THE DIVINE COMEDY ROYAL CONCERT HALL
IT’S been ages since I saw The Divine Comedy – since 2001 at Rock City, in fact.
The only other time I’ve seen Neil Hannon – the brilliant songwriter who basically IS The Divine Comedy – was with his other band, The Duckworth Lewis Method, the only band ever to make two cricketbased concept albums, at the Playhouse in 2013.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder. This was a stunning concert, with more than 20 songs (not a dud among them) superbly performed over almost two hours.
First up, however, was Salford singer-songwriter Ren Harvieu, one of the best support acts I’ve ever seen. Accompanied by Romeo Stodart of The Magic Numbers on guitar and piano, she held the audience in the palm of her hand with a series of intense originals, showing off her superb voice. You could have heard a pin drop. Afterwards, I was one of many who went straight downstairs to buy her CD.
This is The Divine Comedy’s “best of” tour. The setlist was crammed with familiar, and a few obscure, numbers from a career spanning more than three decades, opening with the touching, soaring Absent Friends, curtain raiser to arch, eccentric and eloquent songs like At The Indie Disco, Becoming More Like Alfie, Everybody Knows (Except You), the mysterious The Certainty Of Chance (Hannon: “I have no idea what it’s about, either”) , the gorgeous To The Rescue and the crowd-pleasing Generation Sex (with a rewritten lyric taking well-aimed potshots at Partygate and MPS watching porn in the Commons), Queuejumper and Gin Soaked Boy.
After the intermission, things got even more impressive, starting with the sharp-edged pathos of A Lady Of A Certain Age and a jaunty Songs Of Love (better known as the theme from Father Ted).
The less well-known Our Mutual Friend was one of the evening’s highlights, showcasing the power of Hannon’s voice. By the time they reached the hilarious How Can You Leave Me On My Own?, the crowd were on their feet and stayed there for the fabulous final parade of Something For The Weekend, I Like and National Express.
The encore featured immaculately performed versions of Perfect Lovesong and Tonight We Fly.
The entire night was a polished gem. I certainly won’t leave it so long before seeing them again.