 | | Tom McRae |
"I came down with a case of man flu a couple of days ago," he sniffs into the microphone, "so I’m going to start with some new songs and see how it goes." The thumbs up that followed his successful summiting of a high note let us all know that he was going to make it. It was a joy that he did. McRae is one of the finest singer-songwriters we have, a fact underlined by his new album, King Of Cards. And if he is a bit maudlin, at least he’s aware of it. "Here’s another depressing song to break the mood," he half-jokes before launching into a wonderful Got A Suitcase, Got Regrets. Not that the audience mind his self-deprecating ways. Every tune was met with a loud ovation and calls for favourite songs to follow, something that he was half expecting as, apparently, he loves playing Manchester because the crowd are "a rabble". He deserved such a response. From old favourites like End Of The World News and Walking 2 Hawaii to the new brilliance of Set The Story Straight and One Mississippi, his show was a fulfilling delight. And as for the man flu? Well, his voice may have cracked and grizzled a little, but given that he topped the whole show off with a microphone-less, completely unplugged Bloodless, it seems that just like any other fella, he’d taken a small thing and made it huge. It’s about time the same happened to his career. | 
