it does provide something of an obstacle for those who grew up with the original incarnation of the indie scene. This current issue shows no bind to the boys and more time to develop their sound could see a truly stand out act.

With the local aspect to proceedings complete, it is back to the Edge for what seems to be the international band of the millennium, Cerebral Ballzy. Such has been the national media exposure – let’s not forget that the band have only just released their debut long play – that they have enjoyed a successful summer festival tour of the U.K and Europe and f ind themselves more in demand than most bands in the punk genre. When they take the stage, it is easy to see they are enjoying the current ride they are on. Lead singer Honor Titus immediately reminds the crowd that they are here to party and refusal is not an option. Belting through most of their material at a rate that would make Black Flag seem like prog-rock dinosaurs, moments are only taken to goad the crowd into further anarchy and remind them of Cerebral Ballzy’s four pillars of faith; drinking, girls, pizza and skateboarding. By the end of the set you are sure you have seen something special, but what? For all the excitement and clamouring for presale tickets, at the most all the Brooklyn five piece has done in the last half hour is rip through a punk rock 101 lesson from 1984. They are doing nothing more than Bad Brains, Husker Du and many others have done before – all be it well – which seems to leave a slight amount of disappointment in the amount of praise afforded this band. Having held the opposite of this argument against Planes in this same piece, it may just be a case of the reviewer not being able to have his cake and eat it.

Final band Jumping Ships appear in the Wedgewood Rooms in what has been yet again a seamless turn around – take note all other promoters – and bring their blend of melodic, angular rock to Club NME. It is instantly apparent that they will be, if nothing else, the most interesting band on the bill tonight. Effortlessly merging their clear love of melodies with the nuances of post punk, they produce a well rounded sonic attack with more smooth edges than rough. As each song passes the crowd are treated to honed song craft and a plethora of time changes. As a headline act who seem to be playing second fiddle to penultimate band, they take the depleted crowd in their stride and own the stage as if it were a sell out. With that duly noted, they have been hindered by the line up this evening. It was always going to be a hard task to headline a 400+ capacity venue on any night but with the stark contrast in genres on offer, they are unable to own the crowd for themselves and take the attention away from the lauded Cerebral Ballzy. A return visit to the Edge Of The Wedge on a solo headline night would easily see them assert themselves as the band that may well be next year’s greatest.

First of all, apologies to the band Page 44 who I missed due to the joys of working late before the gig. A quick check on the website that time forgot, AKA Myspace, suggests that they would have put on a solid show of slick yet generic pop-rock. And they’ve also previously appeared on Popworld on T4 if that can be considered a positive.

Thankfully I made it to the venue just as Canterbury was taking to the stage. Hailing from Surrey and Hampshire, they were keen to declare this their hometown show, peppering their on-stage banter with mentions of how good it was to be ‘home’ and cries of ‘Portsmouth, make some noise’. Whilst it’s hard to find a band who don’t name check the city they’re playing in it all came across as a bit cringeworthy, particularly when they gave out sticks of Canterbury branded rock to the best dancers in the crowd.

However, when they let the music do the talking they were incredibly impressive with an assured vocal delivery layered over crisp punchy riffs. Whilst some of their songs were enjoyable straight up pop-punk numbers they also demonstrated a more imaginative and heavy side that showed echoes of Hell Is For Heroes and Biffy Clyro, particularly on ‘Friends? We’re More Like A Gang’. Here’s hoping they play more ‘hometown’ gigs in the future.

On the previous occasion that I’ve seen We Are The Ocean, the lead singer was accidentally pulling out his microphone lead after trying to crowd surf over several rows of chairs at the Guildhall. There were no such obstacles for him this time so he was able to throw himself into the crowd on several occasions throughout the set. Since then they have also re-released their second album with an added acoustic disc, but there was no time for any unplugged moments during their set, instead it was thirty minutes of average emo/post-hardcore. Alternating between a vocalist who shouts, badly, and a melodic singer is a trick that has been done to death by countless other bands in the genre but ‘We Are The Ocean’ have stuck with it. This meant that every song blended into the one before and after it, with the exception of one stand out song at the end of their set, even if it did completely rip off Alexisonfire.

The last time I saw The Blackout was back in 2007 just as they were bursting onto the scene on the back of the popularity of Lostprophets and Funeral For A Friend, when they were a mess of comically large fringes and skinny jeans. Whilst the haircuts have changed, the music hasn’t, with the overly American emo sound still to the fore and the influence of Lostprophets in particular still glaringly obvious.

With three albums to their name they were able to fill their set with songs taken from their whole career so far, including the contender for worst song title ever ‘Spread Legs, Not Lies’. To their credit they didn’t put a foot wrong technically, producing a slick and energetic stage show full of crowd interaction, handclaps, and shape throwing that their fans positively lapped up. Although I’m not if anyone enjoyed the lead singer spitting into the air and catching it before chucking it into the crowd. However, even with three full length releases the seventy five minute long set felt like an endurance test at times and not one that I want to go through again.

5 Portsmouth bands, from a range of genres, were chosen to take part in the first filming session for Low Tide, which is a joint project between Portsmouth University and BBC Big Screens. This is due to be aired on Friday 11th November at 12.30pm online.

First up were Gosport indie superstars Bear Cavalry

They were closely followed by Hardcore mammoths Lucky One Dies First, who won the award for most crowd participation of the evening!

Next up, was the inimitable ukulele stylings of Huw Olesker and the Barebackers

Dendera, showcased their classic rock next

Portsmouth was out in force for this free event…

Offbeat Offensive brought the evening to a close with their ska performance

Ollie, (Lucky One Dies First) celebrates a successful evening! 

