Belle and Sebastian and The Loft at The Royal Albert Hall

Ruth offered me a ticket for last night's gig; her partner Dave is the drummer for The Loft and it was a lovely surprise to be able to go to the gig. 

We met for coffee and Dave came out to join us; The Loft's uber-fan John joined us and we talked about awful gigs we'd been to (Lou Reed) and great ones (Black Sabbath for me, Stevie Wonder for him)

Ten out of ten for friendly staff. It makes such a difference to be treated like treasure instead of an inconvenience! Not a mobile phone in sight, no grumpy scrolling: just patient people on hand to help.

Much to our surprise, we were placed in a box with a fabulous view of the stage. 

In the distance, a tiny version of The Loft played a tight set of catchy songs. Andy, The Loft's guitarist, was clearly having the time of his life- you could see his smile miles away and he was roaming the stage with a joyful stride. The set went down really well, especially the last almost Motorik song, and Campervan stood out as a great single. Pete was in fine voice and the band did themselves proud.

After a short break, Belle and Sebastian came on with a backdrop of the studio where they recorded Tigermilk. Confident, delighted to have made the transition from The Borderline to The Royal Albert Hall via The Shepherd's Bush Empire, Stuart Murdoch appeared to be entirely comfortable on the stage. He was surrounded by new band members and originals (Chris Geddes on keyboards), and Tigermilk was played from start to finish, with the addition of founder member Isobel Campbell's recorded voice reading from Rip Van Winkle. At one point, he roamed through the audience and had a dance with delighted fans. He had a lot of stories: wandering round Glasgow being avoided by the cool musicians, crossing the road when they saw him because they knew he was going to ask them to be in his band, and travelling on the Central Line in London, now the hipsters line after the Elizabeth Line (faster, funkier) has taken over it's east/west role.

Behind the band films ran through the songs- and there was Kenji, selecting albums from his shelves, there he was on the big screen at The Royal Albert Hall! The films were tuned in exactly to the lyrics- I think Tita may have been involved somehow, and they were notable for their pitch-perfect DIY aesthetic.

I thought the most affecting song from their first set was Mary Jo, which really got me in the heart for some reason. All of their songs, however, were rooted in real life and Stuart gave us potted contexts of where they started.

I had to leave after the first set (smoke machine related health stuff), but I could hear them storming through the next part of the evening. What a wonderful way to spend a Wednesday evening! Big thanks to Ruth for the ticket!