Belle & Sebastian @ Roundhouse, Camden (May 29th)

"She was into S&M and Bible studies

Not everyone's cup of tea

She would admit to me"

On Sunday night, the Scottish indie pop legends Belle & Sebastian rolled into London to play three consecutive concerts at the Roundhouse. I have previously missed them in Vancouver way back in 2006, and I was determined not to make the same mistake this time.

As the band took to the stage, and the applause subsided, the set started off with the gentle guitar strum and the whisper of Stuart Murdoch's falsetto in "The State I Am In". The gentle undulation continued into "Write About Love", during which I was slightly disappointed by the frailty of Sarah Martin's voice. Her vocals, while unimpressive alone, blended perfectly with the support of the rest of the band during the chorus. The tempo picked up during "I'm Not Living in the Real World" led by Stevie Jackson, who appeared to be responsible for spearheading the group's jaunty hits. By the time the extended version of "Sukie in the Graveyard" and the crowd-pleaser "Fox in the Snow", the B&S locomotive was charging full steam ahead.

Murdoch was at his charming best, dancing up a storm, joking about the indieness of his group (on the night composed of members of Camera Obscura and Teenage Fanclub), bringing up with him five lucky audience members, and awarding them medals (one of them proceeded to not exactly dance but rather hop on an invisible pogo stick the entire time he was stage). The concert was a blast, the band was perfectly melded together, and yet it was quite obvious that the old favorites were still the undeniable highlights of the show. Every first strum or chord introducing the old hit received countless cheers of recognition and appreciation. I guess it was no surprise that more than half of the songs performed were from B&S's golden era - the 90's. As for me, with four songs from If You're Feeling Sinister album, I was flabbergasted and slightly disappointed not to hear "Get Me Away From Here I'm Dying" - the first song that got me into the band's music.

Setlist:

1. The State I Am In
2. Dirty Dream Number Two
3. Write About Love
4. I'm Not Living in the Real World
5. If You're Feeling Sinister
6. I Want the World to Stop
7. She's Losing It
8. Sukie in the Graveyard
9. The Fox in the Snow
10. My Wandering Days Are Over
11. The Wrong Girl
12. I Didn't See It Coming
13. The Boy With the Arab Strap
14. I'm a Cuckoo
15. Simple Things
16. Sleep the Clock Around
17. Judy and the Dream of Horses (encore)
18. Me and the Major (encore)