Walking onstage with a half-hearted wave, and a barely audible “Hello,†a solemn-looking McRae opened solo with the simple, yet emotive acoustic lament Alphabet Of Hurricanes (incidentally, a song which doesn’t feature on the new album of the same name), his vocals staggering in a live setting, and instantly hushing a previously unsettled audience. But clearly Tom was teasing us, as the band came crashing in to startle us on Me & Stetson (one that does feature on the new album!) – creating a goodtime vibe certainly not associated with his recorded output. Tom was eager to poke fun at his melancholic image throughout , and if he’s justly serious about his music, it doesn’t show in his amiable persona – joking throughout (his stern face and close to the knuckle humour could give Jack Dee a run for his money – and, as he was also keen to stress he doesn’t sell many records today, he may be considering a career change in that direction dedicating the amount of time he did for between song banter), continuously involving the crowd (dedicating one song to an over excited fan, splitting the audience to orchestrate sing-alongs and imploring us to clap along). Much of the material was drawn from his debut (End Of The World (Dose Me Up) turned into a wild rocker) and latest album – radically updating the album’s brief opener Still Love You into an extended hoedown (the excitable Brian Wright, switched to banjo for this tune but was no less noteworthy as he had been when delivering huge electric guitar riffs). The now 40-year-old treated us to several solo spots – it is his aching vocal that packs out venues of this size after all – but finished with the frantic live favourite Boy With The Bubblegun to ensure he walked backstage to deserved enthusiastic mass applause.
