I am a big fan of the first three albums and so am hoping for some real oldies and I wasn’t to be disappointed. Sam Beam has a quiet honeyed voice sometimes barely above a whisper but delivers moving tales of religion, country folk and Americana that has you captured till the last note.
It’s a slightly disjointed night though with little in the way of a set list but just responding to calls out from the audience. This works to a degree but does disrupt the flow of the evening a little although we probably wouldn’t have heard live rarities such as Jesus the Mexican Boy in the normal run of things.
Towards the end of the set the support act Jesca (?) Hoop joins him for a few numbers. She looks like Andy Pandy with an added giant bow on the front of her blouse. It’s pleasant enough but doesn’t add anything for me to the evening and I would much rather have heard three songs without her.
Highlights are the hushed ‘Upward over the mountain’ and ‘Resurrection Fern’ both of which followed Ms Hoop’s removal from stage. A good night but with a few tweaks could have been a great one.