 | | Bill Callahan (pic: Joanna Newsom) |
Tonight however, he is verbose. Bile ridden even. And the object of his annoyance isn’t even the rather loud young man sat at the back of the venue who has taken it upon himself to request "THE WELL!" very loudly and repeatedly. No, if there’s one thing bound to ruin Mr Callahan’s act, it’s a light engineer. "Do you want us to play Manchester again? Ever?" he shouts up to the lighting rig at one stage, which only leads to a succession of blue light whirling around the stage at 100mph. In fact, there are many elements of this evening which shouldn’t work, so it’s testament to Callahan’s extraordinary powers that he manages to draw you in with that mesmerising voice of his, a low whiskey-soaked drawl which combines pathos, as in old favourites Rock Bottom Riser and Let Me See The Colts, with good old fashioned Southern charm – as in new tracks Sycamore and Day. Combine this with a band who work together so well with his flights of fancy that they can sing along to his ad-libs and it all makes your bones vibrate with loveliness. So Bill, if you’re reading this, please come back to Manchester soon. And Mr Light Engineer, if you’re reading this; seriously, easy on the jazz hands next time? | 
