Having toured heavily throughout their career, the band are no strangers to gigging in Belfast, but tonight sees a marked change from their previous visits. Announcing 'Old Old Fashioned' as a dancing song, Scott and Co. bound around the stage with a hitherto unseen abandon that shows a band who are genuinely enjoying themselves..



While always a great live prospect there remained a lingering impression that performing was more of a necessary cathartic exercise than an agreeable way to spend an evening. Now, however, devoid of the perceived tensions and histrionics that marked previous shows, the band appear to be having as equally a pleasurable time as their captivated audience creating an atmosphere of reciprocated affection.



While the apparent shift from first to third person in Scott's lyrics resulted in some minor teething problems on last year's 'The Winter Of Mixed Drinks', the title track from the band's forthcoming State Hospital E.P indicates an increasing comfort in the new style. Still at their emotive best, the vocal is wailed and yet somehow remains uplifting, hinting that the band's fourth album will continue their progression towards the increasingly anthemic.



'Boxing Night', the only other new song aired during the set, sees Scott return to the confessional lyrical tone so successfully utilised on 'The Midnight Organ Fight'. Having admitted in recent interviews that it's a song he began working on almost six years ago, its belated emergence is more than welcome and provides one of the highlights of a night where Selkirk's finest can seemingly do little wrong.



Rounding off their set with traditional closer 'The Lonliness and The Scream', they are enticed back on stage for a second encore of 'Keep Yourself Warm' that culminates in vocal duties being deferred to the crowd. The band leave the stage seemingly humbled by the overwhelming affection aimed in their direction.



Words: Jonathan Bradley