Two Door Cinema Club and And So I Watch You From Afar are really putting Northern Ireland back on the msic map. Has this been a help or a hinderance to you guys?
Oh, it’s helped massively. Getting to do the tour with ASIWYFA was fantastic. It’s meant there is more of an interest over here for the Northern Irish bands.

Is it hard to lose the Northern Irish tag?
I wouldn’t want to, it separates you from other bands. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t because of the accent!

How has the tour been going, have there been any highlights?
We’re only just getting warmed up, this is the 6th gig of the tour. Although, Gerry did get chased in Leeds for shoplifting a bag of onions.

The album was released in May. How’s it going and when will the follow-up be released?
It took us 5 years to record the first one, we now have album fever, so the second one is nearly done. Maybe early next year. There has been a great response to the first one, especially over here. The second album will have more keyboards, so will be totally different.

NME, Radio One and Kerrang have all championed you. Do you see yourselves as the next big thing and how important is this to you?
It’s really nice but it’s interesting because the second album won’t sound like the first. We’re not sure how people will react to the second one, particularly Kerrang. We were talking about how records used to be available on cereal boxes years ago, so we’d probably put ours on a box of “Golden Nuggets” They are insane, the things they do to the milk!

Where does most of your inspiration come from, is it mainly musical or environmental?
Musical. Lots of Nine Inch Nails and The Beatles. Pure dirt and pop sensibility is where it’s at. We go for a happy medium. I love early Black Eyed Peas and Jay Z. Sometimes it’ s nice to listen to Radio One, from a production point of view.

How was the festival season for you, are fields better than venues?
Yes, fields are better. We were lucky to get Sonisphere, it was probably because of the Kerrang thing. Beautiful Days was a great experience too. All the best festivals have lots of toilet roll. We are hoping to get to a stage in our career where we can ask for pants and socks on the rider, touring is terrible for getting your laundry done.

Mojo Fury play at Pop in Southampton on Wednesday 26th October with Bastille.

8:30 on a Sunday evening sees Albert Road oddly quiet. Pubs look disconsolate and empty, very few revellers line the streets, and – rather optimistically – a kebab shop worker (kebabier? kebaberer? supervillain?) puts a spinning stick of petrified dogshit on the heat.

Then, two girls wearing Carnage t-shirts stumble from the Kwiki Mart and all becomes clear. Everybody is at Guildhall Walk. For the uniniti ated, Carnage is a gigantic pub crawl orchestrated to get students up and down the country heroically drunk in a sort of baiting exercise for the Daily Mail readers. The students, of course, dutifully oblige, won over by the prospect of sambucca shots and getting their skirt hiked up behind the bins at Walkabout by some shaven Neanderthal with all the chivalry of a puddle and the tenderness of an industrial strength jackhammer.

At two o’ clock, the revellers are then hoisted out of the club, where they will invariably be snapped by a photographer from the aforementioned shitrag newspaper, who manages to click his dirty little camera at the precise moment his subject picks the knickers out of her arse with all the grace of a beached seal.

These pictures are then put up online alongside such captions of “Grim Picture of British Youth” whilst over the page the paper is lambasting the Polish for taking jobs from “our hardworking youngsters who’ve been put out of a job”, yet all the while ignoring the massive chasm of fecklessness and hypocrisy.

But I digress. Albert Road was deserted, which is rather fitting, then, given that inside the Wedgewood Rooms, three vocalists are singing vocal harmonies so tight and so haunting that you could have heard a grain of barley drop with an almighty clatter.

The Staves are a rather fitting choice as openers for “Ireland’s Bon Iver”, bringing with them classic folk guitar and bucolic rural sounds that belies the fact that they are actually from the unofficial home of the grey and the brutalist: Watford.

Melding gossamer guitars and majestic three part harmonies, The Staves manage to transform the inner city Wedgewood Rooms into a far flung corner of Glastonbury’s healing fields, minus the naked hippy and militant vegan trying to sell you pulses and haricot beans, of course.

Even the small eon between songs as the instruments are tuned up manages to turn into some sort of good-manners-fight-to-the-death, the crowd and band both furiously trying to outdo one another in the cordiality stakes, lobbing please-bombs and thankyou-grenades like it’ s going out of fashion.

Further, between bands, Please Don’t Take My Sunshine Away rings out, as a measure of just the kind of evening this is.

James Vincent McMorrow hits the stage, band in tow, and instantly shows just what’s taken him around the world and back (via a church made to the same specifications of Noah’s Ark, we are reliably informed). The voice that comes out of the unassuming bearded fellow on stage is arresting, freely pissing all over the tonality-voids battling it out on the X Factor at exactly the same time.

The voice is hardly better than on one the two covers unveiled that evening; Steve Winwood’s disco classic and perennial Radio 2 favourite ‘Higher Love’. Later, for the encore, McMorrow returns to the stage for a breathtaking performance of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’, his voice working hard to rise over the sound of a few hundred jaws hitting the floor.

Elsewhere throughout the evening, McMorrow plays a spectrum of songs from debut Early in the Morning, culminating in standout track and live tour-de-force If I Had a Boat, its understated Americana building into a firecracker climax of soulfulness and heart.

In one of his rambling conversations with the crowd, McMorrow is keen to distance his music from “folk”. He does, however, sing about sparrows, wolves and making his home in the forest. So whilst it may not be folk in the Irish tradition, there is certainly a great deal here pointing in the pashmina, beards and organically sourced hemp direction. And it certainly couldn’t be further from the rest of the city that evening.