Belle & Sebastian

A traffic accident on the M1 halted this reviewer’s passage up to Sheffield and as a result this review nearly never came to fruition. Yet so it was that someone forgetting to put on their brakes forced us to miss what could well have been a startling performance by Brakes, with their set ending ten seconds after we step through the door. From the response of the audience who hadn’t been left stuck in a tailback desperate for a pee, they played a blinder. Maybe next time, eh?

The Octagon is the perfect venue for a Belle & Sebastian show. So named for its octagonal shape (do you see how they did that? Smart.), the thrust stage and encircling acoustics are reminiscent of a modern church, which is thankful as a performance by these Glaswegian shoe-gazers can border on religious.

When they take the stage a calculated thunder of applause greets them, one which returns for the beginning and end of every song in the same way clipped applause is super-imposed at the start and end of each housewives’ attempt at Grace Jones or Kate Bush on Stars In Their Eyes.

With such a prolific back-catalogue, casual listeners (picked up the latest album, knows a handful of singles) may be left stumped at the lack of immediately familiar material – they only managed to fit in one song, ‘I’m A Cuckoo’ from their previous album ‘Dear Catastrophe Waitress’ – but this doesn’t detract from the experience. Far from it, the breadth and variety of songs performed, from the touching early single ‘The State I Am In’, to the Children’s TV charm of current offering ‘Funny Little Frog’ frame Belle & Sebastian as a band at the pinnacle of transcending musical beauty, tapping straight into your thoughts and memories, evoking feelings of cool nostalgia and breezy tranquillity.

Whilst the cross section of society that is attracted to the show, from students to retired elders, lilt like gently swaying flowers on a summer’s day, it’s easy to immerse yourself and forget life outside the Octagon’s walls or, by extension, the life outside your own head. Lead singer Stuart Murdoch remains the effervescent front man who’s every word you hang off for pleasure and his banter with the crowd is direct, honest and intimate.

It’s not all wistful indie mumblings, mind. New song ‘Your Covers Blown’ off current album ‘The Life Pursuit’ is an exciting foray with a dance beat and sumptuous electro hook. Its change of pace inspires Murdoch to jump down from his stage and run amok in the crowd.

An encore of requests is an unfamiliar bonus that serves to make the show seem ever more tailor-made to individual needs and is evidence that the band have love for their fans and their music and are in no way absorbed by the trappings of celebrity. While they may not regularly steal headlines and front covers, Belle & Sebastian have become an institution of musical prowess that shall be revered and enjoyed for years to come.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.